Publications — Samuel Hall

HALO Trust – Impact Assessments of Abandoned Improvised Mines (AIM) & Anti-Vehicle Mines (AVM) in Afghanistan

April 2021

Abandoned Improvised Mines (AIM) have caused over half of all landmine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the last 5 years, killing thousands . Anti-Vehicle Mines (AVM) comprise over half of the remaining suspected and confirmed hazardous areas in the country. The HALO Trust is the major clearance organisation for both types of landmines. The impact assessments were based on primary research directly with communities affected by AVM and AIM and their subsequent survey and clearance.

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HALO Trust – An Independent Evaluation of the HALO Trust 2016-2020 Mine Action Programmes Funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

February 2021

Between 2016 and 2020, the HALO Trust conducted mine action across eight projects: Afghanistan, Colombia, Kosovo, the West Bank (Palestinian Territories), Somalia, Somaliland, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. With over 16m USD in funding from the Dutch MFA, HALO conducted landmine/ERW clearance, explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), and victim assistance (VA), in order to prevent injuries and death, return land to local communities and increase people's resilience. This independent evaluation assessed the performance of the global programme along OECD-DAC criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, impact and sustainability. It found the programme largely succeeded along these criteria.

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HelpAge – COVID-19, Displacement & Older People in Afghanistan

January 2021

Samuel Hall and HelpAge International add a short country report brief focused on the impact of COVID-19 on Afghanistan’s elderly population to a multi-partner series sponsored by UNFPA and coordinated by HelpAge International. Samuel Hall’s contribution is independent and entirely self-funded. The overall objective of this series is to broadly monitor, document, analyse and share how the situation of older people in Asia changes in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, in order to inform programmatic responses and policy advice, post-pandemic. The methodology is geared towards collecting and analysing a wide range of secondary evidence from multiple sources, including academic, UN and INGO studies; government documents and data; key informant interviews; summaries of field data; and media reports.

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Street Child – Building Alternatives: Supporting Afghan Women & Children in Conflict with the Law

December 2020

This report generates evidence regarding the effectiveness of AtDs, rehabilitation, and reintegration measures, intended for stakeholders currently in a position to implement AtDs, as well as the broader sector working with children and women in conflict with the law. The Children in Crisis (CiC) project titled Support to Afghan Women and Children in Conflict with the Law: Diversion, Rehabilitation and Reintegration is a series of programmatic interventions that began in December 2017 and will conclude in 2020. It seeks to address the major structural barriers to the implementation of the Alternatives to Detention (AtD) and Alternatives to Incarceration (AtI) measures added to the Afghan Penal Code, and the growing evidence base for positive outcomes in reintegration, rehabilitation and recidivism that are connected to successful implementation of such alternatives in other contexts, for children specifically and for adults more broadly. Specifically, the goal of the work is to enable vulnerable children and women in contact and conflict with the law to avoid detention, reduce reoffending through rehabilitation, and reintegrate into their families and communities. This research falls under and addresses the third objective of the project, "Objective 3: Developing an evidence base to influence and advocate for future justice sector reform for women and juveniles."

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AFI – Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons

December 2020

Forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) often lack access to finances – including savings accounts, transfers, loans and insurance. In support of AFI’s “Advancing the Financial Inclusion of FDPs: Putting Recommendations to Practice" , Samuel Hall created a guideline note on how to better include displaced people into National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS) globally. In addition, Samuel Hall and AFI, with support from Strathmore University in Kenya, researched the financial inclusion of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to produce a series of case studies covering Afghanistan, Mauritania and Rwanda.

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DACAAR – Towards the Triple Nexus: Toolkit on Afghanistan's NPP, SDGs & Triple Nexus

November 2020

This study examines where and how DACAAR should align its strategy with the Afghanistan Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), National Priority Programs and the Triple Nexus.

The triple nexus is a continuation of long-running efforts to link Relief, Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD), going a step further to link these with the aim to end conflicts. Adding the peacebuilding side to the organisation’s efforts, will shift it from being the double nexus of humanitarian-development aid, to triple nexus with peace being “the third leg of the triangle”.

