Conflict-Sensitive Monitoring & Evaluation

Sue Williams,
Collaborative for Development
Action
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

Conflict-Sensitive Monitoring & Evaluation

Many assistance programs now take place in
situations of conflict, sometimes violent conflict.
No agency engages in international assistance
in order to make the situation more violent or
less peaceful.
How can we be more effective, and cause less
damage, in conflict situations?
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

Conflict-Sensitive Monitoring & Evaluation

Do No Harm / Local Capacities for Peace
Aimed at humanitarian / emergency aid
Sometimes, aid unintentionally makes conflict worse.
Sometimes, aid supports local capacities for peace.

Careful analysis, planning and monitoring can

reduce the likelihood of doing harm, identify local
forces for peace, and aim to support them.
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

Conflict-Sensitive Monitoring & Evaluation

Reflecting on Peace Practice
Aimed at peace programs
Many peace initiatives have little impact.
Programs which could help to build peace often do
not aim to do so, nor monitor and assess this impact.

How can we be more effective, and help to build

peace, in conflict situations?
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

C D A P r o je c ts : " D o N o H a r m " & " R e f l e c ti n g o n P e a c e P r a c t i c e "

R P P : H o w c an w e
m a k e p e a c e b u ild in g
w o r k m o r e e ff e c tiv e ?

P e a c e P r a c t ic e
P e a c e b u il d i n g & C o n f l ic t
T r a n s fo r m a tio n , e tc .

D e v e lo p m e n t
A s s is ta n c e

R eso u rces

Im p a c ts

C o n flic t

H u m a n ita ria n
A s s is ta n c e

D N H : H o w c a n w e re d u c e th e
n e g a t iv e im p a c ts a n d in c r e a s e
th e p o s i ti v e im p a c t s o f a i d o n
c o n fl ic t?

USAID West Africa Regional

Programme, November, 2004

Do No Harm
Key lessons of Do No Harm:
Aid is not neutral; it influences the context.
Humanitarian, emergency, and development
programs in conflict situations have impact beyond
their intentions.

USAID West Africa Regional

Programme, November, 2004

Do No Harm
There are dividers and connectors in conflicts.
Dividers increase
tension; people fight
over them.

Connectors reduce
tension; they draw
people together.

Aid and development programs can

strengthen or reduce dividers or connectors.
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

Do No Harm
There are local capacities for peace in all
conflict situations.
Options exist, to promote local capacities for
peace, or to undermine them.

USAID West Africa Regional

Programme, November, 2004

Do No Harm
Resource transfers have an impact.
What resources? How are they distributed?
Who benefits? Who gains power or control?

Implicit ethical messages are conveyed by how

the agency works.
Who has authority or legitimacy?
Whose life or property is more important?
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

USAID West Africa Regional

Programme, November, 2004

Reflecting on Peace Practice

Key Lessons of Reflecting on Peace Practice:
Driven by assumptions & hidden theories
Does the program actually promote peace?

Beyond intentions and objectives

Assessing results
Attributing impact to peace efforts
Assessing changes in the overall situation
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

Reflecting on Peace Practice

More People
Individual /
Personal Level

Socio Political
Level

Key People

Effective programs have

impact at the sociopolitical level
Effective programs have
impact on key people as
well as more people

USAID West Africa Regional

Programme, November, 2004

Reflecting on Peace Practice

CRITERIA OF EFFECTIVENESS
A programme promotes peace effectively when:
1 It contributes to stopping a key factor favouring war or
conflict.
2 It causes communities to develop their own initiatives
for peace based on their context analysis.
3 It reforms or creates political institutions to handle
grievances that fuel conflict.
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004

Reflecting on Peace Practice

CRITERIA OF EFFECTIVENESS
A programme promotes peace effectively when:
4 It prompts people to resist provocations to violence.
5 It increases peoples security and their sense of
security.

USAID West Africa Regional

Programme, November, 2004

OVERALL LESSONS
ANALYSIS of the conflict is crucial.
Yet agencies do not:
do systematic analysis
do enough analysis
link strategy to analysis
link their activities to what others are doing in
other levels and sectors
extend their activities to the point where they
have socio-political impact.
USAID West Africa Regional
Programme, November, 2004