Third-generation PCIA: Introducing the Aid for Peace Approach
Publisher: Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management
Author(s): Thania Paffenholz
Date: 2005
Topics: Monitoring and Evaluation, Programming
How can the Aid for Peace approach help to address the questions surrounding the debate on Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA)? The Aid for Peace approach is a multi-purpose and multi-level process that facilitates the planning, assessment and evaluation of peace as well as aid interventions in conflict situations.
The widening development of the PCIA debate has ensured that it is difficult to define. For a basic understanding it is necessary to distinguish between PCIA approaches such as aid and peace interventions and project, programme and policy level approaches, among others. There are also a number of open questions about PCIA. For example, is a unified methodology/framework for PCIA needed or not? Is the purpose of PCIA technical or political? Is it a Northerner’s assessment tool or a Southerners’ peacebuilding tool? Is it only useful for aid or also for peace interventions? How can we define criteria and indicators for monitoring and assessing effects of interventions?