Did human security forget the humans? Critically assessing evaluations of interventions with a human security dimension in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

During the ceasefire agreement in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2006, a number of countries provided overseas development aid under the aegis of human security – most notably, Japan and Norway. Evaluations of such projects are essential in identifying good practice and providing an evidence base for future funding. However, for the insights of such evaluations to be seriously considered, their approach and methodology ought to be scrutinised. This paper therefore examines the evaluations to determine how well they were able to answer questions regarding human security-related interventions in Sri Lanka from 2002 until the end of the war in 2009. It looks specifically at how human security was operationalised, community participation in evaluations, and how well gathered data supported the evaluators’ findings. Based on the findings, we argue that evaluations of human security projects should employ the same principles as human security itself: incorporating a holistic model, exploring interactions between disparate components, placing human rights and community empowerment at the centre of the framework, and examining the broader effects on communities and environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Human security
• Sri Lanka
• evaluation
• development
• peace-building
• conflict

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted by Albie Sharpe as part of a PhD research project on Human Security Evaluations in Sri Lanka under the supervision of Dr Husna Razee and Prof. Anthony B. Zwi, co-authors in this publication.

Declaration statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher, I, Dr Albie Sharpe, was employed as a consultant for the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Sri Lanka and Japan during the period of this research. However, this did not involve any direct links to the projects discussed in this report, and all projects had been terminated by the time of this consultancy. I have disclosed those interests fully to Taylor & Francis, and I have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from that involvement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. UNDP, Human Development Report 1994.

2. CHS, Human Security Now.

3. See Busumtwi-Sam, ‘Contextualizing Human Security’; Alkire, ‘Conceptual Framework for Human Security; Koehler et al, ‘Human Security and the Next Generation of Comprehensive Human Development Goals’; Thomas, Global Governance, Development and Human Security.

4. Gómez, ‘What is a Human Security Project?’ 401.

5. Inglehart and Norris, ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’; Muggah and Krause, ‘A True Measure of Success?’.

6. CHS, Human Security Now; Gómez, ‘What is a Human Security Project?; UNDP, Human Development Report 1994.

7. Ibid.

8. Tadjbakhsh and Chenoy, Human Security: Concepts and implications, 17.

9. CHS, Human Security Now; UNDP, Human Development Report 1994.

10. Ibid.

11. UN-OCHA, Human Security in Theory and Practice.

12. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg16

13. Gómez, ‘What is a Human Security Project?’

14. JCIE, Fifth Intellectual Dialogue on Building Asia’s Tomorrow.

15. Owen, ‘Measuring human security’.

16. UNDP, Human Development Report 1994. Human Security Audit, Bajpai, Human security: Concept and Measurement; Lonergan, Gustavson, and Carter, Index of Human Insecurity; Human Security Centre, Human Security Report.

17. Paris, ‘Human security: Paradigm shift or hot air?’ 94-95.

18. Owen, ‘Measuring human security’ 37.

19. Bornemisza and Zwi, Neglected Health Systems Research’

20. Holt, ‘The Limits of Formal Metrics During Conflict and Post-Conflict Transition-Exploring Opportunities for Qualitative Assessment in Sri Lanka’.

21. Leaning and Arie, ‘Human Security: A Framework for Assessment in Conflict and Transition’ 10.

22. Tadjbakhsh and Chenoy, Human Security: Concepts and Implications, 17.

23. UN-OCHA, Human Security in Theory and Practice, 13.

24. Imboden, ‘Unpacking the Peacekeeping-Peacebuilding Nexus’; Gómez, ‘What is a Human Security Project?’.

25. Gómez, ‘What is a Human Security Project?’.

26. Sarma, Bezbaruah, Gudihal, and Bhuyan, ‘Conflict and Development in the Context of Human Security in Northeast India’; Patnaik, ‘Human Security Impact Assessment’.

27. Barnett, Matthew, and O’Brien, ‘Global Environmental Change and Human Security’.

28. Refers to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the de-facto government in much of the North and East of Sri Lanka before 2009.

29. Lam, ‘Japan’s Peacebuilding Diplomacy in Sri Lanka’.

30. Rupesinghe, Enhancing Human Security in the Eastern Province.

31. Daily News, ‘Prime Minister’s address to the UN: People want Immediate Peace Dividend’.

32. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Japan issued Japan’s Official Development Assistance Charter in 2003 and subsequently revised it as the Development Cooperation Charter in 2015.

33. MOFA, Japan, Country Assistance Evaluation of Sri Lanka.

34. Goodhand and Korf, ‘Caught in the peace trap? 12.

35. Multilateral Group, Preparing for Transition in Sri Lanka, v-vi.

36. Major academic databases (Proquest, Science Direct, EbscoHost, Taylor and Francis Journals, Oxford Academic Journals, JSTOR, and Scopus, as well as databases related specifically to development (IDS Digital Library, Eldis, Alnap) and human security (Human Security Gateway – no longer operational) generated little useful literature or published evaluations.

