Job Advertisement: Co-Director, Reflecting on Peace Practice Program
CDA is hiring a co-director for the Reflecting on Peace Practice Program. Check out our job description on Idealist.org.
Time to Listen Presentation at Brandeis' Heller School on April 11
Isabella will present on Time to Listen at the Celebrate Heller Authors Event at Brandeis' Heller School on April 11 at 5pm. Join if you can!
Do No Harm Training in Barcelona, May 13-17
DNH will offer a 5-day training course in Barcelona, find out more here.
Review of Time to Listen
Duncan Green of Oxfam GB wrote a review of Time to Listen on his blog, From Poverty to Power. Follow the conversation online!
Time to Listen Online Presentation
Watch this video recording of Dayna Brown's presentation of Time to Listen, the latest book from CDA, at the Overseas Development Institute earlier this month.
IRIN Article Highlights CDA Book "Time to Listen"
This article spotlights CDA's most recent book and calls on donors to establish more flexible systems that would allow for time to listen.
Listening Program Highlighted on BBC 4 Radio Program
The Listening Program is highlighted in this fascinating radio report which looks "inside the aid industry". The second installment will air this Sunday night.
Peter Woodrow Steps into Role as New Executive Director of CDA
CDA will begin 2013 with a new Executive Director. Peter Woodrow will become CDA's third Executive Director...read more.
NEW BOOK "Time to Listen"
The Listening Project's book, Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of International Aid, is now available for purchase and for free download!
Time to Listen Blog
The Listening Program has started a blog to post updates on the recent book, Time to Listen. Join the conversation online!
Winter 2012 Newsletter
CDA's latest Newsletter is now available!
CDA Provides New Resources on Program Review and Evaluation
CDA, led by the Reflecting on Peace Practice Program started a series of working papers on program review and evaluation. Three papers have been completed so far and more are forthcoming.
NEW BOOK "Opting Out of War"
This book examines 13 communities which, in the midst of a context of war, extracted themselves from the violence. Opting Out is the final publication of the Steps Toward Conflict Prevention Program. It is now available for purchase through Lynne Rienner publishers and Amazon.
CEP Engages Chinese Enterprises
At a workshop in Beijing in September, 2012, CEP and its Chinese and international partners launched a process of supporting Chinese enterprises and financial institutions to integrate conflict sensitive approaches into their operations. In the coming months, CEP will work in concert with its partners to adapt its conflict sensitivity tools to the needs of Chinese companies. A precis of the September workshop can be found here. A second workshop is planned for March, 2013.
Do No Harm Summer Newsletter
Now available online!
Preventing Conflict in Exploration Tool and Toolkit are now available in French
The Preventing Conflict in Exploration Tool and Toolkit are now available in French on CDA’s website. Preventing Conflict in Exploration: A Toolkit for Explorers and Developers (PCE) presents a simple and practical analysis Tool that helps mineral exploration and development companies approach their routine business activities in a manner that furthers positive relations with local communities, even where tensions or conflict exist in the local operating environment.
CEP has released the Preventing Conflict in Exploration Tool!
The Preventing Conflict in Exploration Tool was designed to help extractive industry explorers build strategies to prevent conflict at their exploration sites. The Toolkit is intended to help explorers use the Tool. Both were developed jointly by CDA, World Vision Canada, and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.
CDA Newsletter - Spring 2012
The CDA Newsletter is out!
CDA Publications cited in InterAction Report
Read the recent Interaction Report, "Country Ownership: Moving from Rhetoric to Action" which cites two CDA publications from the Listening Project
New Policy Brief: "How to Make Aid More Effective for People Affected by Conflict and Fragility
CDA offers some practical guidance to policy makers in this Policy Brief based on evidence gathered by listening to people in communities who have lived through conflict and instability.
CDA Newsletter - Fall 2011
Check out the latest CDA newsletter, featuring links to recent publications and upcoming events! Send an email if you want to subscribe!
LP Update
The Listening Program recently emailed an update letter with links and decriptions of recent publications.
Blog post at USIP
The blog entry highlights the need for greater understanding of how companies can manage their interactions with armed groups in ways that promote peace. While existing guidance for responsible business in fragile and conflict-affected areas offers some support in such contexts to companies committed to local stability, there is currently little if any guidance that focuses specifically on managing interactions with armed groups. Moreover, little is known about actually existing corporate approaches to such groups.
