Leave No One Behind Study

The Leave No One Behind (LNOB) study focuses on understanding the lives of female youth, aged 14-23, displaced by conflict. We use a longitudinal qualitative design to understand the wide range of experiences, challenges, opportunities and constraints faced by displaced female youth, with a particular focus on early marriage. The sample is comprised of Yazidi internally displaced persons (IDPs) and Syrian refugees living in Northern Iraq, and South Sudanese IDPs.

With the support of researchers from the affected communities, the LNOB research team has conducted multiple rounds of data collection using participatory methods, with over 100 girls over a period of 1.5 years. Study participants include the following groups of girls: those who are unmarried, became pregnant under age 18, married as minors, or married as minors and later divorced or became widows. Some participants also have physical, intellectual or psychological disabilities. In total, the LNOB study has conducted over 600 interviews, gaining insights that span multiple sectors.

Six briefing papers will be published on the study in 2022. Those on early pregnancy, decision-making and early marriage, and life after marriage have already been published; those on the situation of divorced and widowed youth, mental health and psychosocial support and early marriage, and education and early marriage are pending.