New humanitarian protection initiative will help reduce harm to people affected by conflict

Today, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) launch the Humanitarian Protection Initiative (HPI), with support from the United Kingdom (UK) international development funding from the UK Government. The core of this initiative is a research fund dedicated to generating rigorous evidence to inform policies and programs that protect conflict-affected populations from harm and mitigate the effects of conflict where harm has occurred.

As conflicts flare up around the world, protection risks are increasing in complexity and severity. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs projects that nearly 300 million people will need assistance and protection in 2024. These risks range from increased attacks on civilians, rising sexual- and gender-based violence, continued recruitment of child soldiers, exacerbated psychological abuse and distress, to restricted access to deliver humanitarian assistance. Faced with budget constraints, humanitarian actors require evidence to make informed and timely decisions to improve protection outcomes.

Yet there is limited rigorous evidence on the comparative effectiveness of protection interventions, or on the mechanisms that drive effective protection programming. In response, HPI will equip humanitarian actors with a greater understanding of cost-effective, scalable, and context-sensitive solutions to prevent and remedy physical, psychological, social, and legal harm against conflict-affected populations.