formation of interethnic friendships, improved the Turkish language skills of Syrian children (especially in classes with more Turkish children), and had a long-term effect on reducing primary school absenteeism for Syrian children (Boucher et al., 2020).

At the same time, the benefits of exposure can be erased by key contextual elements. For example, in Türkiye, in classrooms where a program successfully strengthened ties between Turkish and Syrian students, teachers’ ethnic prejudice expressed through biased classroom practices significantly lowered the prevalence of interethnic social links, increased within-group ties among host children, and put refugee children at a higher risk of peer violence (Alan et al., 2021).

Traditional economic and livelihood support interventions can also improve social cohesion between groups because they facilitate intergroup contact and collaboration, even without the inclusion of an explicit training or dialogue component. Valli, Hidrobo, Peterman (2019) looked at social cohesion in refugee-host settings while examining a short-term transfer program targeting Colombian refugees and poor Ecuadorians in urban and peri-urban areas of northern Ecuador and found improvements in social cohesion among Colombian refugees in the hosting community through enhanced personal agency, attitudes accepting diversity, confidence in institutions, and social participation, without any negative impacts among Ecuadorian counterparts. The authors attribute the impacts to the joint targeting of Colombians and Ecuadorians, the interaction between nationalities at monthly nutrition sessions, and the messaging around social inclusion by program implementers. In Jordan, a vocational training program enrolled both Jordanians and Syrian refugees, encouraging contact between the groups. An evaluation found that those enrolled in the program showed less in-group favoritism, increased trust with others and less bias towards those from other nationalities as a result of interactions (Mercy Corps, 2021). A mixed-methods study evaluating a cash for work program in Jordan including both Jordanian and Syrian participants found trust improving between the two groups as a result of shared experiences while working together – including conversations about each other’s interests and values, collaborating over shared work objectives, shared meals and leisure activities after work and critically exchanging skills among each other.

Mass media campaigns can work, with impact depending on the messenger and their social importance to the communities to whom the campaign is targeted. However, the evidence on impact is mixed and points to the importance of paying attention to unintended effects of the message being promoted. Blair, Littman, Nugent (2021) assessed the impact of radio messages in Maiduguri, Nigeria (the geographical origin of the extremist group Boko Haram) delivered by religious leaders emphasizing the importance of forgiveness, announcing the leader’s forgiveness of repentant fighters, and calling on followers to forgive. The study found that radio messages delivered by trusted authorities led to large and positive changes in people’s willingness to accept Boko Haram fighters back home, and make people think their neighbors are in favor of reintegration. On the other hand, in Burkina Faso, pro-peace religious messaging targeted at adolescents in school was found to have no effect on attitudes towards religious extremism, and instead had the unintended effect of increasing intolerance towards ethnic others by inadvertently reinforcing ethnic identities and reminding respondents of how their community had been the target of religious violence (Grossman, 2021).

# 3.3. LINKING: CITIZEN-STATE RELATIONS OR VERTICAL COHESION

Strong citizen-state relationships, meaning in particular that communities view local state institutions as legitimate, trustworthy, and reliable, are key in preventing conflict and in stabilizing post-conflict societies. A 33 | P a g e