Improving Refugee Integration Through Public Works: Experimental Evidence At Scale from Ethiopia

ESRC Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) collaborative doctoral studentship.

The Department of Economics, the University of Oxford with The World Bank.

SUPERVISORS

Professor Dennis Egger, University of Oxford

Sandra Rozo, The World Bank

PROJECT OVERVIEW

This study evaluates the integration of refugees and host communities into Ethiopia’s national urban safety net program, the Refugee and Host Integration through the Safety Net (RHISN). Targeting 22,500 households across seven refugee camps and adjacent cities, RHISN provides three years of paid public works, legal work permits, business and livelihood training, and a $600 business grant. The intervention aims to improve both economic livelihoods and social cohesion between refugees and host communities by creating mixed work teams and offering shared economic opportunities. Using a two-stage clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT), the study will assess the direct impacts of the program on participants' economic and social well-being, as well as the broader economic and social spillovers on local markets, prices, wages, and community cohesion. The research will contribute to global policy discussions by providing evidence on the effectiveness of integrating refugees into national social protection systems, offering scalable insights for other low- and middle-income countries facing similar refugee challenges.

PARTNERSHIP

The project was developed collaboratively between the Ethiopian Government (The Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure, and the Refugees and Returnees Service), The World Bank, UNHCR. The impact evaluation is led by a team of Principal Investigators: Dennis Egger (Oxford University), Sandra Rozo (World Bank), Alfredo Manfredini-Bohm (World Bank), Girum Abebe (World Bank).

The prospective student would work under supervision of Dennis Egger at Oxford, and Sandra Rozo at the World Bank. They will be an integral part of the large-scale randomized controlled trial, and co-author any of the several academic papers that will come out of this project, which will form part of their thesis. They will also engage consistently with the operational arm of the World Bank, and will have access to the facilities, and the training and career development opportunities offered by the World Bank. The research undertaken as part of this studentship will directly benefit the Ethiopian Government, and The World Bank by creating essential evidence on the impacts of RHISN which will directly inform the next stage of the project which will impact the lives of millions in Ethiopia and beyond.

STUDENTSHIP DETAILS

The PhD studentship will be funded by the Grand Union DTP for an expected 3.5 years from October 2025. The award length offered may differ depending on the candidate’s prior training and how they meet ESRC training requirements.

Information about Grand Union DTP ESRC studentships and eligibility can be found on the Grand Union DTP website.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

12:00 midday UK time on 28 January 2025

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for the studentship, you must submit an application to study for a DPhil Economics at the University of Oxford. Details about applying can be found via: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/dphil-economics

Your application should include a research proposal that indicates how your proposed research would engage with the core elements of this project if you were offered the studentship. Your proposal may draw on the description of the research detailed above.

In addition you must also complete a Grand Union DTP Application Form and upload it, together with your graduate application form. Please ensure you also select 'ESRC Grand Union DTP Studentships in Social Sciences' in the University of Oxford scholarships section of the University's graduate application form.

The admissions process is in two parts: applications will be assessed by the institution and the selected candidate will then be assessed as part of the applicant pool for ESRC Grand Union DTP funding.

QUERIES

Queries about the collaborative partnership should be addressed to Professor Dennis Eggers (dennis.egger@economics.ox.ac.uk). General queries about the ESRC GUDTP application process should be directed to: granduniondtp@socsci.ox.ac.uk