The peace, security and development nexus has been one of the key elements of Finnish development policy over the last two decades. In particular, the concept of comprehensive security has been central to this and has been supported through development cooperation, humanitarian assistance, diplomacy and crisis management.
The evaluation
This evaluation explores how Finnish development cooperation in fragile states combines with policy dialogue and partnerships to support peace and development outcomes at the country level. It consists of two components: firstly, an evaluation of the entirety of Finland’s interventions in the Western Balkans 2009-13 as well as the final evaluation of two regional projects; and secondly, case studies of Finnish cooperation in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Palestinian Territories from 2007-12. Lessons learned and recommendations on Finland’s contributions to peace and development in fragile states will be used to support decision-makers at the Ministry, as well as to inform the drafting of guidelines on fragile states.
Our approach
We are leading a large team of international and regional experts specialised in security and justice, governance, capacity building and economic development. Our approach centres on contribution analysis and a reconstructed theory of change for strategy and implementation in order to identify evidence for a plausible association between Finnish cooperation and peace and development outcomes in fragile states. We are also exploring the use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to further test the causal relationships set out in the theories of change. We are undertaking extensive fieldwork in the Western Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Palestinian Territories, and will employ a number of field tools including participatory conflict analysis, stakeholder interviews and focus-group discussions.
A final report was presented to the Ministry in June 2014, and you can read it here. You can also read a case study from the project, here.
Contact David Fleming (david.fleming@itad.com) if you would like to discuss this project.
Image © Helsinki skyline. Photo credit: Riku Kettunen