Publications — Samuel Hall

HALO Trust - Mine Action in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover: Imperatives in 2021 and Beyond

November 2021

The HALO Trust commissioned Samuel Hall to conduct empirical research on mine action in Afghanistan in June 2021, two months before the Taliban takeover of the country. The research involved primary data collection in two rural villages, in order to explore changes at the community level that occurred subsequent to HALO Trust landmine clearance. Samuel Hall had also conducted four prior studies and evaluations on mine action in Afghanistan from 2019-2021. This combined research informed the development of a policy brief, which explores the following areas: the changed political context but enduring humanitarian needs in Afghanistan; mine action in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover; and policy implications and recommendations regarding principled mine action support in Afghanistan and globally.

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AKF - Implementing the CBC in Dadaab & Kakuma Refugee Camps

October 2021

In Kenya, UNHCR are partnering with the Ministry of Education to improve the delivery of the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in refugee camps and surrounding low-resource settings. As part of this effort, the Aga Khan Foundation tested the Values Based Education (VBE) modules in Kakuma to generate evidence of how this proven approach is relevant for teachers and schools in refugee settings as they strive to deliver the CBC with quality.

Samuel Hall was commissioned to provide a detailed examination into the current status of CBC implementation in Dadaab and Kakuma camps as well as generating initial evidence on efficacy and relevance of VBE in refugee settings. This report identifies the challenges, capacity gaps, and opportunities facing teachers and schools as they implement the CBC in Kenya’s refugee-hosting areas and identifies the potential of VBE to enable teachers to deliver the CBC with quality. The recommendations and learnings can also be considered more broadly across Kenya.

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Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) - Thirty Years of Impact

November 2021

Due to successive waves of instability and conflict from the 1980s onwards, Afghanistan was heavily contaminated by explosive ordnance (EO). Established to improve this situation, the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) commenced activities in 1988. Samuel Hall was commissioned by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to produce an evaluation taking stock of three decades of work by the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA).

It maintains a focus on impact resulting from MAPA, while also including criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. To gather the evidence needed, a mixed-methods methodology was employed, combining different sources of quantitative and qualitative data to gain an extensive understanding of mine action results over time. Data collection took place in 24 communities across eight provinces, representing the different regions of Afghanistan.

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ODI - Public narratives and attitudes towards refugees and other migrants

October 2021

Engaging public narratives and attitudes towards refugees and migrants within their host communities is an increasingly important task. There is however a lack of understanding and data on these narratives and attitudes. This is particularly the case for countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This ODI project, supported by the IKEA Foundation, aims to address this gap. Through a series of activities, dialogues, and innovative communication and outreach initiatives, the project is mapping recent research and evidence on public attitudes toward refugees and other migrants in several countries in Africa and Europe.

Samuel Hall lead interviews in Nigeria and Ethiopia and contributed to the writing of these new reports. ODI have also carried out similar research in Germany, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, the US, Kenya and Uganda.

Nigeria country profile
Ethiopia country profile
Project page

West & Central Africa, Europe, Global, ResilienceSamuel HallNovember 1, 2021Nigeria, Ethiopia, IKEA, refugees, migration, case study, report

World Bank - Regional Learning on Development Responses to Forced Displacement in the Great Lakes Region: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia

October 2021

The World Bank commissioned Samuel Hall to develop and coordinate a year-long series of learning events among government representatives from the Great Lakes region to generate a regional dialogue and government-to-government exchange on development responses to forced displacement. Through unique peer-to-peer learning model, the learning series centred on government sharing share their understanding, learning, and best practices on selected topics, with a specific link to wider development responses and planning processes.

