The effectiveness of peacebuilding evaluation
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2021-06-24
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en
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Abstract
The peacebuilding evaluation field stumbles upon challenges. One of those challenges is the attribution gap. In practice, it turns out to be difficult to attribute an intervention to (a) societal change(s) or impact(s). To make peacebuilding evaluation more effective, it can be argued that this gap can be resolved by using qualitative research methods within peacebuilding evaluation, since this approach is better able to capture the various (changing) external variables within the context of the intervention than quantitative research methods according to theory. To test this hypothesis, the attitudes, perspectives, and experiences of six organizations that execute and/or evaluate peacebuilding interventions on effective peacebuilding evaluation, the attribution gap, and the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods within peacebuilding evaluation are analysed through a deductive descriptive case study. Through semi-structured interviews, this research finds: (1) there are various definitions of effective peacebuilding evaluation; (2) evaluation and resolving the attribution gap are not always a priority; and (3) not all of the organizations are able to describe what their evaluation methods are. Nonetheless, the research finds ambitions on wanting to capture impact. Quantitative methods are perceived as not comprehensive enough to fulfil this task in a peacebuilding setting, while qualitative methods are seen as a necessity to measure this. Follow-up research could shed more light on: (1) the lack of consistency in defining effective peacebuilding evaluation; (2) the lack of knowledge on what evaluative methods are used; and (3) why ambitions do not match practices; before diving into the attribution gap.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen