Evaluation of Peacebuilding Initiatives: Putting Learning into Practice
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author(s): Hal Culbertson
Date: 2010
Topics: Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation, Programming
An appropriate evaluation of peacebuilding initiatives is a pressing concern for improving and legitimizing peacebuilding efforts. Culbertson provides a helpful comparison of accountability-based and learning-based evaluation models and demonstrates that while not mutually exclusive, accountability-based evaluation can inhibit learning. Evaluations that do not sufficiently assess how initiatives can and do contribute to broader peacebuilding efforts, for instance, through strategic engagement and coordination with other actors, are losing valuable learning opportunities. Similarly, the field needs assessment tools that consider the role of emergent planning (as opposed to deliberate planning), particularly given the volatile and dynamic environments in which peacebuilding occurs.