Degree Name

MA in Sustainable Development

First Advisor

Amy Jersild

Abstract

Northern Uganda is still recovering from over two decades of civil war between the Government of Uganda and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). The conflict created over 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who sought refuge in camps for 23 years. Around 80% of the affected population are mainly women and children. The displacement in the region caused large-scale loss of social and economic infrastructure, together with the productive resources. This contributed to the erosion of the social and financial capital of the affected areas population, forcing the population to depend on non-sustainable aid and relief services provided by international and local organizations. As the displaced populations have left the camps and have started to rebuild their lives following the signing of Cessation of Hostility Agreement in 2006 at the Juba Peace Talks, the communities in northern Uganda continue to face several challenges including education, inadequate health system, and HIV/AIDS among others. Despite the various post-war initiatives implemented in northern Uganda, there is little impact to demonstrate the worth of billions of dollars spent in the reconstruction of northern Uganda. Lutino Adunu (LA) was founded to address some of these challenges. However, Lutino Adunu recognizes that for effective and efficient projection of impact, Lutino Adunu needs to design a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system, build staff capacity, and integrate evaluative thinking and evaluative culture into the organizational practice. This research paper is focused on exploring how to integrate evaluative thinking (ET) into organizational practice, with a case study of Lutino Adunu, a community-based organization in northern Uganda. The organization was established with a vision of a transformed society where children’s educational rights are held in high esteem. The objective of this research is to adopt a flexible evaluative think model and make recommendations to LA on how to integrate ET into its organizational practice. The study revised the Evaluation Capacity Building Model designed by Preskills, and Boyle (2008) and Evaluative Thinking Assessment Tools developed by Bruner Foundation and drew learnings that will support the integration of evaluative thinking into Lutino Adunu. The 9 | Page research finding indicates that evaluative thinking is indeed a critical component of an organization motivated by a firm belief and value for evidence. Future study will focus on how to change staff's perception on how to integrate evaluative culture into organizational practice.

Disciplines

African Studies | Civic and Community Engagement | Family, Life Course, and Society | Growth and Development | Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation | Policy History, Theory, and Methods | Politics and Social Change | Social Policy | Social Welfare

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