The Population Council conducts rigorous formative research, risk mapping, and develops vulnerability indices and practical tools to collect program-relevant information for use in post-conflict settings globally.
We evaluate and generate evidence on interventions to combat sexual and gender-based violence and improve sexual and reproductive health in post conflict and refugee settings; facilitate innovations in data collection from underserved and displaced populations; and synthesize research and promote research uptake in many countries around the world.
Highlights
Undertaken in partnership with the Women’s Refugee Commission, this study identified the link between education and children’s protection and well-being in camps for internally displaced people in Darfur. The study also documented the educational environment different camps, describing circumstances of children across these settings. As part of the project, the Population Council convened an international advisory group comprised of practitioners, policymakers, and donors with expertise on work in conflict affected areas.
To what extent have sexual and reproductive health and marriage practices among Rohingya adolescents living in refugee camps in Bangladesh changed as a result of displacement? Population Council research assesses the sexual and reproductive health needs of Rohingya adolescents and the availability and quality of services available. This study is among the first and only in-depth qualitative research conducted with young Rohingya in the camps in Bangladesh.
Meeting family planning needs in humanitarian emergencies is challenging but feasible, and could present opportunities for reaching remote and underserved populations. Although high-quality evidence on family planning in emergencies is needed to improve access to voluntary family planning services in humanitarian settings, this evidence brief identifies several promising, evidence-based interventions that can help improve uptake:
- Provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services in line with global norms
- Provide a full range of family planning methods via mobile clinics
- Train mobile health workers to provide short-acting methods
- Second refugee providers to health facilities to provide family planning in humanitarian settings
- Train community health workers to conduct family planning education, collaborate with the Ministry of Health, and engage adolescents
Girl Empower aimed to equip adolescent girls with the skills to make healthy, strategic life choices and to stay safe from sexual abuse. Using a cluster-randomized controlled trial, the intervention delivered a life skills curriculum to girls aged 13–14 in Liberia, facilitated by local female mentors. The impact of the program was assessed on pre-specified domains using standardized indices: sexual violence, schooling, sexual and reproductive health, psychosocial wellbeing, gender attitudes, life skills, and protective factors.