New Policy Brief
CEP has produced a new policy brief entitled Partnering with the Private Sector. This brief discusses evidence from CEP regarding local perspectives of what good partnership looks like.
New Issue Paper on Aid Recipient Perspectives on Ownership
This Issue Paper details what those on the receiving end of international assistance efforts, the people in poor communities who are supposed to benefit most from aid, have to say about the issue of ownership.
New RPP Cumulative Case Study
A draft version of the Guatemala Cumulative Case is now available!
CEP Yadana Pipeline Visit VI
This field visit report details the Corporate Engagement Project's sixth visit to the Yadana Gas Pipeline Corridor in Myanmar, which took place in March-April, 2011.
New Report on Feedback Mechanisms
CDA's recent report, "Feedback Mechanisms in International Assistance Organizations "
presents findings on how recipient feedback is gathered and utilized to inform decision-making in international assistance efforts. Our evidence was gathered through desk research and interviews with over 30 key informants in international humanitarian and development agencies.
The Piloting Principles for Effective Company-Stakeholder Grievance Mechanisms: A report of Lessons Learned
This Special Representative's report includes the CEP annex reports on Carbones del Cerrejon and Sakhalin Energy Investment Corporation.
Local Perceptions of International Engagement in Fragile States and Situations
This paper presents feedback gathered by CDA Collaborative Learning Projects on the applicability of the OECD principles for good international engagement in places affected by conflict, chronic fragility or other destabilizing influences, such as natural disasters.
Just Published:
The Listening Project and Aid Effectiveness: Aid Recipient Perspectives on the Paris Declaration
CDA Newsletter - Spring 2011
Read CDA's latest Newsletter for updates about our recent publications, activities, and upcoming events!
New Listening Project Issue Paper
Perceptions of Aid in Places of Conflict highlights the perspectives of people in several aid recipient countries that have experienced inter-group and communal divisions and violence, and in some cases wars.
Community Perspectives Report
The Corporate Engagement Project has collaborated with the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) to develop guidelines for companies operating in areas of actual or potential conflict. The report is titled Community Perspectives on the Business Responsibility to Respect Human Rights in High-Risk Countries .
New DNH Newsletter
The Spring 2011 DNH Newsletter is now available!
CEP Profiled in French Language Business & Community Newsletter
The Business & Community Newsletter. can be downloaded as a pdf and the story on CEP can be found on pages 12 and 13.
Civil Society Policy Forum Panel--April 15, 2011
Dayna Brown will participate in the Civil Society Policy Forum entitled, "Winds of Change: Will it bring a new development paradigm?" It will take place on Friday, April 15th at 2pm EST (6pm GMT). The session overview, webcast links, and bios of participants are featured here.
The Listening Project and Development Effectiveness
Read this recent short paper on lessons from the Listening Project for Development Effectiveness.
Understanding Conflict Tool Power Point Presentation
CEP presented the Understanding Conflict Tool in Toronto at the annual PDAC conference. Slides from the presentation are available here.
CDA Winter Newsletter - 2011
Now available online!
DNH Newsletter-Fall 2010
The DNH Newsletter is now available!
Upcoming Speaking Event - CEP Experience with Peacebuilding and the Private Sector
Dost Bardouille-Crema, Director of the Corporate Engagement Project will speak on a panel hosted by the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum on "Peacebuilding and the Private Sector: Business in Conflict Zones."
The panel is from 9:30 am to 11:00 am on November 9th from at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Nitze Building, Kenny Auditorium at 1740 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington D.C.
For more information and to register, follow this link
Video of Do No Harm in a panel discussion on Conflict Sensitivity and Aid
Watch Marshall Wallace, Director of CDA's Do No Harm Project discuss the role of Do No Harm in this video of a panel discussion on Conflict Sensitivity and Aid, hosted by Search for Common Ground and the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.
Upcoming DNH Training at UMass-Boston
Click to find out more about the upcoming two-day DNH training!
CDA Fall 2010 Newsletter
Now available online.
The CEP Understanding Conflict: Field Tool for Exploration is now available!