Download Event 1 output: Engaging Refugee Hosting Communities (English) (French)
Download Event output: COVAX Distribution (English) (French)
Download Event 2 output: Documentation (English) (French)

Download Event 2 output: Education(English) (French)

Download Event 3 output: Integrated Approaches to Farm-Based Livelihoods (English) (French)

Download Event 3 output: Private Sector Involvement in Non-Farm Livelihoods (English) (French)
Download Event 4 output: Data Collection Mechanisms (English) (French)

Download Event 4 output: Reducing Data Fragmentation (English) (French)

ILO/IOM - We are in this together: Labour Migration Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis in Europe and North Africa

July 2021

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has shaken up existing labour migration trends. This is particularly true on both sides of the Mediterranean, where the presence of the virus has profoundly slowed, if not halted, human mobility, and where it is increasingly likely that population movements will be restricted in the coming months and years.

In light of this, and in preparation for the first THAMM (Towards a Holistic Approach to Labour Migration Governance and Labour Mobility in North Africa) Regional Conference, this discussion paper on labour migration responses to the COVID-19 crisis in Europe and North Africa is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the key trends that are currently shaping labour migration governance in a time of crisis. The paper is authored by Samuel Hall co-founder Hervé Nicolle.

Download Executive Summary (English)
Download Report (English)
Download Conference Report (English)
Watch Regional Conference (English)

Download Executive Summary (French)
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Download Conference Report (French)
Watch Regional Conference (French)

Download Report (Arabic)
Download Conference Report (Arabic)

Europe, Middle East &North AfricaSamuel HallSeptember 22, 2021labour, labour migration, migration, Europe, north africa, africa, report, case study

IOM - Development of a Monitoring Toolkit and Review of Good Practices for the Sustainable Reintegration of Child Returnees

August 2021

This study was commissioned in the framework of the EU–IOM Knowledge Management Hub under the “Pilot Action on Voluntary Return and Sustainable, Community-Based Reintegration” project, funded by the European Union and implemented by IOM. The two recognized that while understanding of and evidence around the sustainable reintegration of adults has been growing, the same is not true for children – despite the fact that children are returning, alone or with families, to the very same reintegration contexts. Building on a monitoring approach for adult returnees developed in a 2017 Samuel Hall – IOM research project, this study addresses the information gap around children’s reintegration experiences.

Download Executive Summary

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ILO – Towards decent work for young refugees and host communities in the digital platform economy in Africa

August 2021

Samuel Hall worked with the University of Edinburgh, commissioned by the ILO's Youth Employment Sector and the PROSPECTS partnership, to conduct a study to characterise the nature of platform-related opportunities in Africa. The report focuses on digital labour platforms (gig work) and e-commerce, developing an overview of the level of access, and identifying initiatives that these opportunities. Samuel Hall conducted 36 Interviews in Uganda, Kenya and Egypt to identify the key drivers, levers and constraints that catalyse and/or hold back the growth of the platform economy in Africa in the future. It accounts for COVID-19 implications, with a focus on labour market implications.

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ILO – Road to Jobs: Bringing decent work to rural households in the Northern Provinces of Afghanistan

January 2021

The International Labour Organization (ILO) carried out the Road to Jobs (R2J) project 2015-2020 with the aim to create more and better jobs in two provinces of Northern Afghanistan: Balkh and Samangan. ILO reports that more than 60,000 people have recorded positive changes in their working conditions and/or income and approximately 120,000 beneficiaries from disadvantaged groups have been reached. Around USD 14 million have been generated over five years for poor-income earners and targeted MSMEs.

Samuel Hall was commissioned to conduct the final independent evaluation of R2J and assess its outcomes on market systems and local communities, using a mixed-methods approach and the OECD-DAC criteria to examine the project’s relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability in a holistic manner.

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AMIF – Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning of Actions financed by the Asylum Migration Integration Fund (AMIF)

March 2021

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, on behalf of the donors funding RDPP, commissioned Samuel Hall to conduct an evaluation to assess the results and impact of the AMIF-funded activities in Ethiopia and Sudan. AMIF actions aimed at enabling the provision of better protection, assistance and durable solutions for refugees and asylum seekers through improved documentation and robust data storage systems. This involved building a refugee registration system with biometric identification management, real-time data verification capacity and simultaneous identification of protection needs of persons of concern. Not only benefiting refugees, the actions also aimed to improve civil registration more broadly, in particular birth registration, be it among the refugee or host community.

