Welfare

The primary aim of this impact evaluation is to identify, quantify, and rigorously assess different targeting approaches for WFP Lebanon’s food assistance program in Lebanon.

Complex humanitarian emergencies are a main driver of food and nutritional insecurity. Agricultural interventions are key to improving nutrition and food security, and their positive impacts are well-documented in stable developing countries. However, it is unclear if their positive effects on food security hold in complex emergency settings, too. In this paper, we systematically review […]

Every year, the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) hosts a conference brings together actors from across the development economics community to present and discuss research on Africa. This year, ISDC was represented by Behavior Research Program Director Wolfgang Stojetz and Dorothee Weiffen from our Welfare Research Program. Each presented a research paper […]

We study how the stringency of policy measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic affects individuals’ trust in formal institutions. Drawing on micro-level panel data from Germany spanning an 18-month period from the onset of the pandemic, we show that, on average, there is a pronounced negative relationship between the stringency level of COVID-19 countermeasures and […]

Isabella is a Research Assistant in the Welfare Research Program at ISDC. Her interests include gender equity, violent conflict, and welfare in developing contexts. She is currently enrolled in the Master’s program Data Science for Public Policy at the Hertie School in Germany and holds a BA in Economics from the Javeriana University in Colombia. […]

The effects of agricultural and nutritional support programs on health are not fully understood. This article looks at school and home gardens, which are gaining attention in the research and development community, but evidence for their effects is limited, particularly for lower-income countries. We examine whether a joint school and home garden program improves blood […]

The integration of refugees into host countries’ formal labor markets is increasingly recommended as a durable solution to forced migration. Yet, this policy response is a contentious political topic with little empirical evidence, especially in low- and middle-income host countries available to support policy. This article examines the impacts of integrating Syrian refugees into Jordan’s […]

FCDO has commissioned ISDC to conduct a rigorous impact assessment for the Year 2 ‘Building Local Resilience In Syria’ intervention activities.

Homes gardens are a key source of food security and micronutrient-rich fruits and vegetables and are promoted by aid organizations to help households cope in humanitarian emergencies. However, there is a strong divide between the popularity of home gardens among practitioners and the academic evidence of its nutritional, economic, social and political outcomes. This review […]

The agricultural sector in Sudan is grappling with multiple challenges, including unpredictable rainfall patterns, outbreaks of pests and diseases, limited access to agricultural inputs, irrigation difficulties and, more recently, the onset of violence. Insufficient harvests result in food shortages and insecurity. In light of these circumstances, FAO Sudan provided emergency support to over 350,000 households […]

Methodological, ethical and practical challenges make it difficult to use experimental and rigorous quasi-experimental approaches to conduct impact evaluations in humanitarian emergencies and conflict settings (HECS). This paper discusses recent developments in the design, measurement, data and analysis of impact evaluations that can overcome these challenges and provide concrete examples from our recent research where […]

The number of vulnerable people in humanitarian emergencies worldwide is increasing due to the rising frequency and intensity of risk exposure. At the same time, most interventions in humanitarian emergency and conflict settings (HECS) are short-term in nature, as if people only require temporary help to overcome adversity. Yet there is an acute scarcity of […]

ISDC is running an impact evaluation of an FAO program designed to support farming and pastoral communities in Sudan.

In response to severe flooding in South Sudan, ISDC is evaluation an OCHA intervention in Bentiu.

FAO Syria is implementing the “Smallholder Support Programme” (SSP). The main objective of this programme is to contribute to the transformation of the agriculture sector in Syria by empowering vulnerable smallholder farmers and livestock keepers to be more productive, efficient and profitable as well as more informed, self-organised and risk aware. Two year after programme […]

Agricultural interventions are one of the key policy tools to strengthen the food security of households living in conflict settings. Yet, given the complex nature of conflict-affected settings, existing theories of change might not hold, leading to misinterpretation of the significance and magnitude of these impacts. How contextual factors, including exposure to conflict intensity, shape […]

Many consider Rigorous Impact Evaluations (RIEs) to be the gold standard in evaluating interventions. We agree. However, various methodological, ethical, and practical challenges to conducting RIEs in Humanitarian Emergencies and Conflict Settings (HECS) have raised questions about how well traditional RIE methods are well-suited to such settings.  ISDC – International Security and Development Center has […]

Do agricultural interventions have a positive impact on food security and nutrition in conflict settings? Since 2020, under the SEEDS project, ISDC – International Security and Development Center and the American University of Beirut have used multi-disciplinary novel methods to study the short- and long-term impacts of complex agricultural interventions in Syria. In this webinar, […]

Project Background Armed conflict reverses human development, yet its full impact remains poorly understood due to fragmented research across disciplines. This multidisciplinary project integrates economics, epidemiology, political science, and conflict studies to assess conflict’s effects on economies, health, and political institutions, using a risk-analysis framework to model hazard, exposure, and vulnerability while expanding early-warning systems […]

Melodie Al Daccache is a Researcher in the Welfare Research Program at ISDC and a PhD candidate at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Her research focuses on food security, livelihoods, women’s health, and gender equity in crisis-affected settings. Her methodological area of expertise includes quasi-experimental impact evaluations, quantitative statistical analysis, and micro-level data collection. Melodie has […]

Dorothee Weiffen is a Researcher in the Welfare Research Program at ISDC and a PhD Candidate at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests include food and nutritional security, livelihoods and well-being in developing contexts, especially in conflict-affected settings. Dorothee’s methodological areas of expertise are experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations, quantitative statistical analysis, machine learning […]