Raising the Bar: Monitoring & Evaluation Requirements of Peacebuilding Funders

Authors: Rebecca Herrington of Headlight Consulting Services, LLP

Publisher: Alliance for Peacebuilding

Publication date: March 2019

Abstract: The Peacebuilding Evaluation Consortium has made progress over the past four years in generating greater unity between donors and implementers regarding the parameters of effective peacebuilding evaluation. Now that practitioners and policymakers are beginning to embrace and develop greater capacity in a far wider range of design, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (DMEL) tools and methodologies, the next challenge for the peacebuilding evaluation field is to foster a more rigorous culture of monitoring and evaluation from both the implementer and practitioner side and the donor and policymaker side.  

A crucial element of this work is collaboration with policymakers and private donors, who can use their influence to encourage stronger DMEL practice through their requirements for peacebuilding programming, starting at the proposal stage. Currently, peacebuilding funders (government and private foundations) have varying DMEL requirements, expectations, and internal capacity related to their proposal and grant management processes. This study provides a highlevel analysis on DMEL requirements across funding types to assess similarities, differences, and best practices. Initial recommendations, based on the findings, are provided for peacebuilding funders to strengthen support for more effective peacebuilding DMEL. The Alliance for Peacebuilding is soliciting feedback and prioritization of the recommendations for a future donor convening in Washington, DC to discuss comments, clarifications, edits, and potential adoption.

Contents:

1            Purpose of the Study 4

2            Methods 4

3            Defining Standards 5

4            Included Funders 5

5            Findings and Conclusion 6

6            Recommendations 9

7            Next Steps 11

About the Authors:

Rebecca Herrington is the CEO and Director of Strategic Learning at Headlight Consulting Services, LLP. She is a monitoring, evaluation, and learning technical specialist with 12 years’ experience, including a proven advising, organizational change, and program management track record.