Download Ethiopia Report

Download Sudan Report

Download Synthesis Report

ICMPD – Study on Return, Readmission and Reintegration Programmes in Africa

April 2021

ICMPD commissioned Samuel Hall to examine existing return, re-admission, and reintegration (RRR) programming in Africa. This study involved 1. Overview analysis of legal frameworks at regional, continental, and international levels. 2. An in-depth review of RRR initiatives and programming in 10 African Union (AU) member states. 3. Identification of lessons learned from countries of return, including RRR best practices, standards and procedures. It presents recommendations for sustainable RRR programming to the African Union Commission (AUC), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and individual AU member states, and will directly inform the development of a continental policy on RRR.

Download Executive Summary (English)

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Download Executive Summary (French)

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DELMI – Those who were sent back: Return and reintegration of rejected asylum seekers to Afghanistan and Iraq

October 2021

This 2019/2020 study was commissioned by the Swedish Migration Studies Delegation (DELMI), with fieldwork by Samuel Hall. Results are based on 100 interviews with migrants who have returned voluntarily and involuntarily to Afghanistan and Iraq. Respondents answered questions about their lives before arrival to Sweden, the asylum and return process. The study sought to actively embed local researchers and civil society organisations in the research design, to create a deeper evidence-base for advocacy and aid nuanced understanding of the challenges of return decision-making, reintegration and post-return monitoring.

Download Policy Brief

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RDPP – Progressive Effects Evaluation of the Regional Development and Protection Programme (RDPP) in the Horn of Africa: 2018-2020

April 2021

The Regional Development and Protection Programme (RDPP) is a European programme to create evidence-based, innovative and sustainable protection and development approaches for refugees and their host communities in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs contracted the Learning and Evaluation Team (LET), co-led by Samuel Hall and MDF with Maastricht University and ECDPM, to conduct a progressive effects evaluation over a three-year period, with a baseline in 2018, and an endline in 2020. The RDPP objectives focus on capacity building, protection, integrated services, and socio-economic development for displacement affected communities. The LET implemented a combined quantitative and qualitative evaluation to assess progress on each domain and conclude on the relevance, coordination, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the RDPP in the Horn of Africa.

Download Endline LET Executive Summary

Download Endline LET Synthesis Report

Download Endline LET Report (Ethiopia)

Download Endline LET Report (Kenya)

Download Endline LET Report (Somalia)

Download Endline LET Report (Sudan)

Download Endline LET Report (Uganda)

Download Baseline LET Report (Consolidated)

Download Baseline LET Report (Ethiopia)

Download Baseline LET Report (Kenya)

Download Baseline LET Report (Somalia)

Download Baseline LET Report (Sudan)

Download Baseline LET Report (Uganda)

HALO Trust – Impact Assessments of Abandoned Improvised Mines (AIM) & Anti-Vehicle Mines (AVM) in Afghanistan

April 2021

Abandoned Improvised Mines (AIM) have caused over half of all landmine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the last 5 years, killing thousands . Anti-Vehicle Mines (AVM) comprise over half of the remaining suspected and confirmed hazardous areas in the country. The HALO Trust is the major clearance organisation for both types of landmines. The impact assessments were based on primary research directly with communities affected by AVM and AIM and their subsequent survey and clearance.

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HALO Trust – An Independent Evaluation of the HALO Trust 2016-2020 Mine Action Programmes Funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

February 2021

Between 2016 and 2020, the HALO Trust conducted mine action across eight projects: Afghanistan, Colombia, Kosovo, the West Bank (Palestinian Territories), Somalia, Somaliland, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. With over 16m USD in funding from the Dutch MFA, HALO conducted landmine/ERW clearance, explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), and victim assistance (VA), in order to prevent injuries and death, return land to local communities and increase people's resilience. This independent evaluation assessed the performance of the global programme along OECD-DAC criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, impact and sustainability. It found the programme largely succeeded along these criteria.

