UNMISS County Support Bases: Peacekeeping–Peacebuilding Nexus at Work?

The initiative by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to establish County Support Bases (CSBs) in 35 counties, in addition to the presence it already has in 10 state capitals, reflects a new interest in UN peacekeeping operations in pursuing a greater nexus between peacekeeping and peacebuilding, especially at the local level. In principle, the CSBs are a positive development, representing a move towards focusing on areas where the need is greatest – but they have also given rise to several concerns. Internally, UNMISS has had to reassess how fast it can move and what it can achieve with the CSBs. The CSBs are intended to ‘facilitate the extension of state authority’, and serve as a vehicle for integration with the UN Country Team (UNCT), who are the ones who can actually bring tangible development and peace dividends to isolated rural areas. Externally, the CSBs are expected to have an enabling effect on the extension of state authority through co-location of UNMISS staff with government counterparts in the counties. Given the delays encountered in CSB construction, it is not yet possible to fully assess their impact, although partial presence and air movement has already facilitated what is often the only link between state authorities and rural communities. This policy brief focuses on exploring the conceptual thinking and vision behind the CSBs, the efforts to achieve greater integration between UNMISS and UNCT, the challenges UNMISS has been facing in developing the CSBs, and how the UN plans to use CSBs in the future

Monitoring and evaluation of sports as a tool in HIV/AIDS awareness programmes: Experiences of five selected Non- Governmental Organisations in South Africa

Sport has increasingly been used as a vehicle for Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) awareness programmes, and the use of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) has become evident in the performance assessment of sport and development as well as HIV/AIDS programmes. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of selected Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in monitoring and evaluation of their sport-based HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in South Africa. A qualitative study was carried out among employees of 5 selected NGOs that integrate sport with delivering HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in South Africa. Data were collected through a review of documents, key informant interviews (N=7) and a focus group discussion (N=7). Thematic approach following a descriptive framework was used to analyse data. The findings revealed that the selected NGOs in this study focus on similar HIV prevention messages linked to the key priorities highlighted in the current National Strategic Plan for HIV, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis of South Africa. However, monitoring and evaluation of outcomes of the NGOs’ HIV/AIDS awareness programmes remain a challenge. Of the five selected NGOs, only one has proven to have substantial documents and reports on monitoring and evaluation outcomes. Lack of M&E functions, as well as outcomes indicators, are critical elements limiting NGOs in demonstrating the outcomes of these HIV/AIDS awareness programmes. Capacity building on M&E is required to support the NGOs in being able to reflect accurate information on their sport-based HIV/AIDS activities and improve the M&E of their programmes.DHE

Protection, Prevention, and the Primacy of Politics. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Peace Operations

submittedVersio

Sustaining Peace: Can a new approach change the UN?

publishedVersio

COVID-19 and the Resilience of Africa’s Peace and Security Networks

publishedVersio

Measuring Peace Consolidation: For Whom and for What Purpose?

In Measuring Peace, Richard Caplan sets out to answer an important question for those engaged in some or other way in contributing to bringing about peace, namely “how do we know if the peace that has been established following a civil war is a stable peace?” Caplan emphasizes at the outset that his book is about measuring peace consolidation, not about evaluating peacebuilding success. He argues that the two topics are closely related but distinct. How we measure peace is deeply and inescapably political. It is determined by how we define peace, and by our position and interest in the peace we are assessing. This does not mean that assessing peace cannot be useful, but it does mean that we need to be mindful of who is assessing the peace and for what purpose?publishedVersio

The Coherence Dilemma in Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Reconstruction Systems

This article analyses the coherence and coordination dilemma in peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction systems, with special reference to the United Nations' integrated approach concept. It argues that all peacebuilding agents are interdependent in that they cannot individually achieve the goal of the overall peacebuilding system. Pursuing coherence helps to manage the interdependencies that bind the peacebuilding system together, and coordination is the means through which individual peacebuilding agents can ensure that they are coherent with the overall strategic framework. The article is focused on two areas where the lack of coherence provides the most promise for improving peacebuilding coherence. The first is the need to generate a clearly articulated overall peacebuilding strategy. The second is the need to operationalise the principle of local ownership. The article argues that without meaningfully addressing these shortcomings peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction systems will continue to suffer from poor rates of sustainability. African Journal on Conflict Resolution Vol. 8 (3) 2008: pp. 85-11

Protection, Prevention, and the Primacy of Politics. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Peace Operations

submittedVersio