This collection brings together brief overviews of the social assistance landscape in eight fragile and conflict-affected settings in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. These overviews were prepared as part of Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) Research, a multi-year programme (2020–24) supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK government. BASIC Research aims to inform policy and programming on effective social assistance in situations of crisis, including for those who are experiencing climate-related shocks and stressors, protracted conflict and forced displacement.

This article draws on recent research (2017–20) into the livelihoods and imagined futures of rural youth in four communities in southern Nigeria. The research involved observations, sex-segregated focus group discussions and individual interviews. Taking up insights from sociologists of education and work, our analysis shows how rural youth simultaneously navigated schooling, farming, low-paid vocational work and family obligations in ways that were highly gendered. We show the gulf between youth’s daily lives and their imagined futures, and how their desires for better lives, whether through ‘white-collar’ work or expanded farming activities, often involved moving to more ‘civilised’ or ‘developed’ contexts. Commitment to family nevertheless ran through youth’s narratives, in ways that reflected a deeply gendered, sexual economy. We conclude by highlighting the relevance of a connected sociology that embraces postcolonial and feminist scholarship to advance future studies of rural youth, gender and work in the Global South.

This chapter draws on qualitative research into youth livelihoods in four sub-Saharan African countries that has addressed the local social dynamics of work and education from the perspectives of young people themselves. Firstly, it illuminates the extent to which the youth in the four different national contexts value education. It then turns to young people's lived experiences of juggling both schooling and work from an early age, highlighting the wide disparity between idealized notions of 'transition' and the complexities of youth livelihoods. Finally, it explores the gendered dimensions of this social landscape, and how these produce different pressures that force young women in particular out of education. The chapter concludes with implications for young people's current and future engagement with the rural economy, and for education policy.

A growing body of literature on wartime social change reveals how disruptions in social institutions can have post-war effects, but there is limited knowledge of how such changes shape the lives of rural young people. The Acholi region of northern Uganda experienced two decades of armed conflict and forced displacement . This paper draws on qualitative field research to analyse the influence of family dynamics on the educational and livelihood trajectories of Acholi youth in rural areas, during and after the war. It demonstrates how young people's opportunities during the war were directly affected by insecurity, and indirectly through the disruption of family life. By 2020, young people are still 'struggling': they work hard to respond to family obligations, which ultimately undermines their chances to progress. The social embeddedness of young people in family relations mediates the ability of young men and women to harness opportunities in a context of underdevelopment.

Having a right that is not respected is not the same as having no right at all. At least this should not be the case. Failure to receive something to which you are entitled should lead to formal redress or failing that, protest. The rights-based discourse has a wider importance. If and when it is or should be used is significant. In terms of access to social protection (including social and humanitarian assistance), the rights-based discourse means there is no difference between refugees and others who fail to receive the protection to which they are entitled, such as Internally Displaced People (IDPs). This introduces two key tensions, both of which we explore in this paper. The first concerns the identification of the institution responsible for fulfilling the right, as determined in state-led/formal humanitarian system of social protection. The second concerns the alternatives displaced people may identify when Northern mandated forms of social protection fail, or when the conditions for the enjoyment of that protection are too onerous. These alternatives constitute a second system of social protection. We conclude that although they are unequal, both systems are currently necessary, even as a language of rights is only appropriate in relation to the first tension. Ultimately greater coordination and collaboration between the two systems is necessary.

This paper examines the role of cash-plus programming (including graduation) for livelihoods, income, protection, and health outcomes in contexts of different conflict intensity. We assess the origins of cash-plus programming (including graduation) for livelihoods outcomes as it has developed in settings that are more peaceful and where social protection systems are stronger. The paper then considers fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS), where social protection systems are often weak, and the threat of conflict-related violence undermines livelihoods as well as programming operations. We introduce a simple framework to understand programming contexts in FCAS, using both the strength of the social protection system as well as the intensity of conflict to identify four broad categories or landscapes for cash-plus programming. We use this framework to present the findings of a comprehensive review and analysis of 42 cash-plus programmes in 17 fragile and conflict-affected countries. This review maps key features in design and implementation of social and humanitarian cash assistance augmented by livelihood support across FCAS. There is significant variation, and few dominant patterns, in the objectives, coverage, duration, type of support, implementers, and impacts of programmes. This reflects the very different landscapes of conflict and systems of social assistance provisioning that exist across the countries covered in the review. Finally, we draw out lessons, questions, and challenges for programme design and implementation across different contexts and provide suggestions for future deeper research on these themes in the Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) Research programme.

Multiple efforts have been made in recent years to introduce cash transfers augmented by livelihood support (‘cash-plus’) into protracted crisis contexts to support lives and livelihoods. Yet, little learning has been generated about how to design and implement these effectively and under what conditions. This brief summarises the state of the evidence and debate, gaps in the evidence, and directions for research that emerge from the thematic paper on cash-plus in protracted crises characterised by conflict and fragility. We identify distinct objectives and patterns of cash-plus provision across different conflict-social protection contexts. A dearth of evidence on impacts of these programmes remains. This has implications for future work in the area of cash assistance and livelihoods in protracted crisis settings. We identify a number of key questions to guide further research.

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