The abrupt international withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 sparked an economic crisis. The UNDP estimated that an astonishing 97% of Afghans are at risk of falling beneath the poverty line, fueling hunger, malnutrition, and increased migration borne...

For youth in fragile and conflict-affected settings, navigating towards improved outcomes may be hindered by both real and perceived limitations in available opportunities, as well as by the psychosocial consequences of growing up amidst insecurity and...

This project will focus on the current jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. It will study how intergroup contact between internally displaced people (IDPs) and local hosts can promote the social integration of both groups – measured with a...

Police cases involving crimes against women (e.g. rape, dowry) are often assigned to female investigators while higher profile cases (e.g. murder, kidnapping, corruption) are often assigned to male investigators in police stations across India (despite there...

Violence against minorities is often driven by extreme identity-based prejudice, which itself is typically underpinned by powerful and persistent social norms. But legal changes, such as granting rights to minority groups, may have the power to rapidly...

What is the relationship between employment and gender identity? This study seeks to generate evidence on the relationship between the experience of employment – as distinct from cash transfers alone – and intimate partner violence, intra-household bargaining...

Resolving disputes is integral to the accumulation of state capacity. Yet too often policymakers privilege fiscal capacity building in fragile states over legal capacity building. In this project, researchers study a low-capacity state—the D.R. Congo—seeking...

Preventing gender-based violence (GBV) and addressing institutional service delivery of GBV in weak states is an essential component to encouraging women's mobility, entry into the labor market, human capital accumulation, and ensuring safety and access to...

Over the past two decades, Muslim countries have disproportionately suffered from civil wars that have caused the displacement of millions of people, either as refugees or Internally Displaced People (IDP). The displaced people are particularly vulnerable to...

Sexual harassment imposes substantial socio-economic constraints on the victimized yet little is understood on what are effective tools to deter it. Collaborating with colleges in New Delhi, the researchers is conducting an RCT to study effectiveness of sexual...

In a novel empirical attempt, this pilot study investigates whether changing the structure of police services to encourage competition between different service delivery units, has an effect on crimes like corruption, improve citizen trust in the police and...

Researchers are leveraging a recent community policing RCT to conduct phone surveys and examine whether positive interactions with police officers increase individuals’ willingness to comply with policies banning social gatherings and limiting transportation...

This project seeks to contribute new evidence on IPV prevention by evaluating the impact of an interactive WhatsApp-based couples communication, financial education, and Covid-19 information program targeting minimum-wage households in Colombia receiving pre...

In response to the COVID pandemic, researchers propose to collect phone survey data from participants of an on-going USAID-funded “Graduation” study with refugees and neighboring communities of the Kamwenge refugee settlement in Western Uganda. The on-going...

We propose two rounds of phone-based surveys to a large sample of couples in urban Peru to: (i) understand the impact on IPV and intra-household conflict of restrictions instituted to contain the spread of COVID-19; (ii) characterize couples at heightened risk...

This project has been canceled. For eight months JPAL-LAC, the Ministry of Interior of Ecuador, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) have been working together to identify opportunities of evaluation in security policies financed by the IADB. From...

The civil war in Liberia killed around 10 percent of the population and displaced a majority. Even after more than 15 years of peace, the country is still suffering from the lasting impacts of its civil war, one of them being a permissive environment to...

Drug addiction is a first-order public health issue in Punjab. The state government has recently expanded its efforts to address the problem by promoting access to de-addiction services. This project, in partnership with the Government of Punjab, will test...

This project has been canceled. Illegal drug cultivation is a crime directly associated with organized violence and conflict, especially in fragile contexts. Myanmar is a good example: decades of conflict has meant minimal policing and a porous border...

How can gender-based violence in the public sphere (GBV) be prevented? Can increased quantity and quality of police presence help curb street harassment? What works in improving victim’s engagement with police services? This project aims to answer these...

Access to justice and criminal dispute resolution is a first-order issue in many emerging economies. In Pakistan, citizens dissatisfied with the police and courts tend to shift towards a variety of non-state actors, weakening the efficacy of state institutions...

In this study, we will investigate whether “contact” can help resolve the endemic farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria. The Contact Hypothesis postulates that contact between groups can resolve conflicts, yet there is little causal evidence or understanding of...

How can gender-based violence in the public sphere (GBV) be prevented? Can increased quantity and quality of police presence help curb street harassment? What works in improving victim’s engagement with police services? This project aims to answer these...

Poor and marginalized citizens, particularly women, often lack access to a responsive police force and, consequently, experience diminished security and high levels of crime and violence. Efforts to address such issues often include gender-targeted policing...

Significant evidence suggests that individuals are motivated by moral sentiments to join armed groups and express them using violence – to redress grievances and recover dignity lost as a result of victimization and abuse by other groups. These sentiments can...

Leveraging an existing relationship with a large-scale armed organization, this study examines who joins armed organizations and why, as well as the effect of the participation motives on the performance and trajectories inside the group. The study aims to...

This study experimentally tests the potential for intergroup contact to reduce prejudice in a conflict setting for the first time. I randomly assign Iraqi Christians displaced by ISIS to an all-Christian soccer team or to a team mixed with Sunni Arabs – who...

This project extends an ongoing study testing the efficacy of citizen-centric problem-oriented policing, and local alternative dispute resolution and reconciliation forums. The extension will (a) study police officers’ beliefs with respect to reforms to local...

In this study we will investigate whether “contact” can help resolve the endemic farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria. The Contact Hypothesis postulates that contact between groups can resolve conflicts, yet there is little causal evidence or understanding of...

This project aims to understand the effects of acquiring specific skills and information on individuals’ capabilities to tackle sexual harassment directly or indirectly. To do so, it aims to test interventions targeted at men and women separately. We first aim...

Since the beginning of the Syrian War in 2011, Turkey has received over 3.5 million Syrian refugees, including nearly 1 million children. Syrian refugee children face social exclusion and in-school violence. Socially excluded individuals are less likely to...

We propose the first-ever randomized trial of an anti-gang program. In Medellin, Colombia, most neighborhoods are governed by criminal gangs. About 200 gangs called combos have defined territories where they resolve disputes, police, regulate markets, and “tax...

Poor and marginalized citizens, particularly women, often lack access to a responsive police force and, consequently experience diminished security and high levels of crime and violence. Efforts to address such issues often include gender-targeted policing...

This project explores whether property crime has social effects by increasing exclusionary attitudes towards out-groups. Theft from farms is a pervasive problem in rural areas in developing countries. This project explores the effect of property crime on...

Organized crime and armed groups often permeate large parts of society of less “developed” countries. To sustain their violent operations, armed groups need to recruit reliable violent labor, and then, they need to manage it. New recruits usually join knowing...

Gender-based violence (GBV) against women remains a major public health concern; yet to date there has been little rigorous research evaluating the impact of interventions aimed to reduce and prevent GBV. This project will bring new evidence on violence...

This project has been canceled. This project evaluates the effects of reducing crime and violence in the vicinity and interior of schools through policing that is specifically trained to patrol schools. We will randomly select 56 schools to receive direct...