A ripple in development? - Channel Research

The team, however, enjoyed privileged support and access to agency
material, and lively feedback at specific debriefing workshops. We are
particularly grateful to the IFRC in Sri Lanka, and UNDP in Indonesia.
The dynamics of conflict affected LRRD in the three countries:
low scale communal tensions in Maldives, escalating war in Sri Lanka
(which reached new heights at the time of the evaluation), and decreasing
conflict in Aceh. This had implications for our methodology, particularly
for the issue of access mentioned above. Given the complexity
and high sensitivity of the conflict context in all the areas we covered,
the evaluation was conducted using a conflict-sensitive approach at two
different levels:
• Firstly, attention was paid to the interaction between the evaluation
process itself and the population, and/or context: e.g. the possibility
of visiting communities was assessed by the team members, trusting
their judgement on the negative unintended effects the visit could
have on the visited communities and persons interviewed.
• Secondly, the evaluation examined the interaction of the research
process with the context setting, including policy influence, but also
unintended negative and/or positive effects of the research process.
As stated in the guiding principles of IDRC’s Evaluation Unit, the
“evaluation should be an asset for those being evaluated. Evaluation can
impose a considerable time and resource burden on partner organisations
(...)” 3 .We have been careful to take this into account while conducting
the field visits. For consultation and restitution purposes the
summary text is translated into the local languages as the evaluation is
finalised.
Some of the respondents may be concerned about the confidentiality
of their comments and the possibility that they might be identified
as the source of critical commentary. Every effort has been made to
maintain the confidentiality of the interview processes, and to explain
how information has been handled.
The general nature of the evaluation referent (LRRD), and the
focus by the team on efforts to rebuild after a natural disaster, ensured
that the at times concurrent issues associated with the conflict in Sri
Lanka and Indonesia, and the political tensions in the Maldives, did not
have an overwhelming influence on the data collection process. Apart
from our inability to go to northern Sri Lanka, some higher risk team
movements in some insecure locations, and the obligation not to travel
at night in certain areas of Sri Lanka, the conflicts have not had an
effect on the nature of data collected nor on our analysis.
3
International Development Research Council of Canada, Guiding Principles of IDRC’s Evaluation
Unit
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