Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results

This guidance aims to help improve programme design and management and strengthen the use of  evaluation in order to enhance the quality of conflict prevention and peacebuilding work. It seeks to  guide policy makers and country partners, field and programme officers, evaluators and other  stakeholders engaged in settings of conflict and fragility by supporting a better, shared understanding of  the role and utility of evaluations, outlining key dimensions of planning for them, setting them up, and carrying them out.
This guidance is to be used for assessing activities (policies, programmes, strategies or projects) in settings of violent conflict or state fragility, such as peacebuilding and conflict prevention work and development and humanitarian activities that may or may not have specific peace-related objectives. This encompasses the work of local, national, regional and non-governmental actors, in addition to development co-operation activities. The central principles and concepts in this guidance, including conflict sensitivity and the importance of understanding and testing underlying theories about what is being done and why, are applicable to a range of actors.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Executive summary
Glossary
Introduction: Why guidance on evaluating donor engagement in situations of conflict and fragility?
Chapter 1. Conceptual background and the need for improved approaches in situations of conflict and fragility
Chapter 2. Addressing challenges of evaluation in situations of conflict and fragility
Chapter 3. Preparing an evaluation in situations of conflict and fragility
Chapter 4. Conducting an evaluation in situations of conflict and fragility
Annex A. Conflict analysis and its use in evaluation
Annex B. Understanding and evaluating theories of change
Annex C. Sample terms of reference for a conflict evaluation
Bibliography
For more on the history, evaluations and background of the Guidance, see http://oe.cd/aid4peaceresults
For the 2008 Draft of the Guidance, see http://dmeforpeace.omnidev3.com/learn/guidance-evaluating-conflict-prevention-and-peacebuilding-activities
OECD (2012), Evaluating Peacebuilding Activities in Settings of Conflict and Fragility: Improving Learning for Results, DAC Guidelines and References Series, OECD Publishing.