International Security and Development Center

Climate and conflict crises increasingly occur together, creating compounded risks for household food security. This review synthesizes evidence from 37 quantitative studies published 2020-2025 on how climate crises (such as drought, storms, or floods), violent conflict (such as war and institutional fragility), and their interactions affect household food security. Most studies examine either climate crises (51%) or conflict crises (38%), while only 11% analyze combined crises. Evidence is geographically concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa (65%) and relies largely on cross-sectional surveys (68%), limiting insight into longer-term trajectories. Climate crises are measured mainly using meteorological or remote-sensing datasets (42%) while conflict exposure relies predominantly on self-reported data (71%). Only a small number of studies integrate geocoded climate or political violence datasets with household surveys, and few studies estimate interaction or spillover effects. Food security measurement is also narrow, with most studies using access and utilization indicators such as the food consumption score (FCS) (43%), household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) (35%), or household dietary diversity score (HDDS) (19%). Across studies, climate crises, conflict, and their concurrence are associated with reduced consumption, lower dietary diversity, and greater coping burdens. Impacts vary by household assets, agroecology, and institutional or humanitarian support, highlighting the need for longitudinal and spatially or contextually explicit evidence measuring productive resilience rather than only short-term consumption smoothing.

During protracted displacement, women and girls often face serious gender-specific challenges and vulnerabilities, including adverse norms and institutional barriers. Using survey data from 18,533 displaced and non-displaced individuals in El Fasher, Sudan, we document that livelihoods are significantly shaped by a strong and complex intersectionality between long-term displacement and gender. IDP women work more (including paid labour, on- and off-farm self-employment) than non-IDP women but are poorer, on average. For men, there is no such difference in employment between IDPs and non-IDPs. These outcomes are the result of the ‘double burden of female protracted displacement’. First, norms and institutions at the destination create access barriers to decent employment (due to women’s displacement status). Second, norms and institutions at the place of origin create endowment barriers to decent employment (due to their gender). The double burden is strongest for older displaced women. By contrast, protracted displacement can be an (educational) opportunity for girls who grow up in displacement. Future policies should address the challenges stemming from the intersectionality of gender and protracted displacement by reducing past and contemporary institutional barriers and market asymmetries facing IDP women and by targeting the particular vulnerabilities older IDP women carry, enabling better education and training.

Several social media employ or consider user recruitment as defense against misinformation. Yet, it is unclear how to encourage users to make accurate evaluations. Our study shows that presenting the performance of previous participants increases discernment of science-related news. Making participants aware that their evaluations would be used by future participants had no effect on accuracy. Lastly, monetary rewards have the largest effect on accuracy. Our study provides support for the idea that a person’s motivation is an essential component of their propensity to be vigilant online and that it is possible to devise strategies to strengthen this motivation.

Objective: Providing country-level estimates for prevalence rates of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), COVID-19 exposure and food insecurity (FI) and assessing the role of persistent threats to survival-exemplified by exposure to COVID-19 and FI-for the mental health crisis in Africa. Methods: Original phone-based survey data from Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda (12 consecutive cross-sections in 2021; n = 23,943) were analyzed to estimate prevalence rates of GAD. Logistic regression models and mediation analysis using structural equation models identify risk and protective factors. Results: The overall prevalence of GAD in 2021 was 23.3%; 40.2% in Mozambique, 17.0% in Sierra Leone, 18.0% in Tanzania, and 19.1% in Uganda. Both COVID-19 exposure (ORadj. 1.4; CI 1.3-1.6) and FI (ORadj 3.2; CI 2.7-3.8) are independent and significant predictors of GAD. Thus, the impact of FI on GAD was considerably stronger than that of COVID-19 exposure. Conclusion: Persistent threats to survival play a substantial role for mental health, specifically GAD. High anxiety prevalence in the population requires programs to reduce violence and enhance social support. Even during a pandemic, addressing FI as a key driver of GAD should be prioritized by policymakers.

Homes gardens are a key source of food security and micronutrient-rich fruits and vegetables and are promoted by aid organizations to help households cope in humanitarian emergencies. However, there is a strong divide between the popularity of home gardens among practitioners and the academic evidence of its nutritional, economic, social and political outcomes. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the evidence about home garden interventions in crisis settings using a three-pronged approach, triangulating evidence from academic literature, expert discussion (World Café) and a practitioner survey. Our findings show a significant gap between existing research evidence on one hand, and the needs and current practices on the other, particularly where theories and impact pathways of home garden interventions might not hold in crises-affected settings.

How does ethnic inequality shape victimization in violent conflicts? Our case study of the 2010 conflict in Kyrgyzstan tests whether communities with higher ethnic inequalities in education experienced more intense displacement. We find that local inequality in education between Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic majority and its largest minority robustly predicts patterns of forced displacement, controlling for alternative approaches like ethnic spatial segregation or polarization. By decomposing inequality, we observe that local educational advantage towards the other ethnic group is associated with a lower likelihood of displacement. Ethnic Uzbeks with low education levels relative to Kyrgyz in their area have the highest displacement rate.