The Understanding Conflict: Field Tool for Exploration is a simple and practical analysis tool that enables companies, on their own or in collaboration with Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), to address complex issues that arise in settings of conflict, that existed prior to industry presence or as a result of resource extraction. The tool has been developed in collaboration between The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), World Vision Canada, and The Corporate Engagement Project of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects
Civil Society and the US Government in Conflict-Affected Regions: Building Better Relationships for Peacebuilding
This report summarizes key themes and recommendations discussed in a March 26, 2010 roundtable between US government agencies and civil society organizations engaged in conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts in various regions of the world. CDA staff participated in the roundtable meeting and contributed experience which has been captured in the report.
DNH Frameworks Tutorial Videos
DNH has begun series of video tutorials on various DNH lessons. The first two tutorials in this series are brief trainings, given by DNH Project Director Marshall Wallace, on the DNH Relationship and Action Frameworks. To access these videos online, please click the following links: Relationship Framework and Action Framework
And don't forget to check out the DNH blog, where we will be posting all tutorials and other DNH stories, photos, and other lessons! You can view the blog and become a follower at www.donoharmproject.wordpress.com
Guidance on Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas
The Corporate Engagement Project has contributed to a new UN Global Compact guidance document Guidance on Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas as launched at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York City on June 24th, 2010. CEP specifically authored chapters on Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Social Investment. The document is available in both English and Chinese and can be downloaded directly here.
English Version
Chinese Version
New Listening Project Field Reports
LP Field Reports are now available for Burma/Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Mali.
CDA May Newsletter Available
CDA's May Newsletter provides updates about recent project activities and publications, and information about upcoming trainings and events. To subscribe to CDA's quarterly newsletter, please contact us.
RPP Cumulative Impact Consultation Report Now Online
A report on RPP's third Consultation on Understanding Cumulative Impacts. Thirty people including donors, practitioners, the case authors and CDA staff participated in the consultation which was held in Boston, Massachusetts on January 26-27, 2010. The consultation focused on five Cumulative Impact Cases: Cambodia, Haiti, Mindanao, Mozambique and South Africa.
CEP EcuaCorriente S.A. Site Visit Report Now Available in Spanish.
The report details CEP visits to two operations sites of EcuaCorriente in Ecuador during August and September of 2009.
Do No Harm March Newsletter
The DNH March Newsletter is now available. If you would like to sign up for the quarterly DNH newsletter to receive updates about DNH project activities, upcoming trainings and more, please contact us.
Listening Project Mindanao Report
The LP field visit report on Mindanao, Philippines is now available. The Mindanao Listening Exercise took place July-August 2009 and documents the reflections of local people on the impact of international assistance efforts.
New Model of the Do No Harm Framework
In this paper we are trying to capture how people actually use DNH. The newly created "Circle" has now been presented alongside the old "Square" in several workshops around the world and has received positive feedback from practitioners trying to understand how DNH works in the field. Please tell us what you think!
CDA February Newsletter Available
CDA's February newsletter provides updates about recent project activities and publications, and information about upcoming trainings and events. To subscribe to CDA's quarterly newsletter, please contact us.
Sign up for CDA's Quarterly Newsletter
Each of CDA's projects is highlighted in our quarterly email newsletter. Keep up to date on new publications, recent site visits, and upcoming trainings and activities!
To subscribe, send us an email.
CEP EcuaCorriente Field Visit Report
The report details CEP visits to two operations sites of EcuaCorriente in Ecuador during August and September of 2009.
CDA Lessons for Relief Aid in Haiti
In light of the massive on-going relief effort in Haiti, CDA has highlighted several lessons drawn from many initiatives led by CDA Projects over the last 20 years, in partnership with thousands of colleagues in humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding organizations. Please see our Lessons Learned from Past Experience for International Agencies in Haiti and a Brief Background to Conflict in Haiti.
Aceh Cumulative Impact Case Study now online
The RPP Cumulative Impact Case Study on the Conflict in Aceh is now available.
New RPP article available! A Distinction with a Difference: Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding
Are peacebuilding and conflict sensitivity the same thing? Different but related? Completely separate? Increasingly, practitioners and policy makers give different and often opposing answers to these simple questions. Experience shows that conflating the two concepts or treating them as entirely distinct and unrelated, results in poorly conceived programming and reduces effectiveness. This article examines the damage done by this conceptual confusion, and proposes some ways to distinguish peacebuilding and conflict sensitivity that, evidence suggests, may lead to more effective peacebuilding and conflict sensitive practice. Click here to download the article A Distinction with a Difference: Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding
CDA's Response to EarthRights International's Report "Getting it Wrong"
Please see CDA's response to EarthRights International's Report "Getting it Wrong".
