IPI Report: The Monitoring and Evaluation of Peace Operations

Members of the Bangladesh battalion of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) on patrol on October 6, 2008. (UN Photo/Christopher Herwig)

In spite of positive indications, the challenges ahead for developing more effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methodologies for peace operations are considerable.

There are still many institutional, bureaucratic, and conceptual barriers that need to be overcome — or at least managed better — in order for significant progress to be made.

This report is the product of a two-day workshop titled, “The Monitoring and Evaluation of Peace Operations,” hosted by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the International Peace Institute (IPI). The workshop highlighted the theoretical, methodological, and institutional issues related to M&E processes, and offered several recommendations for fostering best practices and more effective monitoring and evaluation techniques, in light of the opportunities and challenges.