We link employment to stability in five African countries to test if standard interventions influence complex outcomes. We show positive impacts on some indicators but negative externalities also arise. There are, thus, grounds for optimism but further work is required.
Call for Sessions and Papers: 5th Annual ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Conference
Call for Papers and Sessions is open for the 5th Annual ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ Conference that will be held in Bishkek on 23-24 October 2019. The deadline is 16 June 2019.
On the Legacies of Wartime Governance
This paper explores the long-term impact of individual exposure to ‘wartime governance’ on social and political behavior.
Can Jobs Programs Build Peace
Over $10bn has been spent on programmes that assume that building employment also builds peace. We show that while there are good reasons to think this money is not spent fruitlessly, there remains a structural lack of empirical confirmation of these theories.
Activity Choices of Internally Displaced Persons and Returnees: Quantitative Survey Evidence from Post-War Northern Uganda
We investigate post‐war economic activity choices of displaced and just‐returned individuals. In particular, the effect of living in an internally displaced persons camp on the choice of economic activities is analysed. Because individuals relocating away from camps may be different from those staying in them, a recursive bivariate probit procedure is used to control for […]
On the Return on Investment of Security Sector Assistance and Peacebuilding Assistance
Peacebuilding assistance and security sector assistance both aim at the same outcome – reductions in political violence. In this exploratory article, we show only the former has its desired impact, with security sector support apparently acting to increase violence.
Analysis, Design, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ADMEL): Designing a Process for Learning from Employment for Stability Programming
Often, development organisations engage in “big push” ex post impact evaluations, where significant amounts of bespoke data are collected at the end of the programme. In this short paper, we argue that such funds can be used better by integrated an on-going learning component into standard ADME.
Jobs Aid Peace: Review of the Theory and Practice of the Impact of Employment Programmes on Peace in Fragile and Conflict-affected Countries
Over $10bn has been spent on programmes that assume that building employment also builds peace. We show that while there are good reasons to think this money is not spent fruitlessly, there remains a structural lack of empirical confirmation of these theories.
Money can’t buy love but can it buy peace? Evidence from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE II)
While randomisation is often eschewed in bottom-up peacebuilding contexts in favour of more targeted programming, there is no guarantee that targeted spending gets to those who need it most. In this article, we discuss the apparent failure of one such targeted rollout – that of the PEACE II programmes in Ireland.
Analyzing the Link Between Employment Programs and Social Stability – Phase II
A short- and medium-term impact evaluation of Mercy Corps’ DSH-ARC funded TVET programs for host and displaced communities in Lebanon and Syria, with the dual focus on boosting the employment prospects and improving intergroup perceptions of program beneficiaries.
On the Return on Investment of Security Sector Assistance and Peacebuilding Assistance
An empirical analysis of the differential impacts of military and civilian peacebuilding assistance, and associated return on investment.
Analysis, Design, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ADMEL): Designing a Process for Learning from Employment for Stability Programming
This project develops a new “Learning Component” that compliments traditional Analysis, Design, Monitoring and Evaluation (ADME) in the development and analysis of third-party interventions.
Analyzing the Link Between Employment Programs and Social Stability – Phase I
This seed project brings together members of Mercy Corps field teams with ISDC researchers to generate jointly a research design for an impact evaluation of employment for peacebuilding programs in the Middle East.
Does Opportunity Reduce Instability? A Meta-Analysis of Skills and Employment Interventions in LMICs
The idea that employment can build peace underpins over USD 10bn of development spending in fragile countries. By contrast, the evidence base that employment programming delivers on this promise is scant. In this project, we aim to close some of the knowledge gaps inherent within this delineation.
Employment Interventions and Peace
A study on the role of employment programs for peace in conflict-affected and fragile countries, based on an evaluation of such interventions by the ILO, PBSO, UNDP and the World Bank.
Maren M. Michaelsen
Dr. Maren M. Michaelsen is a Research Affiliate at ISDC. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Integrative Health Care and Health Promotion in the Faculty of Health at Witten/Herdecke University, where she works as a behavioural economist on a “Nudging for health” project in an interdisciplinary team. Her research interests are […]
Sami Miaari
Sami Miaari is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Labor Studies in Tel-Aviv University and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University and an ISDC Affiliate. Dr. Miaari’s research focuses on labor economics, the economic causes and consequences of conflict, including the economic costs of political instability and the […]
Charles Martin-Shields
Dr. Charles Martin-Shields is a researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, Germany, and a Research Affiliate at ISDC. His research focuses on the role of ICTs and digitalization in development cooperation, with particular focuses on peacebuilding and migration. He has recently published research inWorld Development, International Studies Perspectives, International Peacekeeping, and has work […]
Neil Ferguson
Dr Neil Ferguson is a Senior Researcher at ISDC and a Senior Research Associate at BIGS in Potsdam. He obtained his PhD in Economics in July 2013 from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, focusing on theoretical and empirical analysis about the role of multiple aggressors in civil conflicts. His current research interests address a broad cross-section of […]
Tilman Brück
Professor Tilman Brück is the Founder and Director of ISDC. He is also Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Team Leader – Development Economics and Food Security at IGZ near Berlin. Tilman is also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the „Households in Conflict Network” (HiCN) and the Principal […]