What is the evidence on the impact of employment creation on stability and poverty reduction in fragile states
This is a systematic review of the evidence
Abstract
This systematic review identifies and maps the international literature providing evidence on the impact of employment creation on (i) stability and (ii) poverty in fragile states.
Only seven studies meeting the inclusion criteria (providing primary evidence on the impact of employment creation on poverty or stability) were identified through the systematic review process. These studies all concerned programmes which directly created short-term/emergency employment, six examining the impact on poverty, and one on stability. These studies adopted a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. No studies were identified providing empirical evidence on the impact of job creation resulting from either enabling macro-policies, or interventions to promote self-employment. The extremely limited number of studies meeting the inclusion criteria, the inconsistent methodologies adopted, and the diversity of contexts, interventions and outcomes precluded an aggregative synthesis (including a statistical meta-analysis).
The key conclusion drawn in the systematic review is that there is a significant research gap in terms of studies providing empirical evidence on the impacts of employment creation interventions on poverty and stability in fragile states.
The structure of the report is as follows: Section 2 provides the background to this review, discussing previous research and the policy and practice background in the area of employment creation in fragile states. The specific objectives of the review are outlined and the elements of a systematic review question – intervention, population and outcome – as they relate to this question are discussed in detail. Section 3 discusses the methodology adopted, including how studies were identified and described. Section 4 describes the search results, and sets out the research findings. Section 5 discusses the review and its implications, and conclusions are presented in Section 6.
There is a protocol for this systematic review
Citation
Holmes, R.; McCord, A.; Hagen-Zanker, J.; Bergh, G.; Zanker, F. What is the evidence on the impact of employment creation on stability and poverty reduction in fragile states. A systematic review. Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, UK (2013) vi + 95 pp.
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