Getting it Right: Making Corporate-Community Relations Work is available to order!
The book, Getting it Right: Making Corporate Community Relations Work, was published in May 2009 and is now available to order. You can place orders on our publishers website.
Click here to read a review of "Getting it Right"
CDA Announces its New Executive Director
CDA Collaborative Learning Projects' Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Executive Director, Steve Darvill, an expert in humanitarian and development assistance. He will assume his responsibilities in January, replacing the organization's founder and current Executive Director, Mary B. Anderson, who retires in October. Click here for more information.
Corporate Engagement Project Trainings Now Available
CEP has designed a training program based on the evidence gathered from the last nine years of field work looking at how the daily, ongoing operations of companies interact with, affect, and are affected by the societies where they operate. Training sessions will provide company staff and management with the tools and skills to design and implement practical options to help ensure they have positive, long-term impacts on local communities. A description of the training modules is available here.
CDA is proud to welcome its brand new Project Associates!
Candice Montalvo and Ethan Schechter have officially joined the CDA family. Candice will be working on the Listening Project and Do No Harm and Ethan will be working on Reflecting on Peace Practice and the Corporate Engagement Project. All inquiries regarding these projects should be directed to them.
CEP Exploratory Visit to Ecuador Report Now Available
CEP conducted an exploratory visit to Ecuador to gain a broad understanding of the context of corporate-community relations across various industries. The Ecuador trip report is now available.
CEP Consultation Report Now Available!
We are pleased to announce that the report of the November 2008 CEP Consultation is available on CDA's website! The Consultation took place from November 17 to 19, 2008. Participants came from several companies, the IFC, the UN, ICMM, IPIECA and donor governments. The report includes a link to a video tutorial of the CEP Framework.
Three new Listening Project reports now online
Reports from the Listening Project's visits to Ecuador, Kenya, and the Thailand-Burma/Myanmar Border are now available online! The Ecuador report is also available in Spanish, while the translated versions of the Kenya and Thailand-Burma/Myanmar Border report (in Swahili and Karen, respectively) are forthcoming.
Direct Links here:
Ecuador (English)
Ecuador (Spanish)
Kenya (English)
Thailand-Burma/Myanmar Border (English)
New Listening Project Issue Papers
After listening to over 3,200 people in thirteen locations around the world, the Listening Project has produced Issue Papers that each addresses a theme that surfaced repeatedly. They are intended to elicit further thinking, experience, ideas and suggestions from the community of people and agencies engaged in the learning process.
And we would love to hear your feedback. In particular, does the evidence and analysis ring true with your experiences? What have you heard or observed that reinforces or differs from what the LP has heard? What suggestions do you have for addressing these issues?
Direct Links are here:
International Assistance as a Delivery System
The Cascading Effects of International Agendas and Priorities
Presence: "Why Being Here Matters"
"Discuss Together, Decide Together, Work Together"
Executive Summary of Guide to Successful, Sustainable Social Investment Projects Now Available in Spanish.
IPIECA has released the Executive Summary of the Guide to Successful Sustainable Social Invesment Projects in Spanish, Por una Inversion Social Exitosa y Sostenible. The document is posted on the Corporate Engagment Project page, and other translations of IPIECA guidance are available on their website.
Case Study on the Cumulative Impact of Peace Efforts in Northern Ireland Now Available
The Northern Ireland case of RPP's Cumulative Impact Case Studies series, "How Did Northern Ireland Move Toward Peace", by Niall Fitzduff and Sue Williams, is now available online.
Direct Link to the Case
For a description of the Cumulative Impact Case Studies, please visit the RPP homepage. Other cases are forthcoming, so please check back!
New Case Study on the Cumulative Impact of Peacebuilding Work in Cyprus Now Available
The Cyprus case of RPP's Cumulative Impact Case Studies series, "The Impacts of Peacebuilding Work on the Cyprus Conflict" by Dr. Maria Hadjipavlou and Dr. Bulent Kanol, is now available.
Direct Link to the Report
For a description of the Cumulative Impact Case Studies, please visit the RPP homepage. Other cases are forthcoming, so please check back!
CEP Field Visit Report Myanmar/Burma now Public!
