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During displacement due to conflict or violence, families are often separated, assets and livelihoods are lost or disrupted, and language barriers, legal constraints and discrimination may arise. The nature of these impacts, and barriers and opportunities, may differ between women and men. Yet development policies and programs are often designed without taking these gendered factors and differences into account, and often fail to monitor how outcomes and impacts vary between men and women, girls and boys.

The series of empirical analysis produced by the Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement (GDFD) Research Program examined a range of interrelated drivers and manifestations of gender inequality ¨C including income and multi-dimensional poverty, livelihoods, gender norms and the risks of experiencing intimate partner violence and child marriage. Led by the Gender Group at the World Bank, the research was carried out in partnership with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; the International Security and Development Center; the Georgetown Institute of Women, Peace and Security; the Economic Research Forum; St. Catherine University; USAID; Action Kivu; Wageningen University; University of Minnesota; UNHCR; and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

The research work was organized into several categories: policy and analysis; poverty and inequality; livelihoods and development; gender-based violence; and gender norms. 

Policy and Analysis

Poverty and Inequality

• • Blog: 
• • Blog: 

Gender-based Violence

• • Blog: 

Livelihoods and Development

Gender Norms

• • Blog: 

In addition, the program's Young Fellows produced the following research related to gender dimensions in forced displacement contexts:

The influx of large numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) can pose significant challenges to health systems, even in the most developed settings. In contexts which are fragile or conflict-affected, the strain placed on health systems can be acute. In protracted crises, and where displaced persons settle within established host communities, the transition from an acute-phase humanitarian response to development support requires careful coordination with the national health system to avoid creating inefficiencies and service gaps or exacerbating inequity.

A multi-country project, the  global study provides evidence and guidance to strengthen health systems addressing the needs of displaced and host populations in the context of protracted displacement. Managed by the World Bank's Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice, the research work was led by Columbia University¡¯s Program on Forced Migration and Health, in partnership with the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University; Georgetown University; the Global Health Institute at the American University of Beirut (AUB); and the School of Government at the Universidad de Los Andes.

With studies of Bangladesh, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Jordan, the project identifies optimal approaches that respond to the health needs of the displaced while strengthening health systems for host communities - critical to national and international actors directing and funding health responses in situations of forced displacement. The l for the reports took place in and Geneva in December 2022.

In addition to the global report and the country studies, the project produced several timely knowledge briefs on the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Read the reports:

Read the knowledge briefs:  

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•  I 
•  I 

Watch the launch events:

• L (New York)
• The Big Questions in Forced Displacement and Health (Geneva)

In addition to the global study on health, the Young Fellows of the Building Evidence progam carried out research projects on health in forced displacement contexts. They include the following papers:

• Monitoring COVID-19 Impact on Refugees in Ethiopia, Report No. 2: Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Refugees

Last Updated: Feb 09, 2024

To address the longer duration and urbanization of displacement situations, there is a growing interest in linking humanitarian assistance to national social protection systems that meet the needs of those displaced and build capacity to support national programs.  

The global study on aims to better understand how social protection systems and humanitarian systems can work together to meet the needs of displaced populations¡ªincluding vulnerable households in host communities ¡ªand how these systems can improve social cohesion between these two groups.? Managed by the World Bank's Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, the research work was led by ODI of the United Kingdom and includes a range of useful output, including a summary report, a literature review, country studies (of Cameroon, Colombia, and Greece), thematic papers, toolkits, and dissemination materials, including a podcast. 

Read the report:

Read the literature review and analysis:

Read the country reports:

Read the thematic papers:

Toolkits:

Watch our events:

• Greece dissemination event in May 2022: ""
• Colombia dissemination event in June 2022: 
• Cameroon event for FCDO (webinar) in July 2022 (closed door, no recording)
• Presentation at the informal hangouts for the Online Community for Social Protection in Crisis Contexts, 5 October 2022 (public, but no recording available)

Podcasts, feature stories, and blogs:

In addition, the program's Young Fellows carried out the following research on social protection in forced displacement contexts: 

To improve the learning outcomes for all, including the most disadvantaged children ¨C that is the goal of the World Bank¡¯s work on education. This goal can be elusive in situations of forced displacement. Led by the World Bank¡¯s Education Global Practice and the American Institutes for Research, the global study on education and forced displacement outlines the education interventions and policies of refugee-inclusive education systems and assesses their impact, cost, and replicability.

With country studies carried out in Colombia, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, Jordan, and Pakistan, the studies analyzed how education systems can strengthen their preparedness and resilience, to deliver education for both displaced and host children in the short-term and the long-term.

The findings of the education global study were presented at an event jointly organized by UNHCR and the World Bank in Geneva, Switzerland. To learn more about the study results, read the set of reports, blogs, and presentations.  

Global reports

Country studies

• Case Study from Pakistan

Blogs

Presentations

• Integrating Refugees and IDPs into National Education Systems: Three Challenges and Approaches
• Forced Displacement and Education: Building the Evidence for What Works

In addition to the global study on education, the program's Young Fellows carried out research on displaced learners' access to education. The studies include:

Last Updated: Jan 17, 2024

What is the impact of forced displacement on labor markets in host communities?  What is the impact of jobs interventions in the context of forced displacement and which of these programs and interventions is most cost-effective? These questions steered the Global Questions study on jobs, which was managed by the World Bank¡¯s Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice and undertaken by two research partners: a consortium of organizations led by the FAFO Research Institute of Norway, and Oxford Policy Management (OPM) in the United Kingdom.

The global study on jobs in situations of forced displacement examines the cost effectiveness of proposed livelihood and jobs interventions in a displacement context and the high-level advocacy and policy or legal changes required to make refugees self-reliant. The first part of the jobs global study focused on four countries as case studies: Colombia, Jordan, Ethiopia, and Uganda and collected data on labor market impact in a harmonized fashion to obtain results of global relevance. The second part of the global study covered South Sudan, Mali, Kenya, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Complementing a literature review and the analysis is a database of cost, output, and impact data of the projects and interventions funded by the World Bank, FCDO, or UNHCR. The subsequent report presents the results of qualitative data, covering the period between 2009 and 2019, for 109 interventions and the analysis of available cost data for 63 of these interventions. 

Read the reports:

Explore the novel database:

• Database (download .xlsx file)

Read the blogs:

Watch the events: