Mainstreaming failure or a small measure of success? Observations from a large-scale pcia in post-war sri lanka

Abstract

In May 2009, controversies emerged over Sri Lanka's human rights record in the last stages of the 27-year civil war between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). At the same time, a complex post-war environment characterised by the shifting of government and foreign donor priorities, accelerated economic development and profound socio-political transformations created a difficult context for humanitarian and development interventions. The following is an evaluation of the successes and failures of Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) processes, not only with reference to their original intent, but also by considering their intrinsic relationship with the political and politicised context where they have taken place. This article argues that donor-driven PCIA processes are most effective as intelligence-gathering exercises that can adequately inform decision-making mechanisms at the macro-level while promoting principles of community empowerment at the micro-level. As showcased in Sri Lanka, PCIA has the added potential to breach the narrow confines of its mandate by enabling local communities to make a public claim for justice and accountability.

Keywords::

• PCIA
• SBA
• Sri Lanka
• conflict-sensitivity
• accountability
• ethics

Notes

¹ A series of 18 key informant interviews with former members of the research team, former UN staff members in Sri Lanka, human rights activists and PCIA practitioners were conducted during the course of this evaluation.

² With the exception of ICRC staff, only two international UN staff had direct access to the war zone in January 2009. Their testimony, experience and full body of evidence have been well documented in a number of reports, including the Secretary General's Internal Review Panel Report on Sri Lanka.

³ Two recent examples of the alignment of domestic interests with foreign aid are the amalgamation of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid) into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in November 2013, preceded in June 2013 by a similar amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) into the former Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Simona Achitei

SIMONA ACHITEI, PhD, is the International Operations Manager for Austraining International in Adelaide, South Australia and previously acted as Head of Research for the Applied Research Unit attached to UNOPS in Sri Lanka. She specialises in the management and implementation of quantitative and qualitative applied research methodologies, including post-conflict or post-disaster rapid emergency assessments, peace and conflict impact assessments, community consultations and thematic/sectoral research.