Evaluation, learning, and generating WASH for Peace evidence
A UNICEF-commissioned evaluative review of peacebuilding contributions of WASH programmes noted the need to strengthen M&E systems, and specifically that the lack of conflict analysis in WASH programming leads to a lack of baseline data.
Purpose
A UNICEF-commissioned evaluative review of peacebuilding contributions of WASH programmes noted the need to strengthen M&E systems, and specifically that the lack of conflict analysis in WASH programming leads to a lack of baseline data. The review found that statements regarding actual contributions of UNICEF WASH programming to social cohesion are mostly aspirational and anecdotal in nature. Systematically collecting baseline and endline data concerning socio-political aspects and citizens’ perceptions of WASH institutions and including such elements in programme evaluations are ways of significantly improving the understanding of the relevance of the WASH sector for peacebuilding. Evaluation serves mainly as a programme management instrument, but it can also be a critical source of knowledge about whether UNICEF WASH interventions are doing the right thing in the right place. This feeds into the organization learning system and ‘memory’, thus contributing to position UNICEF as a knowledge and learning organization.
Thus, the organization is expected to learn from its practices, correct them and develop new and better ways of doing what it is supposed to do. This is critically important in relation to WASH contributions to peace, as there is a need to move away from anecdotal evidence to more systematic documentation of pathways to and measurement of results in response to the ambition articulated in the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022–2025, specifically Goal Area 4 of that plan.