Improving the impact of preventing violent extremism programming: A toolkit for design, monitoring and evaluation

This toolkit provides guidance to development practitioners and specialists to improve the design, monitoring and evaluation of programmes that focus on preventing violent extremism (PVE).
In 2016, the UN Secretary-General put forward a Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism, which laid out the global recognition and imperative to address violent extremism.
Based on this, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) developed a global framework for PVE that highlights that prevention needs to look beyond strict security concerns to development-related causes of and solutions to violent extremism, using a human rights-based approach.
A community of practice is developing to better inform PVE programming. However, the systems and tools for understanding the suitability of PVE as an approach and the impact that PVE interventions have in different contexts have not yet been available. Programming has been criticised for not sufficiently testing assumptions with systematic scientific and empirically based research.
The objective of this toolkit is to help close this gap. It is designed as a living document for UNDP practitioners and partners who are working on programmes that are either specifically focused on PVE, or have PVE-relevant elements to them. It draws on best practice for design, monitoring and evaluation in complex, conflict contexts adapting these for PVE programming.

How to use the toolkit

The toolkit is divided into four sections to help you navigate to the parts that are most relevant to you:

1. Laying the foundations: Explains approaches and principles that need to underpin projects related to PVE, including conflict and gender sensitivity. (View section)
2. Design the programme: Offers tools for identifying factors of vulnerability and resilience to violent extremism in the project context, building theories of change, and developing indicators and monitoring. (View section)
3. Monitoring strategy and data collection: Provides guidance and tools on developing a monitoring strategy and discusses and compiles different data collection methods. (View section)
4. Evaluation and learning: Provides details on evaluating PVE projects. (View section)

Each section includes modules with guidance and tools to aid with the design, monitoring and evaluation of PVE projects.
The toolkit is accompanied by an indicator bank, organised around the core programming areas of UNDP as well as following the UN Secretary-General’s Plan of Action for PVE.