The report of the fifth visit of the Corporate Engagement Project to the Yadana Gas Pipeline Corridor in Myanmar/Burma is now available on CDA's website. For this report, the CEP team visited Total's offices in Yangon, villages in the pipeline corridor, NGOs working in Myanmar/Burma, and officials in Bangkok, Thailand.
Do No Harm Handbook now in French
CDA, in collaboration with World Vision, has had the Do No Harm Handbook translated into French. Also translated into French is a packet of teaching tools for a Training of Trainers workshop.
New Consultation Report from RPP now available
The Report from RPP's January 2008 Consultation - "Understanding Cumulative Impacts" - has been revised to include inputs from event participants, and is now available... here
Listening to Improve the Quality of International Aid
A new article by Dayna Brown, Director of the Listening Project, appeared in the April newsletter of Le Groupe Urgence - Rehabilitation - Developpement (Groupe URD), titled "L'ecoute, premier gage de qualite de tout projet humanitaire"
To read the article online, click here
The Listening Project's Kosovo Report now available in Albanian and Serbian!
The report of the Listening Project's exercise in Kosovo has been translated into Albanian and Serbian, and both versions are now available online. Direct links are below:
For Albanian, click here
For Serbian, click here
CEP Field Visit to Myanmar/Burma Completed
CDA Executive Director, Mary B. Anderson and Independent Consultant, Brian Ganson have recently completed the sixth CEP field visit to the Total pipeline in Myanmar/Burma. In early-March, Mary Anderson will present CEP's findings to executives at Total. Look for the report of this visit on the CDA website in the coming weeks!
Creating Successful, Sustainable Social Investment Programmes: Guidance Document for the Oil and Gas Industry is published
International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) asked CDA to develop a practical guidance note for oil companies to design effective and sustainable Social Investment (SI) projects. IPIECA has published the document on their website
Oxfam America talks about its experience with the Listening Project
A new article by Oxfam America's Aid Reform Initiative, "Listening and Learning to Improve Aid" by Anna Kramer, shares the experience and learning Oxfam staff gained in participating in Listening Exercises in Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe.
Direct link to the article here
Listening to Improve Accountability
Mary B. Anderson, CDA Executive Director and Dayna Brown, Director of the Listening Project co-authored an article titled "Listening to Improve Accountability" that appeared in the December 2007 issue of Monday Developments - InterAction's monthly publication.
Download the article Here
Listening Project Update, February 2008
Reports from Listening Exercises
Reports from the Thailand and Kosovo Listening Exercises can be downloaded from our website at www.cdainc.com/cdawww/project_profile.php?pid=LISTEN&pname=Listening%20Project. Translations of these reports will be available soon and all of the past Listening Exercise reports (Aceh, Indonesia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ethiopia, Angola, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, and US Gulf Coast) can be downloaded there as well. Feel free to pass them on and let us know what you think!
Recent Listening Exercises
Sri Lanka - the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) took the lead role in organizing this Listening Exercise, which took place from September 24th to October 5th, 2007. Participating agencies included: CHA; Irish Red Cross; FORUT; Mercy Corps; Oxfam Great Britain, Oxfam America, Sewa Lanka Foundation, and World Vision. Listening teams visited Batticaloa in the East; Galle in the South; Badulla in the central highlands; the border areas around Anuradhapura and Puttalam, and Colombo.
Kenya - Local Capacities for Peace International (LCPI) organized the Listening Exercise in early October 2007, with the participation of staff from a number of organizations including: Support for Tropical Initiatives in Poverty Alleviation (STIPA); Veterinaire Sans Frontiers (VSF) - Germany; Konrad Adenauer Foundation; Anglican Church of Kenya Directorate of Social Services and Christian Community Services; Security and Research Information Center (SRIC); Action Africa Help International (AAHI); Seeds of Peace Africa International (SOPA); Peace Tree Network (PTN); Joint Aid Management (JAM); Lutheran World Federation; CEAS; Impact on Health; MYTO; Dakahumas; and the World Health Organization. The listening teams visited communities in Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Eastern Provinces; Lokichoggio and the Kakuma refugee camp in the northwest; and Nairobi and surrounding areas.
Cambodia - Oxfam America hosted the Listening Exercise which took place from November 1-10, 2007. Staff from several agencies participated including: Oxfam America; Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR); Development and Partnership in Action (DPA); Pour un Sourire d'Enfant (PSE); Action Aid; American Friends Services Committee (AFSC); the Asia Foundation; and Hellen Keller International. The listening teams visited five regions including: Phnom Penh and surrounding areas; Mondulkiri Province in the East; Battambang and Pursat Provinces in the West; and Kampot Province in the South.
