Leading the peacebuilding field to embrace a more adaptive and rigorous evaluative culture to prove impact and understand what works
The Experts
Deputy Executive Director - Research & Finance, Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik
Senior Researcher - Learning and Evidence, Shaziya DeYoung
We use our technical capacity in Learning & Evidence to support our fieldbuilding efforts for:
Creating standards of practice to align peacebuilding around common purpose
Developing an evidence base to ensure better policies and practices
Advocating for game-changing policies, laws, and funding to prevent and reduce violent conflict
Accelerating collective action through collaboration and exchange
Creating Standards of Practice
AfP is raising the bar for peacebuilding practice by setting minimal standards for peacebuilding DM&E across the field.
We build on existing efforts to validate these standards and work towards adopting and integrating them across the field through our training and skills-building opportunities.
Eirene Peacebuilding Database®
Eirene is a comprehensive collection of 3,381 indicators from 2,008 publicly available peacebuilding resources.
#CreativityInCrisis Video Series
The #CreativityInCrisis video series is an initiative that highlights innovation and creative DM&E solutions to challenges encountered in the peacebuilding field.
Guiding steps for peacebuilding dm&E
Good evaluation can only happen if we think about learning and evidence at the start of a program. This document details seven steps, outlined below, that are the minimum set of steps every peacebuilding program must adhere to in order to contribute to robust evidence and learning in the peacebuilding field.
Inter-Religious Action
AfP is a global leader in fostering better design and evidence-based evaluation for IRA in peacebuilding programs – strengthening not only individual design, monitoring, and evaluation (DM&E) capacities but working toward changing the culture of evaluation and shared learning in the IRA field.
Developing an Evidence Base
AfP works to develop a peacebuilding evidence base to ensure better policies and practices for our field. We create and curate evidence around peacebuilding practices to support field-wide achievement of shared outcomes through our pioneering research efforts. Our research involves both AfP-led, joint, and supported efforts, focused on identifying and addressing current peacebuilding research gaps.
Pioneering Research
AfP develops a robust body of evidence through our pioneering research efforts. We believe that if we can identify where peacebuilding programming has directly correlated to peacebuilding outcomes, then we will be better able to ground program DM&E and policy in evidence,
Research Talks with L&E blog
AfP’s Research Talks with L&E summarizes new research that our technical experts are reading. Key findings are synthesized into short blog posts and discuss key implications for the field - from connecting new research to programming, practice, or other key endeavors.
Advocating for game-changing policies, laws, & funding
Through our strong policy network, extensive experience, and pioneering research, we work to shift peacebuilding norms, advocate for evidence-informed policy, and make peacebuilding the proven and preferred approach to preventing conflict, reducing violence, and creating more resilient societies everywhere.
accelerating collective action
AfP believes that knowledge sharing across the field is crucial to transform peacebuilding. Peacebuilders often still work in isolation from one another, hampering the field's ability to collaborate and learn from each other. Our joint-learning initiatives are grounded in the belief that to change a culture, you need to provide safe spaces to share both the successes and failures, promote learning of what is and is not working, and identify gaps in knowledge, evidence, and practice.
Peer learning community for evaluation of interreligious dialogue initiatives (IRD)
AfP works to advance the field of IRD by leading and facilitating a learning community for organizations currently undergoing evaluations of their IRD programming.
L&E at AfP’s Annual PeaceCon
Each year AfP hosts researchers, MEL experts, academics, faith actors, and FBOs at PeaceCon to provide a platform for shared learning, improve peacebuilding DM&E, and advocate for greater support for MEL and inter-religious action (IRA). We develop dedicated tracts for Evidence, IRA, and regional issues to reserve space for these critical conversations.
Peacebuilding M&E Solutions Forum
The Peacebuilding M&E Solutions Forum is a unique learning opportunity focused on highlighting best practices and lessons from the field in peacebuilding M&E.
Latest L&E Research
LATEST Creativity In Crisis Video Series
Engage with US
Share your #Evidence4Peace with the broader peacebuilding field with our hashtag and tag @AfPeacebuilding to raise awareness of peacebuilding MEL and to highlight prominent voices and topics.
Connect with AfP’s #Evidence4Peace campaign on various social media platforms for events, opportunities, and publications related to peacebuilding MEL.
