Employment Support and Integration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

Policy Context

Forced displacement has been a major global development challenge, with 123.2 million people displaced worldwide by the end of 2024, more than two-thirds of them classified as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), in protracted situations. Ethiopia carries a disproportionate share, hosting over 4.4 million IDPs as of 2023. In labor market outcomes, IDPs are more likely to have challenges entering the labor force, and experience a low overall quality of employment should they be able to enter the labor market.

The unique socioeconomic profile of IDPs, characterized by frozen assets, continuous trauma from proximity to conflict, and urban invisibility, diverges significantly from the chronic structural poverty found in general low-income samples, underscoring the critical need for dedicated research focused specifically on the mechanisms of internal displacement.

This pilot tests a multi-arm intervention combining cash transfers, an institutional guarantee, and support in accessing underutilized public employment systems.

Study Design

This pilot will evaluate three job-search interventions, randomized at the job-seeker level, in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. Forty IDPs will be randomized into one of four groups: 1) a one-time cash payment of 27 USD to support job searching; 2) the same payment plus an institutional guarantee to strengthen social support networks; 3) the payment plus access to an existing public employment service providing market linkages, wage employment assistance, and credit facilitation; 4) a comparison group.

Baseline data, collected during registration, will include job seekers’ characteristics, social integration indicators, and employment and displacement histories. Two follow-up surveys will be administered three and six months after the intervention, using the Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) method. This will be further complemented by an exploratory qualitative study involving key informant interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and consultative meetings to gain a deeper understanding of the current IDP context both within and outside the camps.

This study will assess the feasibility and preliminary effects of each arm relative to the comparison group on the main outcome, employment status, along with social integration indicators

Results and Policy Lessons

Results forthcoming.