Synthesis Review 2017-2019: PBF Project and Portfolio Evaluations

In late 2019, the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) commissioned a synthesis review of evaluations of PBF funded projects and portfolios between 2017 and 2019. The purposes of this synthesis review are to distill examples and patterns of higher-level peacebuilding results, as well as recurring lessons and challenges, analyze insights for PBF’s design, monitoring, and evaluation practice, and provide conclusions and recommendations from the evaluations for the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund 2020-2024 Strategy, which was finalized in March 2020. The synthesis review is based on qualitative analysis of eight portfolio evaluations, forty-six project evaluations, two lessons learned reviews, and three evaluability assessments conducted during 2017 and 2019, complemented by select project documents, including conflict analyses.