The resulting toolkit will help DACAAR and other NGO partners to identify the linkage of Afghanistan Sustainable Development Goals, with their interventions and how to contribute to peacebuilding in Afghanistan through their work with Afghan communities. It also reveals where the gaps are and how organisations can further contribute to fill them.

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HelpAge - Afghanistan Analytical Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on Older Persons

October 2020

Samuel Hall and HelpAge International have agreed to add a short country report brief focused on the impact of COVID-19 on Afghanistan’s elderly population to a multi-partner series sponsored by UNFPA and coordinated by HelpAge International. Samuel Hall’s contribution is independent and entirely self-funded. The overall objective of this series is to broadly monitor, document, analyse and share how the situation of older people in Asia changes in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, in order to inform programmatic responses and policy advice, post-pandemic. The methodology is geared towards collecting and analysing a wide range of secondary evidence from multiple sources. Given the regional nature of the task and the current risks associated with travel and gatherings, no fieldwork (primary data collection) will be included, nor original data analysis. However, Samuel Hall may report findings from fieldwork and data analysis carried out by others.

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South & Central AsiaSamuel HallOctober 13, 2020elderly, Afghanistan, UNFPA, HelpAge International

COVID-19 in Afghanistan: Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, and Implications

July 2020

COVID-19 threatens Afghanistan’s many gains, from progress in access to education for children and trust in formal protection mechanisms to social norms around gender and trust in Government. With a healthcare system already stretched to the limits, ongoing conflict and natural disasters, widespread food insecurity and reductions in foreign aid, stakeholders in Afghanistan were already facing a complex and worsening situation. COVID-19 has the potential to disastrously exacerbate this. Samuel Hall is supporting the Afghanistan Protection Cluster (PC) and other stakeholders with this brief to fill in key knowledge gaps around how COVID-19 is understood and perceived and its current and likely implications.

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The Halo Trust - The Link: Connecting Mine Action and Livelihoods

June 2020

As mine action stakeholders work towards a mine-free Afghanistan in a country experiencing active conflict and pervasive economic difficulties, there are growing imperatives to link clearance of mines from the land, with the livelihoods and development of people and communities on that land afterwards.Samuel Hall conducted an evaluation of the programme for the HALO Trust as the programme concluded, reviewing literature and conducting primary data collection and analysis from November 2019 to March 2020. The research emphasised a community-based mixed methods approach to evaluate the programme from beneficiaries’ perspectives, and placed community members’ feedback at the centre of the evaluation.

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The Womanity Foundation - Girls CAN Code

June 2020

The Womanity Foundation are implementing GCC at a particularly critical juncture with Afghanistan charting an uncertain path in 2020 and beyond. This uncertainty extends to the role of women in Afghan society as well as the context for female education and employment. In a fast changing environment, how can Womanity maximise their impact and best work with Afghan girls to create tangible changes in their own lives? With these questions as a basis, Samuel Hall: evaluated the GCC programme from 2016–2019; conducted a context and market analysis on potential income and work pathways for Afghan girls with a focus on the tech sector and broader trends in STEM; mapped a forward strategy for Womanity to scale its impact.

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World Bank - A Qualitative Assessment of Pathways to Youth Inclusion in Afghanistan

April 2020

The World Bank commissioned Samuel Hall in 2019 to conduct field research to explore Pathways to Youth Inclusion in Afghanistan. The objectives of this research were twofold: 1) To understand the issues, barriers and challenges faced by Afghan youth in terms of their inclusion in the social and economic processes that make up Afghan society and 2) To understand the perceptions of the Youth Subcommittees (YSCs) of local Community Development Councils (CDCs) established by Citizens’ Charter (an initiative of the Government of Afghanistan introduced in late 2016, to improve the delivery of core infrastructure, emergency services, and social services to participating communities), in terms of their impact, capacity, strengths and weaknesses, and attitudes toward them and their work.

