This paper studies the long-term impacts of conflict and forced displacement experiences during Burundi’s 1990s civil war on individuals who were of school age during the war and their children (i.e. the post-war generation). We use the exogenous variation in the duration and timing of the conflict across Burundi’s provinces for identification purposes. This variation led to cohorts of school age children being exposed to conflict and forced displacement at different periods and for different lengths of time. Using data collected over a decade after the end of the conflict, we show that, consistent with previous research, both conflict and forced displacement experiences during school age years have significant, negative impacts on educational outcomes and that boys were more negatively affected than girls. The effects of conflict experiences are however not transmitted to the next generation. After controlling for relevant factors including pre-war wealth and caregiver education, we find that children whose caregiver(s) experienced conflict during school age years do not have significantly lower educational outcomes than other children. The forced displacement experiences, both internal and international, of caregivers did lead to reductions in educational outcomes for children in the post-war generation, which is most likely due to the reintegration challenges that returned displaced populations face in Burundi. Gender differences are no longer significant for the post-war generation.
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