Evaluating Projects and Programs in Fragile, Conflict-Affected, and Violent Contexts

Mar 21, 2024 | Ella Stack, Amanda Woomer, Carl Bruch, and Shaadee Ahmadnia
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Worsening climate change and natural resource degradation exacerbate existing insecurities as competition for natural resources increases, institutional fragility is amplified, and economic, social, and political systems are put under pressure. FCV dynamics can negatively affect project implementation and effectiveness, and traditional approaches to evaluation often prove insufficient for assessing the influence of those dynamics. Yet there is a critical need for evidence both on how environmental programming is affected by FCV contexts and how these projects can contribute to peace objectives. These challenges posed to and the potential approaches to the evaluation of environmental and climate work in FCV contexts were the focus of the FCV session at the GEF IEO 4th Conference on Evaluating Environment and Development.

One key theme that emerged from the panel's discussion included the importance of enabling environments and institutional incentives that can create conditions conducive to designing programming and evaluation approaches that are responsive to FCV contexts. More work is needed to understand the linkages between environmental and climate work, on the one hand, and FCV dynamics on the other; this drives home the need for improved approaches to evaluation in FCV contexts.