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
