The evaluation of peacebuilding efforts has always been a challenge and a weakness for both the peacebuilding and evaluation fields.  Peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts are oftentimes complex interventions implemented in equally dynamic conflict settings.  Adding to these challenges are the contending evaluation methodologies that reflect the disciplinary leanings of evaluators.  Too often, evaluations that utilize variable-based approaches (statistical and experimental) narrowly focus on assessing for accountability and attribution with little concern for social learning from the project.  Such evaluations frequently frustrate local project partners because their insights are taken for granted by evaluators, and they often come out of the evaluation process not learning anything.  Stern and colleagues (2012) have identified a range of possible design options for doing evaluations outside of the dominant variable-based approaches which are poorly applied in project evaluations.  One of these alternative approaches is the use of theory-based or mechanism-based design approaches to evaluation, which needs more tailoring, refining, and field-testing.  

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using process tracing in evaluating peace projects.  Commonly used in comparative politics, process tracing is a theory-based and mechanism-based approach that is considered “a key technique for capturing causal mechanisms in action” and a basis for causal inference (Bennett and Checkel 2015).  Using two case studies of a rido mediation project and a women peacebuilding project, this paper shows that process tracing, used in conjunction with outcome harvesting and contribution analysis greatly helps in coming up with more meaningful evaluations that can complement with variable-based approaches.

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