Research activities

In cooperation with NWO/WOTRO, the research program ‘Security & Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings' has been established. The research program is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and consists of two separate funding instruments: The Strategic Research Fund and the Applied Research Fund. In addition to the thematic calls under the Applied and Strategic Research Funds, two Open Calls were launched in 2015.  The Platform is responsible for defining the substantive focus of the calls that will open under this funding program. 

Strategic research

Strategic research is research designed to develop and help decide on a strategy to reach specified policy goals. It addresses the academic basis and underlying assumptions of policy theories and intervention logics. Here, strategic research is meant to lead to informed advice and policy prescriptions for development practitioners. Within the strategic research fund, two calls have been launched.

1) Comprehensive approaches to human security

The call on ‘Comprehensive approaches to human security’ within the strategic research fund aims to contribute to new evidence-based knowledge and insights on policies and intervention theories and strategies regarding inclusive, comprehensive approaches to human security in fragile and conflict-affected settings, in view of transnational security threats. The following six projects have been funded:

• Human Security and Conflict in Ukraine: Local Approaches and Transnational Dimensions

• Preventing the spill-over: combatting violent extremism with a human security approach in Palestine, Egypt and Iraq

• Security Assistance and Non-State Actors in Iraq, Syria & Afghanistan: Comprehensive and Inclusive Human Security Beyond the State?

• Securing the local: the role of non-state security groups (NSSGs) in the struggle against extremism in Kenya, Nigeria and Indonesia

• The Fulani in the Sahel: Caught between the Hammer of Muslim Extremism and the Anvil of the State (Mali, Nigeria)

• Towards more effective human security approaches in the context of the emerging threat of violent radicalisation in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia

2) Employment for stability

The call on ‘employment for stability’ within the strategic research fund aims to contribute to insight in the correlation between employment and stability, or into the key drivers and challenges determining employment strategies of the private sector in fragile and conflict affected settings. The following three projects have been funded:

• Entrepreneurship, Employment and Social Stability in Rwanda

• Conflict Sensitive Employment under Construction: Peace and Stability Strategies for the Private Sector in Afghanistan

• Does Opportunity Reduce Instability? A Meta-Analysis of Skills and Employment Interventions in LMICSs

Applied research fund

Applied research is a form of systematic inquiry involving the practical application of science, and deals with solving practical problems and generally employs empirical methodologies. It includes research aimed at providing proof for a concept and may encompass action research which involves active participation in a change process during the conduct of the research. Within the applied research fund, five calls have been issued. 

1) Addressing mixed migration flows

This call aims to strengthen the evidence-base on how donor-supported security an rule of law policies and/or programs or donor-supported security measures designed to control and regulate mixed migration flows, can more effectively and more sustainably address the causes, dynamics and consequences of mixed migration flows within and/or from conflict-affected settings. The Call focuses on research projects that provide new evidence based and applicable insights and knowledge for practitioners. Keep an eye on the website for more info on the funded projects within this call. 

2) The influence of transnational challenges in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings

The call aims to strengthen the evidence-base of policies and/or programming for security and rule of law in conflict-affected settings addressing the influence of transnational flows on stability in these settings. The call focuses on research projects that provide new evidence based and applicable insights and knowledge for practitioners. The following project has received funding: 

• Security of transnational flows of natural resources in Indonesia

3) Embedding justice in power and politics

The projects within this call aim to contribute to innovations for people-centred and context sensitive rule of law reform programs in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Funded projects are:

• A barometer for transitional justice in Tunisia

• Access to justice for Syrian refugees in Lebanon

• Accommodation of justice for displaced in DRC

• Looking through the lens of land - Enhancing justice through land governance reform in DR Congo's eastern Kivu Provinces and South Sudan's Greater Equatoria Region

• Supporting pathways for primary justice in South Sudan and Afghanistan

• Intersections of conflict and justice in South Sudan

4) Open call for evidence-based policy advice and tools

The open call for evidence-based policy advice and tools aims to strengthen the evidence-base of policies and practices for security and rule of law approaches in fragile and conflict-affected settings. The call focuses on innovative research proposals that result in applicable insights for practitioners. The following projects receive funding:

• Addressing statelessness in the Syria crisis context 

• Atu prepara ita nia futuru / Preparing our future: developing an integrated model for women's leadership in post-conflict Timor-Leste

• Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Post-Conflict Settings: The Potential of Community-Based Sociotherapy in Rwanda

• Codifying water rights in contested basins of Afghanistan    

• Cross-Border Access to Justice in the Palestinian territories

• Enhancing Local Peace Committees - facilitating stakeholder debate on the strategic choices involved in transitional justice in Burundi and DR Congo 

• Enhancing Women's Role in Peace and Security in Yemen 

• Governance mechanisms in opposition-held areas in Syria

• Informing policy on plural security provision in urban contexts: Comparative insights from Lebanon, Kenya, and Tunisia

• Land rights and access to land survey in Timor-Leste a tool for evidence-based policy and advocacy

• Learning from Design in Mali: A Critical Review and M&E Framework for the CSO-led Human Security Strategy 2014-2015

• Mass Atrocity Prevention Toolkit: The Effectiveness and Ethics of Mass Atrocity Prevention Policies with Case Studies of Syria and Kenya 

• Policy tools to reduce radicalization against Ahmadiyya

• The Justice Box - a tool for evidence-based policy and legal empowerment in Mali

• The 2013 National Dialogue Conference (NDC) in Yemen: Why did it fail to prevent conflict?

• Trialling tools for participatory gender analysis of conflict in Uganda 

• Urban refugee protection in Lebanon's hybrid security system: a research and action agenda 

• When will transitional justice join the transitional decade in Afghanistan? 

• Towards inclusive security governance of the Tunisian-Libyan border: Developing evidence-based approaches to enhancing border security in Tunisia

• Women's role in peace and security in Kurdish self-administered areas in Syria

• Youth exclusion and violence in Burundi and South Sudan: Improving economic opportunity interventions for young people in fragile settings

5) Open call for evidence-informed ideas

 The call for evidence-informed ideas focuses on ideas (for research, projects, approaches, policies, programmes, tools) that will provide new insights in international responses to the question what the international community is able to offer in the face of new threats and challenges to peace, security and development. Two ideas have received funding:

• Combating prolonged pre-trial detention in Ukraine

• Civil society involvement in Tunisia’s security sector reform process 

• Improving synchronicity between political party assistance and international conflict resolution interventions in fragile and conflict affected settings: Lessons from Burundi and Mali

About  NWO/WOTRO's research program "Security & Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings"

In cooperation with NWO/WOTRO, the research program ‘Security & Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings' has been established. The research program is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and consists of two separate funding instruments: The Strategic Research Fund and the Applied Research Fund. In addition to the thematic calls under the Applied and Strategic Research Funds, two Open Calls were launched in 2015.  The Platform is responsible for defining the substantive focus of the calls that will open under this funding program.