Guidance for designing, monitoring and evaluating peacebuilding projects: Using theories of change

This guide focuses on how to design, monitor, and evaluate peacebuilding projects using theories of change.

It offers practical steps for conflict analysis, intervention design, and outcome tracking, emphasizing flexibility and adaptation.

This resource aims to help practitioners design, monitor, and evaluate peacebuilding projects using a theory of change framework. The guide is specifically tailored for NGOs, conflict transformation practitioners, and donor agencies. It offers practical steps to ensure that peacebuilding interventions are grounded in a clear logic that connects activities to expected outcomes. The resource helps practitioners design effective interventions and conduct evaluations that capture both intended and unintended results in dynamic conflict environments.

Key features

• Conflict analysis as a foundation: The guide emphasises starting with a robust conflict analysis, which serves as the basis for developing appropriate theories of change. This ensures that peacebuilding interventions directly address key conflict drivers and reflect the specific context.
• Designing interventions with theories of change: Practitioners are guided through a step-by-step process, including conflict analysis, designing interventions, creating a results hierarchy, and explicitly articulating theories of change. This ensures that each part of the project logically connects to broader peacebuilding goals.
• Monitoring and evaluating a project or programme based on its theories of change: This section is key to the resource, focusing on how to assess whether theories of change are functioning as expected. It introduces a detailed monitoring and evaluation grid that tracks the "if-then" logic of theories of change, examining the causal relationships between activities and outcomes. Practitioners can use the grid to evaluate whether activities lead to the anticipated results and to identify gaps or external factors that might influence the outcomes. The guide also highlights the importance of reviewing theories of change throughout a project’s lifecycle to ensure they remain relevant as conflict dynamics evolve.
• Conflict sensitivity and outcome evaluation: The guide stresses the need for ongoing reflection and adaptation. Outcome evaluations, informed by the theory of change, help determine whether interventions are making the desired impact on peacebuilding and allow for course correction if necessary.
• Data collection and adaptive learning: Data collection methods tailored to fragile settings are discussed, with advice on triangulating data sources to improve the credibility of findings. The guide provides tools for continuous learning, helping practitioners adjust their approaches based on evidence gathered during project implementation.
• Additional resources: The guide includes annexes with questions to ask to review a conflict analysis as well as a selection of conflict analysis tools and frameworks.

How would you use the resource?

This resource is designed to be used by M&E practitioners involved in peacebuilding or conflict-sensitive development projects. It is particularly relevant when working in FCV contexts, where understanding the complex dynamics of conflict is key to designing effective interventions. Practitioners can apply this guide to develop robust theories of change, ensuring that peacebuilding efforts are aligned with the local conflict context. The resource can be used throughout the project lifecycle—from the initial conflict analysis and intervention design to ongoing monitoring and outcome evaluation. Tools like the M&E grid will help practitioners plan data collection and track progress, while ensuring the flexibility needed to adapt to unpredictable changes in FCV settings.

Why are we recommending it?

This guidance is valuable because it addresses the unique challenges of evaluating peacebuilding interventions in FCV settings, where the impacts of projects can be difficult to measure. By focusing on theories of change, it offers a structured yet flexible approach that links project activities to desired outcomes, making it easier for practitioners to assess the relevance, effectiveness, and contribution of their interventions to peacebuilding.