37. See Haddaway, Collins, Coughlin, and Kirk, ‘The Role of Google Scholar in Evidence Reviews and Its Applicability to Grey Literature Searching; Piasecki, Waligora and Dranseika, ‘Google Search as an Additional Source in Systematic Reviews’.

38. Gómez, in ‘What is a Human Security Project?’, discusses challenges in making a human security project ‘human-centred’, defining who ‘the people’ are, and whether single human security threats should be prioritised over multiple interacting ones, 392-393.

39. For example, of the three JICA’s projects, MANRECAP had strong documented links to human security throughout implementation (although less so in the evaluations). For TRINCAP and the JICA disaster management project, both were specifically linked to human security at some point in the project cycle. Other projects such as ‘The Recovery, Rehabilitation and Development Project for Tsunami Affected Area of Northern and Eastern Region in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’, did not discuss human security at any stage of the planning, implementation or evaluation process. Thus, this latter project was not included.

40. VERBI Software, ‘MAXQDA Software for Qualitative Data Analysis’.

41. Stufflebeam, ‘Programs Evaluation Meta-Evaluation Checklist’; Scriven, ‘Key Evaluation Checklist’.

42. JICA and M&Y Consultants Pty Ltd, Mannar District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction through Community Approach Project (MANRECAP) – Sri Lanka: Main Report.

43. Hosaka’s annual reports were as follows 2004: ‘Report on Participatory Development’; 2005: ‘MANRECAP report by a short-term consultant on participatory development’; 2007: ‘Sustainable Development when Human Security is at Risk’; 2008: ‘Mannar District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction through Community Approach Project (MANRECAP)’.

44. Sugiura, ‘Infrastructure and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka’; and ‘Lessons from Japan’s Post-conflict Support of Sri Lanka’.

45. Kurita et al.‘Promotion of Community-based Disaster Reduction Activity Through Hands-on Training in Sri Lanka’.

46. UNIDO, Thematic Evaluation: UNIDO Post-crisis Projects, 4; UNIDO Evaluation Group, Independent Evaluation Sri Lanka.

47. Balbo and Guadagnoli, Enhancing Urban Safety and Human Security.

48. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East.

49. Asia Foundation, ‘Ethnic Relations and Human Security in Eastern Sri Lanka’.

50. Foundation for Coexistence, Tamils of Indian Origin.

51. Goodhand and Walton, Assessment of Norwegian Economic Support to Foundation for Co-existence; Walton, ‘Conflict, peacebuilding and NGO legitimacy’.

52. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities.

53. Schweitzer, ‘Nine Years of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka’.

54. Asees, ‘Human Security of the Smaller Minority IDPs’.

55. UN-OCHA, Human Security in Theory and Practice; Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities in Conflict-Sensitive Development and Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka.

56. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East, 8.

57. Schweitzer, ‘Nine Years of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka’, 71.

58. Ibid., 52.

59. Ibid., 74.

60. Balbo and Guadagnoli, Enhancing Urban Safety and Human Security.

61. Asia Foundation, ‘Ethnic Relations and Human Security in Eastern Sri Lanka’.

62. FCE, Human Security in the Hill Country, 9.

63. Michel, ‘Human Security and Social Development’, 3.

64. MOFA Japan, ‘Country Assistance Program (CAP)’, Annex 1.

65. MOFA, Japan, ‘Country Assistance Evaluation’, 10.

66. Ueshima, ‘UNCRD/JICA Mini-Workshop on Human Security Assessment for Sri Lanka’.

67. Hosaka ‘Report on Participatory Development’; and ‘Sustainable Development when Human Security is at Risk’.

68. JICA and M&Y Consultants Pty Ltd, Mannar District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction through Community Approach Project (MANRECAP) – Sri Lanka: Main Report.

69. Sugiura, ‘Infrastructure and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka’; and ‘Lessons from Japan’s Post-conflict Support of Sri Lanka’.

70. Kurita et al.‘Promotion of Community-based Disaster Reduction Activity Through Hands-on Training in Sri Lanka’.

71. UNIDO, ‘UNIDO to implement US$1.8 million UN Human Security Trust Fund project in Sri Lanka’.

72. UNIDO, Thematic Evaluation: UNIDO Post-crisis Projects, 4.

73. Ibid., 22-23.

74. UNIDO Evaluation Group, Independent Evaluation Sri Lanka.

75. Goodhand and Walton, Assessment of Norwegian Economic Support to Foundation for Co-existence, 19.

76. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities, 36.

77. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities; Goodhand and Walton, Assessment of Norwegian Economic Support to Foundation for Co-existence.; Sørbø et al., Pawns of Peace.

78. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities.

79. UNIDO Evaluation Group, Independent Evaluation Sri Lanka.

80. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities.; Schweitzer, ‘Nine Years of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka’.

81. UNIDO Evaluation Group, Independent Evaluation Sri Lanka.

82. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East.

83. JICA and M&Y Consultants Pty Ltd, Mannar District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction through Community Approach Project (MANRECAP) – Sri Lanka: Main Report, 1/10.

84. Hosaka, ‘Report by a Short-Term Consultant on Participatory Development’, 2.

85. Schweitzer, ‘Nine Years of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka’, 48.

86. Michel, ‘Human Security and Social Development’, 19.

87. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East, 5.

88. Goodhand and Walton, Assessment of Norwegian Economic Support to Foundation for Co-existence.

89. Balbo and Guadagnoli, Enhancing Urban Safety and Human Security, 14.

90. JICA and M&Y Consultants Pty Ltd, Mannar District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction through Community Approach Project (MANRECAP) – Sri Lanka: Main Report.

91. Sugiura, ‘Infrastructure and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka’, 177.

92. Sørbø, Goodhand, Klem et al., ‘Pawns of Peace’, 10; Goodhand, Klem, and Sørbø, ‘Battlefields of Method’, 72.

93. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East, 8-9.

94. Balbo and Guadagnoli, Enhancing Urban Safety and Human Security, 2.

95. Asia Foundation, ‘Ethnic Relations and Human Security in Eastern Sri Lanka’.

96. Balbo and Guadagnoli, Enhancing Urban Safety and Human Security, 16.

97. Boyden, Kaiser and Springett, ‘ALNAP Global Study’.

98. Asia Foundation, ‘Ethnic Relations and Human Security in Eastern Sri Lanka’, 6.

99. Sugiura, ‘Infrastructure and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka’ 175.

100. Goodhand and Walton, Assessment of Norwegian Economic Support to Foundation for Co-existence; Hosaka, 2004; UNIDO Evaluation Group, Independent Evaluation Sri Lanka.

101. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities; Schweitzer, ‘Nine Years of Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka’.

102. MOFA, Japan, ‘Country Assistance Evaluation’, 8.

103. Ibid., 9.

104. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East,36.

105. Balbo and Guadagnoli, Enhancing Urban Safety and Human Security, 17.

106. Ibid., 24.

107. Ibid., 17.

108. Sharpe, ‘The “vital core” of human security’

109. Sugiura, ‘Infrastructure and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka’, 186.

110. Ibid., 187.

111. JICA and M&Y Consultants, Mannar District Rehabilitation and Reconstruction through Community Approach Project (MANRECAP) – Sri Lanka: Main Report, 3-6.

112. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities,12.

113. Asees, ‘Human Security of the Smaller Minority IDPs’.

114. Ibid., 45.

115. Boyden, Kaiser and Springett, ‘ALNAP Global Study’ 50.

116. Ibid., 46.

117. Woost, ‘Alternative vocabularies of development?’ 249.

118. Orjuela, ‘The Bullet in the Living Room’, 117.

119. Goodhand and Walton, Assessment of Norwegian Economic Support to Foundation for Co-existence, 19.

120. Orjuela, ‘The Bullet in the Living Room’, 117.

121. Lebbe and de Mel, Evaluation of Reconciliation, Peace and Development in the North and the East, 5.

122. Chapman et al. Evaluation of Donor-supported Activities.

123. Ibid., 45.

124. UN-OCHA, Guidelines for the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security, 45.

125. Zwi, Bunde-Birouste, Grove, Waller, and Ritchie, ‘Health and Peacebuilding Filter’.

126. Davies and Dart, ‘Most Significant Change’; Wilson-Grau, R. 2019. Outcome Harvesting; Cornwall, ‘Using Participatory Process Evaluation to Understand the Dynamics of Change in a Nutrition Education Programme’.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this research.

Notes on contributors

Albie Sharpe

Albie Sharpe received his PhD from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The University of NSW in 2017. He is currently a Lecturer in Public Health at The University of Technology Sydney. Research interests include health and human security, health and development, non-communicable diseases, and primary health care.

Husna Razee

Husna Razee is an academic with a teaching intensive focus at UNSW. She has extensive international experience in health promotion and is an experienced qualitative researcher. Her research focus is social determinants of mental health and sexual and reproductive health of young people and vulnerable and marginalised communities.

Anthony B. Zwi

Anthony Zwi is Professor of Global Health and Development and convenes the Masters of Development Studies program at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He has broad interests in health, rights and development and in the interface between research, policy and practice.