Abstract

Conflict resolution (CR) organizations and their funders are currently being pressed to deliver information, to the public and to each other, about the impact they have on their environment. This project focuses on those that fund CR initiatives. The overarching aim was to gain information about funders' interest levels and current practices of CR-specific evaluation. The first part of the study reviewed the extent to which funders conduct their own needs assessment preceding the selection of CR programs. The second section reviewed the use of CR specific guidelines for evaluating the success of chosen programs. For the purpose of researching this topic, thirteen international funders were interviewed along with two experts in the field representing the US and the EU, with a Northern Ireland focus. The results showed that the funders who were more specific about the type of peacebuilding initiative they wanted to fund were increasingly apt to use information from research and evaluation. The data also revealed a variety of questions and challenges funders have about their responsibilities and obligations of funding, researching, and evaluating peacebuilders in conflict zones. The research results found in this study were then paired with the results from a colleague who researched similar questions with CR practitioners/evaluators. The cumulative work was compiled into a booklet entitled 'The Evaluation of Conflict Resolution Interventions' Part I (September 2001) and Part II (March 2003). Following the research, two international workgroups were convened to further discuss issues relating specifically to CR evaluation.

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