Skip to main content
Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture
in Recurrent and Protracted Crises
Get in touch
Publications and resources

Livelihoods and markets in protracted conflict: a review of evidence and practice

This review considers how protracted conflict has affected livelihoods and food security in select cases, and responses undertaken to address resulting economic and social harm.

Publisher SPARC
By Steve WigginsSimon LevineMary AllenMaha ElsamahiVaidehi KrishnanIrina MoselNeema Patel
Understanding land and conflict Supporting livelihoods and markets Africa Mali Nigeria Somalia South Sudan Uganda Middle East Syria Yemen

Protracted conflicts are immensely costly in lives and livelihoods, as well as being a grave threat to development. This review addresses two questions:

  • How has protracted conflict affected the livelihoods and food security of individuals and households, and local and national economies? And,
  • What responses to economic and social harm caused by protracted conflict have been undertaken? What evidence exists for their effectiveness, and in what circumstances?

This review focuses on eleven cases of protracted conflict, most of them current in 2021. They are: Afghanistan; Darfur, Sudan; eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Mali; Nepal (ended 2006); northeast Nigeria; Somalia; South Sudan; Syria; northern Uganda (ended 2006); and Yemen. The report is based on literature reviews of the eleven cases and interviews with key informants, with data and insights synthesised by comparing across the cases.

You can view the accompanying annexes for this rapid evidence review here.

User feedback survey

SPARC would like to better understand who accesses the research on our website, how it is used and how we can improve it. The information we collect here is only used for internal Monitoring and Evaluation purposes.

Questions with a * are required.
Occupation/Position
Is the information on this website useful to your work?
Is the information on this website understandable?
Will you apply this information to your work?
What type of information did you access on this website?