Thailand-Burma Border - The Karen Women's Organization and several other local organizations participated in a brief listening exercise in several refugee camps and surrounding communities in northwestern Thailand in late November.
The reports from these Listening Exercises are being drafted and reviewed by the listening team members who held the conversations with people in each of the field visits. Once the team members have had an opportunity to provide feedback, the reports will be finalized and translated. CDA will then work with the agencies involved in each place to distribute the reports to other agencies (international and local) and donors who would be interested in the findings. We welcome suggestions on others who might want to read these reports.
External Publications
The Listening Project contributed an article on "Listening to Improve Accountability" in the December 2007 edition of the InterAction Monday Developments Magazine. It will be available to download at http://www.interaction.org.
Plans for 2008
As the Listening Exercise reports are produced from the most recent and additional visits, CDA will produce Issue Papers that highlight some of the patterns, themes, lessons and further questions that are emerging from the diversity of places visited so far. In some locations, future Listening Exercises will be linked to Feedback Workshops so that these accumulated lessons can be further "tested" in conversations with local people, as well as with international assistance agencies and donors. CDA has found that opening up the conversations to include an even broader range of people in different countries adds a great deal of new insight to lessons learned in the first phase of project activities.
For example, in many places people have talked about the importance of international "presence", but not everyone agrees on why and how this is important. If we can open up additional conversations by telling people what we have heard in other places, and then asking them what they think based on their experiences, this will add nuance and depth to the ideas that have been raised by many people already. Of course, we will also leave enough space and time for people to raise new issues as well. Using this approach, upcoming Listening Project field visits will gather people for a day or two of "feedback" in which we outline some of these open-ended issues that need more nuance. Then, those who can will go out to do further conversations on these and other issues.
A Listening Exercise will be held in Ecuador from February 25th - March 4th, hosted by Catholic Relief Services. Other places we are exploring carrying out Listening Exercises and/or Feedback Workshops include:
- The Gambia
- Timor Leste
- Afghanistan
- Senegal
- Lebanon
- Guatemala
- Somalia
- The Philippines (focusing on Mindanao)
- Solomon Islands
- Mozambique
- Madagascar
- Armenia
Feedback Workshops may also be held with international assistance agencies and donors in the US, Europe, Australia and other locations depending on time and funding. We plan to have a Consultation in mid-late 2008 where people involved in the Listening Exercises and Feedback Workshops will compare and analyze the trends and patterns identified so far. Sometime in 2009, the Listening Project plans to produce a final publication, which will include examples of the evidence, the analysis and lessons learned, recommendations and--if they emerge from the evidence--tools for improving international assistance efforts.
The Listening Project is seeking additional funding and support to organize these Listening Exercises and Feedback Workshops, and our plans will depend on the support that we receive. If you are interested in or able to support the Listening Project financially or in any other way, please be in touch.
The Listening Project has benefited enormously so far from financial and in-kind support from many international and local NGOs. In fact, several NGOs have provided more than half of the total project funding to date, and it will be great if this continues through this next phase. The Listening Project has so far been funded by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Reflecting on Peace Practice Consultation
January 9-10, 2008. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: The Reflecting on Peace Practice Project (RPP) held a two-day Consultation with over 25 colleagues from the academic, NGO, international organization, and donor communities around the world to reflect on and analyze evidence from the first five Cumulative Impact Case Studies (Burundi, Cyprus, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and South Africa).
Participants in the Consultation considered a range of issues and questions surrounding the key focus: have multiple individual peace efforts by different actors and at different levels added up to cumulative impacts? If yes, how? And Why?
A brief Consultation Report will be available shortly on this website.
Kenya and Sri Lanka Listening Exercises Concluded!
The Listening Project has just concluded its Kenya and Sri Lanka exercises in collaboration with several international and local partner organizations. Look for the reports to be posted on our website in the coming weeks!
Listening Project Update, August 2007
Dear Colleagues,
We hope this finds you well. Here is the latest update on the progress and plans of the Listening Project. Thanks for your interest in and support of the Listening Project. We welcome your participation and suggestions on how to improve the effectiveness of our collective efforts to improve the effectivess of international assistance.
