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Session Title: Contextual and Methodological Challenges and Opportunities for Evaluating Transitional Justice
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Panel Session 391 to be held in Sebastian Section L2 on Thursday, Nov 12, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Colleen Duggan, International Development Research Center, cduggan@idrc.ca
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| Abstract:
Over the past decade those working for international development and human rights have witnessed an increase in efforts to develop and operationalize mechanisms intended to nurture transitional justice - the field of policy and practice that seeks to move a society characterized by repressive rule, systematic armed violence and institutionalized human rights abuse, towards one in which perpetrators are held accountable and the collective memory of historic events are harnessed in a "reconciliation" process whose intent is to decrease the chances of the recurrence of past atrocities. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm of the international community for designing, promoting and financing transitional justice mechanisms has not matched efforts to evaluate their impact and effects on the lives of people living in transitional societies. This panel will examine some of the challenges and opportunities for evaluating different types of transitional justice programming.
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Evaluating Historic Memory and Racism in Guatemala
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| Colleen Duggan, International Development Research Center, cduggan@idrc.ca
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The results of the 1999 Guatemalan Truth Commission report challenged Guatemala to deal a racist past and reeducate for the future. Most Guatemalans recognize that constructing a society in which ethnic diversity is celebrated is a task for many generations to come. Between 2004 and 2006 a Guatemalan research institution implemented an ambitious nation-wide anti-racism campaign that included an interactive museum exposition. The International Development Research Centre supported the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework for the expo, using Outcome Mapping as the central method for assessing citizen`s attitudes and behaviours around issues of historic memory and racism. A subsequent participatory summative evaluation of that effort has drawn out key learnings for program design and improvement; these are proving to be crucial for the re-launch of the expo this year. Drawing from the evaluation findings and discussions emerging from international development evaluation theory and practice, this paper will address some of the challenges and opportunities for evaluating the potential for using museums as a tool for social transformation.
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Transitional Justice and Evaluation Methodologies: Finding the Best Fit for the Context and Content
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| Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church, Tufts University, cheyanne.church@tufts.edu
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The belief of the international community in transitional justice is starting to be eroded by questions around impact, both positive and negative. Comprehensive reviews exist that articulate the lack of evidence available behind claims of success; what is now required are practical efforts to identify the best evaluation approaches to start to fill this evidence gap. This paper uses the three branches of Alkin's evaluation theory tree - use, methods and valuing - to organize a review of evaluation approaches for their appropriateness to transitional justice. Approaches will be considered against two primary issues; context and content. The context in which transitional justice programming takes place is rife with complexity; political agendas, corruption, limited local capacity, cultural differences and the north-south power dynamics to name just a few. The approaches will also be considered from the point of view of the unique elements that arise from the content of transitional justice work itself.
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Utopian Dreams or Practical Possibilities? The Challenges of Evaluating the Impact of Conflict-Orientated Museums
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| Brandon Hamber, University of Ulster, b.hamber@ulster.ac.uk
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| Ereshnee Naidu, University of New York, ereshn@yahoo.co.uk
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The transitional justice field has seen an increase in the recognition of the role of memorialisation in post-conflict peacebuilding. A variety of truth commissions have identified conflict-orientated memorial museums as vehicles to assist the healing of survivors of conflict, rebuilding relationships, and rewriting national narratives. However most of the accounts of the role of conflict-orientated memorial museums in dealing with the past are largely justificatory, if not utopian. Furthermore, truth commission have provided little direction on exactly how such initiatives could work. Assessing the impact of conflict-orientated memorial museums is also challenging as it generally requires resource intensive longitudinal studies. By drawing on empirical evidence gained from the author's work evaluating international conflict-orientated memorial museums, the paper will highlight the challenges of evaluating such work, propose possible indicators for impact assessment in lieu of longitudinal studies, and outline a framework for how evaluation of such mechanisms could be enhanced.
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Towards a Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation of Transitional Justice Mechanisms
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| Kenneth Bush, St Paul's University, kbush@ustpaul.ca
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The sheer number and variety of transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms are a tribute the deep collective desire to address the legacies of mass atrocity that characterize contemporary dirty wars, mass violence, and genocide. Yet, the creativity in shaping different kinds of TJ mechanisms has not been complemented by the development of appropriate approaches and tools for monitoring and evaluating their impacts. The challenges to doing so are daunting given the array of transitional mechanisms, the differences in the contexts within which they have been initiated. Building on previous work on Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA), this paper will critically assess and sketch out the parameters of a framework for monitoring and evaluation transitional justice mechanisms. It will address questions such as: where to look to for impacts; what type of impacts to look for; how to measure impacts; and the political, logistical and ethical considerations of evaluating TJ Mechanisms.
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