Publication: The Welfare of Syrian Refugees: Evidence from Jordan and Lebanon
Loading...
Files in English
28,173 downloads
3,404 downloads
643 downloads
Date
2016
ISSN
Published
2016
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The book focuses on the largest refugee crisis of our time: the Syrian refugee crisis. It exploits a wealth of survey and registry data on Syrian refugees living in Jordan and Lebanon to assess their poverty and vulnerability status, understand the predictors of these statuses, evaluate the performance of existing policies toward refugees, and determine the potential for alternative policies. Findings point to a complex situation. In the absence of humanitarian assistance, poverty is extremely high among refugees. Current policies including cash transfers and food vouchers are effective in reducing poverty but they remain short of providing economic inclusion and self-reliance of refugees. A shift toward economic inclusion and self-reliance would require a different humanitarian and development paradigm, one that focuses on growth policies for areas affected by refugees where the target population is constituted by refugees and hosting populations alike. This joint study by the World Bank Group and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees helps bridge the historical divide between humanitarian and development work by providing practical solutions for assisting refugees in the short, medium and long-term and to prevent the irreversible loss of social and human capital typically associated with prolonged refugee crises.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Gigliarano, Chiara; Verme, Paolo; Wieser, Christina; Hedlund, Kerren; Petzoldt, Marc; Santacroce, Marco. 2016. The Welfare of Syrian Refugees: Evidence from Jordan and Lebanon. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23228 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Optimal Targeting under Budget Constraints in a Humanitarian Context(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-09)The combination of conflict, food insecurity, and displacement generates competing claims for financial resources that stretch the donors' ability to provide funding and the humanitarian organizations' capacity to provide social assistance. The paper uses Receiver Operating Characteristic curves and related indexes to determine the optimal targeting strategy of a food voucher program for refugees. The estimations focus on the 2014 food vouchers administered by the World Food Programme to Syrian refugees in Jordan. The analysis uses data collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Based on a poverty model, Receiver Operating Characteristic curves are used to optimize coverage and leakage rates under budget constraints. The paper shows how policy makers can use these instruments to fine-tune targeting using coverage rates, budgets, or poverty lines as guiding principles to increase the overall efficiency of a program. As humanitarian organizations operate under increasing budget constraints and increasing demands for efficiency, the proposed approach addresses both concerns.Publication Optimal Targeting Under Budget Constraints in a Humanitarian Context(Elsevier, 2018-01-05)The paper uses Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves and related indexes to determine the optimal targeting strategy of a food voucher program for refugees. Estimations focus on the 2014 food voucher administered by the World Food Program to Syrian refugees in Jordan using data collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The paper shows how to use ROC curves to optimize targeting using coverage rates, budgets, or poverty lines as guiding principles to increase the overall efficiency of a program. As humanitarian organizations operate under increasing budget constraints and increasing demands for efficiency, the proposed approach addresses both concerns.Publication What Are the Impacts of Syrian Refugees on Host Community Welfare in Turkey?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01)In recent years, Turkey has been host to more than two million Syrians seeking refuge. Initially concentrated in the southeastern regions, these refugees now reside throughout the country. There are many questions from policy makers regarding the impact of the population of Syrians Under Temporary Protection on the host community. This paper examines the impact of migrants on regional host communities from a poverty perspective. The paper does not find any negative impacts on poverty for the host community from the increasing population of Syrians Under Temporary Protection as of 2013, despite the high poverty rates experienced among the recent migrants.Publication Forced Displacement of and Potential Solutions for IDPs and Refugees in the Sahel : Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger(Washington, DC, 2013-10)The Sahel region has seen the forcible displacement of more than million persons as a result of conflict. Tackling displacement in the Sahel is critical for both poverty alleviation and stabilization, and only a development response will be adequate to the task. A development response to forced displacement in the Sahel requires a regional approach. Such an approach would have the benefits of being able to overcome challenges relating to cross-border movements, obtain commitments by host governments to support the prospects of displaced from neighboring countries, and facilitate common approaches, shared conceptualization and learning. The purpose of this scoping study on forced displacement is to contribute towards the formulation of a regional policy framework for sustainable solutions to displacement and towards the substantiation of a development response. The main challenges for the displaced populations include: i) livelihoods; ii) relations with host communities; iii) cohesion; iv) depletion of services; and v) governance. Measures to be taken to address the needs of these communities are: 1) improving the monitoring of population movement and knowledge on the locations, profiles and needs