Efforts aimed at ‘preventing’ or ‘countering’ violent extremism (P/CVE) encompass a range of initiatives that aim to directly and indirectly address the drivers of violent extremism and the factors that enable it. As P/CVE programming is increasingly well funded, recent years have seen heightened interest in understanding both what P/CVE programming can achieve and how it can do so more effectively. Correspondingly, there has been an increase in interest in how established design monitoring and evaluation (DM&E) methods and related experiences from development and peacebuilding efforts in conflict-affected contexts can support P/CVE programming.
DM&E systems are not merely technical processes through which to quantify project deliverables. Robust DM&E systems enable indepth thinking and ongoing reflection, and ideally ongoing learning, about the overall approach, strategy, and theory of change of an initiative, its applicability in a given setting, and the type of results it can yield, as well as ways to incrementally track progress and facilitate adaptation and improvement during implementation.
This paper reflects on why the field has struggled to effectively design, monitor and evaluate programmatic efforts and offers insights on how methodologies developed for and lessons learned by the fields of peacebuilding and development can be applied to address current challenges. This paper aims to contribute to improving the relevance and effectiveness of P/CVE approaches, including through the critical consideration of both the policy context in which P/CVE exists and the types of efforts being undertaken under this heading.
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