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ILO – Rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on labour markets in Ethiopia: A case study of the Somali and Tigray regions

April 2021

The Somali and Tigray regional states of Ethiopia are among the country’s main regions where refugees have sought shelter, but both face various socio-economic challenges that undermine the livelihoods of both host communities and refugees. Commissioned by the ILO, Samuel Hall assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on displacement-affected labour markets in targeted PROSPECTS intervention areas in the Somali and Tigray regional states, to gather evidence on current local socio-economic environments and inform the design of relevant and context-specific measures.

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Watch Somali Summary Video

Watch Tigray Summary Video

IOM & UNEP – Identifying Climate Adaptive Solutions to Displacement in Somalia

April 2021

This assessment report created by Samuel Hall for IOM, UNEP, and the Directorate for Environment and Climate Change of the Somali Government explores the interactions between climate change, displacement and urbanisation. It answers two key questions in the context of the Somali cities of Baidoa and Kismayo: What factors trigger climate-induced migration? And what adaptive and transformative solutions may contribute to building resilience amid displacement and climate change – at both the community and policy levels?

A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods was used. Participatory research ensures that the voices of communities, individual households, and vulnerable populations are clearly and distinctly heard throughout the report.

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AFI – Bringing the Informal Sector Onboard: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Solutions

April 2021

Approximately 2 billion people work in the informal sector globally, comprising 61% of the world’s workforce. Large-scale employment and economic activity occurs informally, especially the case in the Global South. AFI commissioned Samuel Hall to create practical knowledge products on how financial sector policymakers and regulators can better integrate the informal economy into the financial inclusion agenda and the formal sector. The "Bringing the Informal Sector Onboard" Guideline Note and Toolkit are both based on shared experiences between global AFI member countries, learning from specific challenges, opportunities and policy intervention mixtures across developing and emerging economies. This peer learning on bringing the informal sector onboard enhances knowledge and formulates usable policymaking tools, with direct impact on poverty reduction, sustainable and inclusive growth, and financial inclusion.

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Download Guideline Note

ILO: Rapid Integrated Labour Market Assessment in Tigray Regional State

April 2021

Samuel Hall was commissioned by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to provide a rapid integrated labour market assessment of the supply side (jobseekers and employees) and the demand side (enterprises and employers) in refugee-hosting communities in the Shire area in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Building on previous ILO work conducted in Jigjiga and Kebribeyah, the study analysed labour market opportunities and constraints for refugees and hosts in Tigray region through the prism of the Labour Market System (LMS). The analysis was conducted through the lens of decent work opportunities. This means that the study focuses on both the quantity and quality of jobs available for host communities and refugees. As such, the focus is not solely on unemployment patterns, but also and more crucially on the type of jobs occupied by host communities and refugees to measure decent work.

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Samuel HallApril 14, 2021Ethiopia, labour market assessment, Tigray, prospects

Samuel Hall – 10 Years of Impact

March 2021

COVID-19 has thrown research under the global spotlight and there is an almost unprecedented demand for monitoring and data analysis. The need for evidence-based humanitarian decision-making and prioritisation is great. We must ensure that research and aid are not blinkered and keep the world’s most vulnerable populations in mind.

Our industry is grappling with the best ways to create, capture and evaluate impact – not least because funding is increasingly tied to measuring it. This short report explores what 'impact' means in the context of research into migration and displacement.

It highlights some of our most impactful projects from the last ten years; touches on the ways that COVID-19 has changed research; nods to partnerships that have helped us to make a difference; and features some fascinating Q&As on what impact means to various experts.

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GlobalSamuel HallMarch 4, 2021Impact, Samuel Hall, Research impact

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