Evaluating relevance in peacebuilding programs

The Organization for Economic Cooperation in Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has developed guidance supporting the effective evaluation of peacebuilding and conflict prevention programs. This paper builds on that guidance, as well as inputs from a consultation hosted by CDA Collaborative Learning Projects (CDA), and an examination of actual evaluation practice and other sources. It is written primarily for those commissioning program and project evaluations, with examples at the program level. The same standards could be applied to multi-donor portfolio or sectoral evaluations encompassing numerous interventions each with different degrees of relevance, with some adaptations. As a “working paper” it is not intended to be definitive or final, but rather an opportunity to deepen the discussion and practice of evaluation of peacebuilding work.