Despite clear evidence of the effectiveness of individual peacebuilding efforts, the field as a whole often struggles to have a meaningful collective impact on broader conflict dynamics. This report, drawing on a pilot initiative in the Central African Republic—IMPACT-CAR—to develop a shared measurement and reporting system aimed at improving collaboration and shared learning across peacebuilding implementers, reflects on the results, successes, and challenges of the initiative to offer a road map for future initiatives focused on collective impact in the peacebuilding field.

Summary

  • Despite clear evidence of the effectiveness of individual projects, the peacebuilding field as a whole struggles to have a meaningful impact on broader conflict dynamics.
  • To generate and effectively demonstrate such an impact, deeper collaboration, shared learning, and joint measurement frameworks across peacebuilding actors are critical.
  • Collective impact approaches have been pioneered with success in other fields but have not yet gained significant traction in the peacebuilding community. That peacebuilders need to work in a more integrated fashion is increasingly acknowledged, but little progress has been made.
  • Building on its experiences with the Initiative to Measure Peace and Conflict Outcomes (IMPACT) process, the United States Institute of Peace implemented its first collaborative process to develop a shared measurement framework across projects and organizations in a discrete geographical location, the Central African Republic (CAR).
  • IMPACT-CAR developed a shared monitoring, reporting, and learning framework across seven peacebuilding initiatives, all funded by the US government, to improve awareness, coordination, and shared learning among partners.
  • The project was successful in establishing a joint data-collection and reporting system that enabled synchronization of data collection and helped provide a common reference point for shared learning among implementers. It was less effective at demonstrating impact at an aggregate level across projects.
  • Recommendations for future initiatives focused on creating collective impact initiatives in the peacebuilding field include the need to collaborate throughout the project cycle and for a shared agenda with a clear thematic and geographic focus.

About the Report

This report, derived from an initiative conducted in the Central African Republic, explores the role of collaboration and shared measurement in promoting more effective programming in the peacebuilding field.

About the Authors

Andrew Blum is the executive director of the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego. Ruben Grangaard is a program officer on the Learning, Evaluation, and Research team at the United States Institute of Peace.


Related Publications

As Security Returns, Central Africans Await the State

As Security Returns, Central Africans Await the State

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

In early February, five Central African friends and I hopped in a weathered Toyota pickup and retraced most of Route Nationale 3 (RN3), which runs through the Central African Republic’s (CAR) northwest from Baoro to the capital Bangui. Connecting Cameroon’s Douala and Bangui, the RN3 corridor accounts for 80 percent of internationally traded goods in CAR.

Type: Blog

Justice, Security & Rule of Law

Dialogues nationaux sur la consolidation de la paix et les transitions créativité et pensée adaptative

Dialogues nationaux sur la consolidation de la paix et les transitions créativité et pensée adaptative

Monday, December 13, 2021

Dans le meilleur des cas, les processus de dialogue national promettent d’apporter un élan décisif à la transformation inclusive du conflit. Ce rapport examine les dialogues dans six pays: la République Centrafricaine, le Kenya, le Liban, le Sénégal, la Tunisie et le Yémen. Ces divers processus montrent les possibilités de favoriser le dialogue, de forger des accords et de progresser vers la paix; et le rapport offre des conseils détaillés sur les possibilités et les aspects pratiques pour ceux qui envisagent d'organiser un dialogue national.

Type: Peaceworks

Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

Beyond Fake News: the Central African Republic’s Hate Speech Problem

Beyond Fake News: the Central African Republic’s Hate Speech Problem

Monday, August 16, 2021

After a recent contested election, the Central African Republic finds itself in a precarious situation. Violence around the election combined with the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and destructive flooding have caused the humanitarian emergency to reach its worst state in five years. Meanwhile, the CAR government has been accused of engaging in Russian-backed disinformation campaigns targeting domestic civil society, French diplomats and the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA), threatening key relationships. Even as the long-simmering issue of hate speech continues to draw fault lines through the country, efforts to combat these campaigns have focused primarily on challenging fake news rather than addressing the underlying fear and prejudice that spoilers use to stoke conflict. 

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Central African Republic’s Disputed Elections Exacerbate Rising Tensions

Central African Republic’s Disputed Elections Exacerbate Rising Tensions

Thursday, January 7, 2021

After an election period marked by violence and rising tension, the Central African Republic’s (CAR) incumbent president, Faustin Archange Touadéra, has been re-elected, according to the country’s election commission. Days before the vote, a disparate medley of armed groups coalesced to demand the vote be postponed. Since the polls’ closing, there has been a serious spike in violence with fighting in many major towns. The political opposition as well as the newly formed armed coalition have rejected the results and have demanded a re-run election. USIP’s Elizabeth Murray and Rachel Sullivan explain what led to rising violence in the weeks before the polls, what it means for the floundering 2019 peace agreement, and where the international community stands.

Type: Analysis

Global Elections & Conflict

View All Publications