Multidimensional Poverty, Gender, and Forced Displacement: A Multi-Country, Intrahousehold Analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines multidimensional poverty among forcibly displaced populations and their host communities using a gendered lens. Some previous studies have explored poverty in forcibly displaced contexts, and others have looked at the relationship between multidimensional poverty and gender, but none have analysed multidimensional poverty and forced displacement from a gender perspective. A tailored measure of multidimensional poverty is applied to refugees and internally displaced populations in five Sub-Saharan African settings substantially affected by forced displacement – Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. Our gendered analysis builds on prior analyses using the MPI, examining individual-level deprivations of women and men living in households that have been forcibly displaced and host communities, as well as synthesizing intrahousehold dynamics of multidimensional poverty in forcibly displaced communities. The results provide insights into the educational constraints of boys and girls living in households that have been displaced, the labour market inequalities experienced by men and women in these communities, and their differential access to legal documentation and employment.