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Session Title: Evaluating Peace Building and Conflict Prevention in Fragile States
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Multipaper Session 858 to be held in REPUBLIC A on Saturday, Nov 13, 1:40 PM to 2:25 PM
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Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Krishna Kumar,
United States Department of State, kumark@state.gov
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Building the Architecture for Assessing the Performance of Peace Building
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| Presenter(s):
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| Tjip Walker, United States Agency for International Development, stwalker @usaid.gov
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| Abstract:
One of the stiffest challenges facing those committed to preventing violent conflicts or promoting post-conflict recovery is answering the simple question, “what works?” At present there are a raft of competing proposals that range from changing attitudes to delivering social services more equitably to sustaining processes of negotiation and reconciliation and more. With few exceptions, these proposals are justified more with conviction than evidence that they work. To address this problem, USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation is undertaking a project focused on the Theories of Change underlying conflict programs. The assumption is that superficial diversity notwithstanding, conflict programs are based on a limited number of theories. Distill these theories and develop appropriate performance measures for each one and we then have the architecture to systematically compare programs and determine what works. This presentation will describe progress to date in building this architecture and introducing it into USAID-supported programs.
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