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ADSP - A Long Way Home: Obstacles and Opportunities for IDP Return in Afghanistan

January 2020

Building on secondary research and an ethnographic-based primary data collection, this research turns to IDPs in key provinces and districts of return to ask: which factors positively contribute to the ability of IDP populations to return to their places of origin in a manner which is sustainable and dignified? Samuel Hall answers this question by taking a case study approach, zooming in on 1-3 specific theme(s) in each of the areas studied, and building a narrative of local specificities raised by IDPs themselves in group and individual consultations, including interactions with other community representatives as well in the process.

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DRC/NRC/IRC - Unprepared for (re)integration: Lessons Learned from Afghanistan, Somalia, and Syria on Refugee Returns to Urban Areas

January 2020

This research was designed to support the thinking and planning around (re-)integration by identifying obstacles to preparedness of stakeholders for return and (re-)integration in refugee return settings. The study generates operational learning to enable NGOs, UN agencies, donors, government actors, and displacement-affected communities (DACs) to strengthen (re-) integration programming. It does so by reviewing achievements, challenges, opportunities, and critical success factors required for enhancing preparedness in return settings.

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World Bank – Afghanistan Household & Enterprise Energy Diaries

January 2020

The Household and Enterprise Diaries research project formed part of the World Bank’s 3-year Afghanistan Energy Study. The aim of the project was to collect data on energy patterns at the household and business/community institution level in different Afghan contexts. This included information on electricity solutions, fuel sources, heating, cooking and lighting as well as willingness to pay. Samuel Hall conducted 3000 household surveys, 250 business and community institution surveys and 30 Focus Group Discussions across 30 communities in 6 Provinces (Kabul, Samangan, Herat, Paktia and Daikundi). The research team conducted a longitudinal research phase, which involved monthly call-backs with the research participants over one year (up to 39,000 phone surveys), along with seasonal case-studies to capture changing energy consumption patterns across different seasons.

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War Child - Coming Back to Afghanistan: Study on Deported Minors’ Return and Reintegration Needs in the Western Region

December 2019

Samuel Hall was commissioned by War Child to conduct a study that provides a comprehensive understanding of the existing Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) regarding the unsafe migration of unaccompanied children to Iran. Primary data collection was conducted in Herat and Badghis provinces. The study also targeted parents and communities of children at risk of unsafe migration or experienced unsafe migration. This study contributes to charting a path forward for a post-deportation protection framework adapted to the protection profiles and needs of unaccompanied minors, their families and communities of return.

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UNESCO - Inclusion of Afghan Refugees in the National Education Systems of Iran and Pakistan

November 2018

This paper was commissioned by the Global Education Monitoring Report as background information to assist in drafting the 2019 GEM Report, Migration, displacement and education: Building bridges, not walls, accessible here.

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Save the Children - From Europe to Afghanistan: Experiences of child returnees

October 2018

This report assesses the impact on children of being returned from Europe to Afghanistan. Through interviews with individual children, their parents or guardians, and with governmental and non-governmental actors, it builds a picture of children’s material, physical, legal and psychosocial safety during the returns process.

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Save the Children - Durable Solutions For Returnee Children: What Do We Know?

September 2018

This report addresses a gap in knowledge about the often-difficult conditions of children’s return to the areas of (their parents’) origin. It gives an overview of what is known (and what is not) about the return of displaced children to Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Syria, four of the most important contexts of return today.

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Mercy Corps - Driven to leave: Aid & Migration

September 2018

Our policy briefs question the efficacy of traditional development investments that seek to deter migration from countries lacking basic rule of law and security; and question the impact of job training and skills building on migration intentions.

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UNICEF/MoLSAMD - Child Marriage in Afghanistan: Changing the Narrative

July 2018

The primary objective of this report is to provide contextualised analysis in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of communities in order to inform the development of future programming to either mitigate the impacts of child marriage or prevent further engagement in child marriage across Afghanistan.

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