July 2015
To help the Government of Afghanistan (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) and its partners promote ambitious economic and employment generation schemes in the country, this report investigates the economic context for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Afghanistan across seven regions in the country: Kabul, Balkh, Nangarhar, Paktia, Kunduz, Kandahar, and Herat.
Download the Executive Summary (Dari)
Download the Executive Summary (Pashto)
Read MoreJune 2015
The focus of humanitarian and development assistance should be on the poorest families; many of whom will be either internally displaced or returnees. However, the argument for targeting returning refugees as a particular group is becoming less convincing. As this study and previous studies (Samuel Hall/MGSOG 2013 UNHCR Shelter assistance programme evaluation) show, returnees are comparatively less vulnerable compared to internally displaced persons.
Read MoreSeptember 2014
UNICEF is considering the development of a social protection programme with a specific focus on children, within the already existing framework developed by the World Bank and MoLSAMD. With the end goal of articulating children-sensitive programming with the World Bank’s own safety net programme in mind, the first step in this direction is for the organisation to launch a pilot programme in Balkh to test the best modalities of programming to cover children’s needs for social protection in the country.
Read MoreDecember 2014
Samuel Hall was commissioned by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in October 2014 to conduct a mid-term review of the second phase of the Great Lakes Civil Society Programme (GLP), a regional programme implemented since January 2010 by DRC with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
Read MoreApril 2015
This Policy Brief, prepared with the support of UNHCR and NRC, is intended to serve as a reference guide to help all stakeholders understand what their role is in supporting the effective implementation of the Policy and to contribute towards ensuring that the rights of IDPs are protected throughout all phases of displacement.
Download Policy Brief (English)
Read MoreJanuary 2015
For the enthusiastic, “resilience” is a concept; for the cynical, it is a buzzword. For both, the question remains the same: how can aid actors turn it into humanitarian and development practice? According to UNDP, resilience is a “transformative process of strengthening the capacity of people, communities and countries to anticipate, manage, recover and transform from shocks.”
Read MoreDecember 2014
DRC commissioned Samuel Hall for a study on the Somali New Deal Compact and Displacement, under the research framework of the Regional Durable Solutions Secretariat (ReDSS), a consortium with an advisory board consisting of ACTED, CARE, DRC, IRC, Mercy Corps, NRC, OXFAM, Refugee Consortium Kenya (RCK) and WVI.
Read MoreDecember 2014
This document provides highlights from a market and value chain research conducted by Samuel Hall Consulting for the International labour Organisation (ILO) in 2014 in Baidoa and Beletweyne districts in Somalia.
Read MoreNovember 2014
People in Need (PIN) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) commissioned Samuel Hall to conduct a large urban poverty study in Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-e- Sharif and Kandahar. The study is based on a 5,400-household survey and will be presented to key stakeholders during a series of consultation in September 2014.
Read MoreNovember 2014
The present study’s first aim was to review the relevance and impact of the strategic choice made by GIZ BEPA’s to use community mobilization as a conduit for the promotion of girls’ secondary education. Its second aim was to evaluate the quality of implementation and sustainability of the programme; and finally, it will provide GIZ with practical recommendations for the improvement and potential extension of the programme.
Download the Executive Summary (Dari)
Download the Executive Summary (Pashto)
Read MoreOctober 2014
UNMAS and the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) are in a paradoxical situation. Successful and increasingly efficient over the past six years, the MAPA is now in a delicate position to negotiate the years to come, as it struggles to secure the yearly funding it needs to allow Afghanistan to fulfil its treaty obligations.
Download the Executive Summary
Read MoreSeptember 2014
In a challenging Afghan environment, Cash Transfer Programmes (CTPs) have proven to be an efficient, safe, and flexible assistance tool that has delivered all or part of a response: i) in emergency or development situations; ii) across a large spectrum of activities (livelihoods, WASH, food security), and iii) in diverse geographic locations (urban and rural communities). To fuel the on-going debate, we listed for OCHA key findings and lessons learned from Samuel Hall’s most recent publications.
Read MoreSeptember 2015
The Somali Compact, a component of the New Deal framework, will shape international engagement in South Central Somalia over the next three years (2014-16). The Compact provides “an overarching strategic framework for coordinating political, security and development efforts for peace and statebuilding activities.”
Read MoreApril 2015
The new study compares the health of children working in brick kilns with their siblings and other children who do not work in the kilns. Guided by the World Health Organisation’s conceptual framework on the social determinants of health, it examines mental and social well-being as well as physical health.
Read MoreAugust 2014
This evaluation presents key findings from an assessment of IOM’s return and reintegration activities (2008 – 2013) in the provinces of Kabul, Nangarhar, Nimroz and Heart in Afghanistan. These activities included: post-arrival assistance, livelihood assistance and shelter assistance for deported and voluntary returnees and other vulnerable groups.
Download the Executive Summary
Read MoreJuly 2014
Child labour is an inescapable reality in Afghanistan with a recent study reporting that 25% of children aged 5 to 14 participate in labour activities. Carpet-weaving is a sector that particularly lends itself to child labour and Goodweave aims to combat this practice.
Read MoreMay 2014
The objective of this study was to inform DFID about the effectiveness and value for money of setting up emergency short-term, cash-based projects for disaster affected populations. It contributes to DFID’s humanitarian knowledge base on the use of mobile technology for emergency food needs.
Read MoreJuly 2014
This report is an evaluation of the YEP project using the OECD-DAC criteria and substantive quantitative, qualitative and contextual information from the field.
Read MoreJuly 2014
This Migration Profile for Afghanistan is a tool for enhancing policy coherence, evidence-based policymaking and the mainstreaming of migration into development planning. It provides detailed information on the migration patterns in Afghanistan with a focus on circular migration and remittances.
Read MoreJuly 2014
The objective of this study is to summarise trends from NRC’s legal case analysis and identify the challenges faced by displaced women in accessing their housing, land and property (HLP) rights. This study offers evidence and guidance for policymakers and NRC to help eliminate – not just outcomes – of gender inequality.
Read More
