Adaptive Capacity Assessment
Adaptive Capacity Assessment by Stephen GrayApril 24, 2023 An example radar chart of an adaptive capacity assessment Are you tired of running programs that don’t seem to produce the desired results? Do you feel frustrated by the lack of adaptability in your organization’s approach to development or peacebuilding? If so, you may be interested in […]
Towards a More Inclusive and Rigorous Peacebuilding Evaluation: An Emerging Integrated Framework
Towards a More Inclusive and Rigorous Peacebuilding Evaluation: An Emerging Integrated Framework by Stephen GrayMay 3, 2023 In today’s world, the importance of peacebuilding cannot be overstated. However, evaluating peacebuilding initiatives is not an easy task, as it involves assessing complex social, political, and economic dynamics. This is where an emerging integrated framework for inclusive […]
Research on the Factors that Enable and Inhibit Adaptive Programming (Christian Aid Ireland)
“The Difference Learning Makes: Factors that Enable and Inhibit Adaptive Programming” is an article by Christian Aid Ireland that explores the factors that enable or inhibit adaptive programming in international development. It highlights the importance of adaptive programming for achieving sustainable and effective development outcomes and identifies key factors that promote or hinder it. With the world facing complex challenges, this article offers valuable insights for organizations and practitioners seeking to promote continuous learning and innovation in international development.”
Reflecting on Bottom-up Peacebuilding Methodologies in Myanmar (Peace News)
Adapt Peacebuilding and the Relief Action Network for IDPs and Refugees (RANIR) have pioneered a civil society-led peacebuilding process in Myanmar, utilizing an adaptive peacebuilding methodology called Systemic Action Research (SAR). This approach allows local participants to determine the topics to be worked on, outcomes expected, who can participate, and when activities should be completed. The SAR approach has been implemented in the armed conflict in Myanmar’s north between the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and its allies and the Myanmar military. The SAR approach includes training in systemic inquiry, a process of participatory data collection and analysis. The process identified three priority peacebuilding topics: drug abuse, the right of return for refugees and internally displaced people, and social cohesion between host communities and internally displaced people. More than 17,000 people were directly involved in the process, and the potential of seeing peacebuilding as a process of social mobilization has been demonstrated.
Regional Occurrences of Ongoing Violence in Cauca, and One Community’s History of Resistance
Regional Occurrences of Ongoing Violence in Cauca, and One Community’s History of Resistance by Julia Julstrom-AgoyoOctober 28, 2022 A mural outside the center of El Tambo, Cauca seen with ‘FARC-EP’ graffiti written over it. Before spending the summer in Colombia, I subscribed to several listservs, meant to keep me informed of the security situation while […]
Negative Peace in the US: What Can Black Lives Matter Teach International Peacebuilders?
A false sense of invincibility and exceptionalism are pervasive throughout the West: we are misguided into thinking that wealth and well established institutions preclude us from the societal and developmental challenges we implement interventions to try to address around the world. As a result, Western peacebuilding practitioners often wind up so focused on the challenges of poverty and conflict “over there” that we forget to consider the similar challenges we face “over here.” Meanwhile, in the US, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement is highlighting the widespread presence of oppressive systems that are stalling development for large contingents of the population.
Social Polarisation and the Weaponization of Social Media (Mercy Corps)
Social media has emerged as a powerful tool for communication, connection, community and, unfortunately, conflict. It’s created new, highly accessible channels for spreading disinformation, sowing divisiveness and contributing to real-world harm in the form of violence, persecution and exploitation. The impact social media has on real-world communities is complex and rapidly evolving. It stretches across international borders and challenges traditional humanitarian aid, development and peacebuilding models. This new paradigm requires a new approach. Mercy Corps has partnered with Do No Digital Harm and Adapt Peacebuilding on a landscape assessment to examine how social media has been used to drive or incite violence and to lay the foundation for effective, collaborative programming and initiatives to respond quickly and help protect already fragile communities.
Peacebuilding, Prevention, and Sustaining Peace: Q&A with Susanna Campbell
Prevention and sustaining peace have been central themes at the United Nations (UN) over the past two years, consistently emphasized by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The Nelson Mandela Peace Summit held during the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly was yet another example of efforts to highlight the need for more focus on preventative approaches to conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and other topics—ending with the adoption of a political declaration and a reaffirmation by member states of the goals that Nelson Mandela worked for. Yet, despite these summits and debates, there is still a challenge in linking debates at the international level with on-the-ground actors and experience.
Five things to consider when developing monitoring and evaluation systems for adaptive programmes
International development is slowly waking up to the realisation that existing programming frameworks, often driven by the need for accountability, due not hold true in sight of the true complexity of local dynamics and do not deliver neither for beneficiaries, nor implementing organisations, nor the donors themselves. The truth is: we often do not know the solution to an existing problem and, as such, it is difficult to predict if and how a project will work out. Enter adaptive programming, where we design, test and evaluate different programming strategies to find out what works (best).
PROJECT: Conflict Sensitivity Training for Myanmar Police Force
The Myanmar Police Force (MPF) has faced considerable challenges in responding to new priorities and operating realities in Myanmar during the country’s democratic reforms. Communal violence has sadly been a feature of Myanmar’s transition, particularly in 2012 and 2013, when several episodes of spontaneous violence erupted in various parts of the country, causing significant death, destruction of property, and displacement of affected populations. Tensions remain between communities in some parts of the country. The MPF is often at the front line of efforts to manage conflicts before they turn violent, or keep the peace and support justice and reconciliation after tensions boil over.
