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Peace and Conflict

The Peace and Conflict initiative focuses on applying cutting-edge methods to delve into the factors that foster peace in conflict-affected countries.

Grants and Projects

Journal on Education in Emergencies

Faculty and graduates of the International Education and Applied Statistics programs are renowned for their decades of research and teaching in education in emergencies and many of our projects reflect these efforts. The Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE), for example, is a double-blind, peer reviewed academic journal founded in 2014 by the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) and housed at New York University’s International Education Program and Center for Practice and Research at the Intersection of Information, Society, and Methodology (PRIISM). In addition to research articles, field notes, and book reviews, we produce a podcast, Behind the Pages, which features interviews with JEiE authors who describe their research, fieldwork, and new innovations in EiE programming.

Tracking Hope in Nairobi and Karachi (THINK)

Dana Burde, Elisabeth King, Daphna Harel, Jennifer Hill

THINK is implemented by Principal Investigators Dana Burde and Elisabeth King, and co-Principal Investigators, Daphna Harel and Jennifer Hill and supported by an international team. This work is funded by the Spencer Foundation.

Large youth populations feature prominently in discussions of threats to social and state stability worldwide. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 43 percent of the population is under fifteen years of age; in Pakistan this figure is 35 percent. Evidence shows this “youth bulge” to be associated with a risk of armed conflict. Additional research suggests that a lack of education and economic opportunities for young people can lead to frustration, disillusionment, violence, and extremist recruitment. This project aims to understand the effect of access to tertiary education on hope, and peace and conflict outcomes by capitalizing on a regression discontinuity design inherent to the admissions processes in Nairobi, Kenya and Karachi, Pakistan.

The project builds off of qualitative work conducted by Drs. Burde and King in 2013 - 2015 funded by the United States Institute of Peace. Preliminary findings from Kenya discuss youth and their interests.

Reports, Publications, and Findings

Kenyan man walking to houses
Seeing Like Students: What Nairobi Youth Think about Politics, the State & the Future

Elisabeth KingDaphna HarelDana BurdeJennifer Hill, and Simon Grinsted have a newly published paper, the first for Project THINK, in the Journal of Eastern African Studies. 

Abstract

While Kenyan youth comprise the majority of the Kenyan electorate, they are typically either stereotyped as criminals or marginalized, rather than taken seriously as politically important actors. The importance of youth in Kenya, and the gaps in our knowledge about this group, prompt us to investigate their views at the cusp of political becoming. Reporting on a survey of 4,773 secondary school students in Nairobi, we argue that understanding this youth population’s perspectives and relationship to the state – ‘seeing like students’ – is critical to any understanding of Kenya today and its future. Our study shows empirically that secondary school youth in Nairobi are perceptive about the challenges facing the country, civically engaged, and hopeful about the future. With views that often differ by ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic background, our findings highlight the importance of acknowledging youths’ complex on-the-ground realities and challenging dominant discourses about youth.

Download the Paper Seeing Like Students

Staff, Past and Present

New York

Simon Grinsted | Research Director

Dorothy Seaman | Research Analyst 

Kenya 

Jonah Ondieki | Research Manager

Faith Nyagitati | Intern, Research Assistant

Hedwig Ombunda | Qualitative Researcher

Fred Omondi Otieno | Qualitative Researcher

Richard Kandie | Intern

Dennis Mutunga | Intern

WERK | Partner Organization

Pakistan

Mariam Rafique Vadria | Research Manager

Haider Fancy | Graduate Assistant

Zaineb Makati | Project Assistant

Fahad Ahmed | Intern

Noor Anwar Ali | Intern

Sadia Mubarak | Intern

Maarij Rehman | Intern

Ghasharib Shoukat | Intern

Sarim Zafar | Intern

CERP | Partner Organization