Facilitator: Jeffrey Helsing, Executive Director, Better Evidence Project, Carter School, George Mason University

Search for Common Ground and the Better Evidence Project are working in different ways to develop more resources for evidence of peacemaking and war prevention while also developing networks that will enable peacebuilding organizations worldwide to share lessons and data. This session will be a discussion about what we know and don’t know, the next steps towards strengthening evidence-based peacebuilding, and where gaps remain. As a community of practice, how can we more effectively share what we are learning? At a minimum, evidence-based peacebuilding must result from meaningful input from, and collaboration with, practitioners and organizations in conflict-affected societies. How can scholars and researchers contribute to that? Search for Common Ground has developed a Global Impact Framework, in consultation with organizations and practitioners in the field, intended to bring together the lived experience of those living and working in conflict and to align measures that help people understand where they are most influential in transforming conflict. In doing so, Search for Common Ground and the Better Evidence Project, through its forthcoming Resource Center, are reframing the conversation about evidence related to peace and conflict in a way that can foster cross-fertilization and inform better learning and decision-making at all levels, while also incorporating local actors and needs as well as bridging theory and practice.

Speakers:

Marin O’Brien Belhoussein, Senior Manager, Institutional Learning Team, Strategy Alignment Department Search for Common Ground

Jack Farrell, Manager, Partnerships & Strategic Innovation and Project Lead of DME for Peace, Search for Common Ground Member of Learning, Evaluation and Research team, United States Institute of Peace–to be determined

Ziad Al Achkar, PhD Candidate, Carter School; Research Affiliate, Better Evidence Project

Sandra Tombe, Research Program Officer, Learning, Evaluation and Research United States Institute of Peace

Jeffrey Helsing, Executive Director, Better Evidence Project, Carter School, George Mason University