| The global "Moving out of Poverty" study includes seven countries that are affected by conflict, and a special research program has been embedded within the larger Moving Out of Poverty study to examine the links between mobility and conflict. The study will bring a micro-perspective to policy debates about recovery and growth as well as efforts to support peace-building and poverty reduction in countries affected by conflict. The study countries include Afghanistan, Colombia, India (Assam), Indonesia, The Philippines, Rwanda, and Sri Lanka. While the development literature is replete with studies of the impact of conflict on countries’ growth rates, institutions and overall development, there have been relatively few studies focusing on the consequences of conflict on people’s own agency to escape poverty. This study seeks to explore how conflict and its legacies affect movements out of poverty – in the voices of men and women who have lived through these experiences. The specific questions that the study will examine are: How and why do some people in a conflict environment move out and stay out of poverty while others remain trapped? Do people experience mobility differently in areas of conflict and non-conflict in the same country? What is the impact of the nature of conflict on people’s mobility patterns and their coping strategies? Do networks and social identity matter in men's and women's upward climbs? What are the networks and organizations that people turn to when there are disputes? How have these changed over time? Do the quality of local governance, "depth" of democracy and freedom make a difference in a country’s ability to build long-lasting peace and reconciliation?
In answering these questions, the study will explore people’s definitions and understandings of mobility, freedom, power, democracy and aspirations, and how these concepts are tied to building assets and creating wealth while recovering from conflict. The analytic framework and methodology for the global study have been adapted for the seven-country study. Among the key changes was the creation of a new data collection tool entitled “Conflict Timeline and Institutional Mapping” to be conducted with key informants and small discussion groups of local people. The tool probes into the forms of local conflicts, and their effects over time on local economic opportunities and livelihoods and on local power structures and institutions especially those related to local governance, conflict mediation and public safety. | | Field Notes | What are the most important types of freedom? “If people can be free in mind, if they can go to sleep at night without fear, that is freedom for us. We are always alert and live in fear of an attack. There is no use of having money or anything if we cannot live in freedom.” ― Female, Focus Group Discussion of Youth, Gonagala, Sri Lanka |
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