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Session Title: Is Outcome Measurement Possible in the Peacebuilding Field?
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Panel Session 323 to be held in El Capitan B on Thursday, Nov 3, 11:40 AM to 12:25 PM
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Sponsored by the International and Cross-cultural Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Gretchen Shanks, Mercy Corps, gshanks@mercycorps.org
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| Abstract:
Monitoring and evaluation of peacebuilding programs presents unique challenges, which often inspire resistance from practitioners. While some challenges are more perceived than real there are numerous barriers, including dynamic conflict contexts, a lack of impact indicators, the challenges associated with measuring prevention, and ethical constraints. Despite these challenges, measuring the results from peacebuilding programs remains more important than ever. This panel session will offer two examples where peacebuilding practitioners are pushing themselves and their partners to move beyond the comfortable, to develop and test indicators, tools and theories of change. These teams conducted research on key causal mechanisms in peacebuilding programming, and developed indicators, survey tools, and practical data collection forms to track some of these outcomes. While the research and the tools are imperfect, things are trending in the right direction. This panel will discuss what worked, what didn't, and where we might go from here.
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Measuring Increases in Disputes Resolved in Iraq
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| Sharon Morris, Mercy Corps, smorris@dc.mercycorps.org
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Since the removal of the Baathist regime in 2003, Iraq has struggled to redefine itself as a peaceful, democratic nation. After years of authoritarian rule and conflict, too many leaders still see violence as an effective strategy for meeting their goals. However, a new generation of leaders is emerging that is committed to consensus and compromise. Since early 2009, Mercy Corps has implemented a program that provides negotiation training, mentoring and support to a nationwide network of Iraqi leaders. From the beginning we aimed to measure outcomes rather than just outputs - numbers of disputes resolved, changes in negotiation expertise, reduction in levels of violence. Initially negotiation trainers were extremely reluctant to attempt these measurements. Sharon Morris, Director of Mercy Corps' Conflict Management Group and lead designer of this program, will discuss why we pushed beyond outputs, how we structured indicators and measurement tools, and challenges encountered throughout the effort.
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Exploring the Causal Mechanisms That Link Poverty and Conflict
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| Jenny Vaughn, Mercy Corps, jvaughan@bos.mercycorps.org
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As a relatively young discipline, the field of peacebuilding is struggling with the best ways to measure impact and identify success. A number of challenges have consistently stymied monitoring and evaluation of peacebuilding programs. Chief among these is the lack of indicators for measuring impact across programs and contexts and the lack of tools for collecting data systematically and rigorously. In order to evaluate the impact of our peacebuilding and poverty alleviation programs in complex conflict-affected environments, and ultimately, improve their effectiveness, we need better tools - meaningful indicators and practical data collection methods. During this presentation Jenny Vaughn, Program Officer for Mercy Corps' Conflict Management Group and research lead, will explore Mercy Corps' effort aimed at improving our knowledge of the causal relationships between poverty and conflict in order to develop a set of meaningful indicators and tools - the Evaluation and Assessment of Poverty and Conflict (EAPC) research project.
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