Three new strategic research projects on Employment for Stability

Security & Rule of Law Research Program

13 November 2014

WOTRO has recently awarded three research proposals for the Security & Rule of Law Strategic Research Fund. The projects are centered around the theme ‘Employment for Stability’. They aim 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 proposals are the strategic projects that are awarded within the research program Security & Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings. This program is an activity of NWO-WOTRO, in close collaboration with the  Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law.

The three research projects will be executed by consortia of research institutes and organizations involved in policymaking for, or implementation of security and rule of law reform programs in the targeted countries. The projects will start within the next few months and have a maximum duration of three years.

A short summary of each project is given below.

Entrepreneurship, Employment and Social Stability in Rwanda

Prof. E.H. Bulte, Wageningen University

Private sector development and tackling youth unemployment are key components of transforming Rwanda into a stable and prosperous country. This project facilitates a business training at secondary schools and universities, and examines the impact of such training on the propensity to successfully start a business, demand for labour, and attitudes towards cooperation, reciprocity, and violence

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

Prof. C.S. Schetter, BICC (Bonn International Center for Conversion) 

In this project, insight in drivers and challenges of conflict-sensitive employment (CSE) strategies and investment in the labor intensive construction, infrastructure, and transport (CIT)-sector will be developed in Afghanistan. Empirical research will be combined with the implementation of pilot schemes and the research will also include cross-border and regional interactions with regard to employment strategies.

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

Prof. T. Brück, SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

This project will improve our understanding of how economic variables and stability are interrelated and how aid interventions may improve both development and stability. The focus will be on the impacts of two types of employment intervention, those focusing on job creation and those boosting employment training, across Africa and in Afghanistan and Yemen.