of the displaced, their host and return communities; 2) ensuring that the displaced and those affected by them can benefit from ongoing wider development investments in the region by designing 'displacement-sensitive' interventions; 3) strengthening services in affected areas through targeted regional investment programs; 4) employment creation and livelihood generation for those displaced; 5) delivering resources for the displaced in such a way that important outcomes are achieved; and 6) exploring the creative use of new technologies to extent information and development benefits to the displaced.Publication Host Environments and Welfare of In-Camp Refugees(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-30)This paper examines welfare disparities between in-camp refugees and host com- munities in Ethiopia, using data from the 2023 Socio-Economic Survey of Refugees in Ethiopia. The analysis reveals significant welfare gaps between in-camp refugees and hosts even after accounting for various other baseline socioeconomic char- acteristics: in-camp refugees exhibit 60 percent lower consumption per capita and poverty rates that are 40 percentage points higher compared to host communities. These disparities are also associated with limited employment opportunities and dependence on humanitarian aid among in-camp refugees. The study examines the relationship between host community characteristics and refugee welfare, revealing that more favorable socioeconomic environments benefit refugees, even when labor market outcomes are constrained by legal and structural barriers. Furthermore, the paper explores how employment outside camps may be linked to the welfare of in-camp refugees, as well as the reasons behind their pursuit of such opportunities despite restrictive policies. It finds that refugees working outside camps often originate from poorer households but report a greater sense of autonomy and control over their lives. These findings highlight the importance of economic inclusion as a pathway to self-reliance for in-camp refugees and emphasize the need to remove barriers to formal employment opportunities outside camps to improve their welfare.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Services Unbound(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09)Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.Publication TVET Systems’ Response to COVID-19(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05-14)This note focuses on the role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides guidance on reducing the adverse impact of the pandemic on TVET provision and enhancing the contribution TVET can make to mitigating the health, social, and economic impact of COVID-19.Publication State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-05-21)This report provides an up-to-date overview of existing and emerging carbon pricing instruments around the world, including international, national, and subnational initiatives. It also investigates trends surrounding the development and implementation of carbon pricing instruments and some of the drivers seen over the past year. Specifically, this report covers carbon taxes, emissions trading systems (ETSs), and crediting mechanisms. Key topics covered in the 2024 report include uptake of ETSs and carbon taxes in low- and middle- income economies, sectoral coverage of ETSs and carbon taxes, and the use of crediting mechanisms as part of the policy mix.Publication Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank and Agence Française de Développement, 2014-01-27)Sub-Saharan Africa has just experienced one of the best decades of growth since the 1960s. Between 2000 and 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew more than 4.5 percent a year on average, compared to around 2 percent in the prior 20 years (World Bank various years). In 2012, the region's GDP growth was estimated at 4.7 percent- 5.8 percent if South Africa is excluded (World Bank 2013). About one-quarter of countries in the region grew at 7 percent or better, and several African countries are among the fastest growing in the world. Medium-term growth prospects remain strong and should be supported by a rebounding global economy. The challenge of youth employment in Africa may appear daunting, yet Africa's vibrant youth represent an enormous opportunity, particularly now, when populations in much of the world are aging rapidly. Youth not only need jobs, but also create them. Africa's growing labor force can be an asset in the global marketplace. Realizing this brighter vision for Africa's future, however, will require a clearer understanding of how to benefit from this asset. Meeting the youth employment challenge in all its dimensions, demographic, economic, and social, and understanding the forces that created the challenge, can open potential pathways toward a better life for young people and better prospects for the countries where they live. The report examines obstacles faced by households and firms in meeting the youth employment challenge. It focuses primarily on productivity, in agriculture, in nonfarm household enterprises (HEs), and in the modern wage sector, because productivity is the key to higher earnings as well as to more stable, less vulnerable, livelihoods. To respond to the policy makers' dilemma, the report identifies specific areas where government intervention can reduce those obstacles to productivity for households and firms, leading to brighter employment prospects for youth, their parents, and their own children.Publication Thirsty Energy (II)(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01)The effect of oil and gas development on local and regional water resources can profoundly change a region’s economic possibilities, its water environment, and the vitality of its ecosystem. It is necessary to tackle the water-energy challenge today through technological innovations and institutional changes, such as integrated planning and valuing water as a resource. More information on the thirsty energy initiative can be found at www. worldbank.org/thirstyenergy.