Reports from Listening Exercises
The new CDA website is up now and most of the reports from the Listening Exercises (including some of the translations), as well as the primary project documents and report from the February Consultation are on there-just visit the Listening Project Page to read more or download them. We welcome any feedback on the usefulness of the reports and/or changes made in your work based on what the listening teams have heard so far in Aceh (Indonesia), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Angola, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Thailand, and the US Gulf Coast.
Recent Listening Exercises
A listening exercise was completed in Kosovo in June/July. Mercy Corps hosted the exercise, and CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, Danish Refugee Council, MPDL (Moviemiento por la Paz, el Desarme y la Libertad), and Partners/Kosova participated. The report will be completed and translated in September, but please let us know if you want more information in the meantime.
Training and Methodology
In May we held a Training of Facilitators for consultants and people from participating agencies who have committed to help facilitate at least one listening exercise in the field in the next year. More detailed facilitators' and team members' training manuals have been developed and used in more recent listening exercises. While the facilitation manual is not yet public, please let us know if you would like to receive a copy.
Planning for future Listening Exercises
We are in the process of organizing several more listening exercises over the coming months, and exploring a few others. Since this is a very collaborative project, we welcome your suggestions on where we should go, organizations/people that could/should participate, as well as organizations/people we should listen to in each place. Please let us know if you or your organization is interested in participating in or helping out with any of these exercises.
- Kenya - Local Capacities for Peace International (LCPI) is helping us to organize a listening exercise there from September 27th--October 9th. A planning meeting will be taking place in the next two weeks in Nairobi--let me know if you want more information on when and where the meeting will be held or how to get involved.
- Sri Lanka - Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) is hosting the listening exercise there starting September 24th. There will be a planning meeting at the CHA offices in Colombo on August 27th at 3pm, so if your organization is interested in getting involved, please let us know and plan to attend that meeting.
- Senegal - one of the LP facilitators will be visiting Senegal to meet with potential collaborating agencies the week of September 10th, and we hope to schedule a listening exercise there in early December. If your organization is interested in meeting with him or in participating there, please let us know.
- The Gambia - one of the LP facilitators will be visiting The Gambia to meet with potential collaborating agencies the week of September 10th, and we hope to schedule a listening exercise there later this year or early next year. If your organization is interested in meeting with him or in participating there, please let us know.
- Cambodia - Oxfam America is hosting this listening exercise which will start November 1st, and they will be holding another planning meeting in Phnom Penh in the next few weeks to finalize the dates and regions to be visited. Let us know if you want to be involved.
- Ecuador - Catholic Relief Services is hosting this listening exercise in the latter half of February 2008, and has held several organizational meetings in Quito, though we are open to additional participating agencies.
- Afghanistan - we have decided to postpone the listening exercise there which was tentatively planned for the fall, and will reevaluate the feasibility in the spring for summer 2008.
Others we are exploring for 2008 include:
- East Timor/Timor Leste
- Lebanon
- Guatemala
- Ghana
- Caucasus and/or Tajikistan
- Philippines
External Meetings
Mary Anderson met with a number of international aid and peacebuilding agencies and donors in Oslo and Geneva in mid-April, and Peter Woodrow met with a number of Australian aid agencies in Sydney in May, to share what we have been hearing and to encourage more European and Australian agencies' participation in the Listening Project. I met with a few representatives of UK-based International NGOs, the Humanitarian Accountability Project--International, People in Aid, and the Overseas Development Institute in London in July to discuss potential participation and collaboration with their initiatives to improve the quality and accountability of international assistance. We expect to have broader participation among international assistance agenceis in the upcoming Listening Exercises.
Mailing list launched!
Stay informed with our Learning Projects mailing lists. Join a project's list by clicking on the mailing list link when viewing a particular project.
Website Re-design!
CDA now has a new website. Enjoy the new look and feels as you traverse through our pages.
New RPP Report on Evaluation Available
"An Approach to DAC Guidance for Evaluating Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Activites"
This report on evaluating conflict prevention and peacebuilding activities was completed under joint Terms of Reference from the DAC Networks on Development Evaluation and on Conflict, Peace and Development Cooperation, and represents a step forward in developing forthcoming DAC guidance on evaluating conflict prevention and peacebuilding activities.
This document can be found on the Publications page under the Articles Tab: CDA Publications
