In our last session with Elizabeth Cole, we discussed Monitoring and Evaluation in Reconciliation. As an M&E student at MIIS, I was very intrigued when I saw the agenda. Elizabeth Cole discussed many interesting examples of Monitoring and evaluation in Reconciliation. In reconciliation what questions we want to be answered? How do we know if it’s working? What was very interesting is that she mentioned that the results of M&E show that reconciliation projects’ effect is not that great. But I think what is important to see is that what is working and what is not working, And to use the results to inform future reconciliation projects.
I was also very intrigued by some attributives and indicators of reconciliation that we discussed as follows:
- Increased willingness to come together for projects and dialogues
- Share future
- Rehumanization of others
- Long Term, multigenerational, not a direct line
- Voluntary, can’t be imposed
- Tipping point
- Respect for human rights
- Commitment to nonviolent solutions
When we think about these signs of reconciliation, it is also important to acknowledge the difficulty of measuring such indicators. And so I hope I can explore M&E in reconciliation more in the future.
