Evaluation Report 2/2004 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead

The report assesses Norway's peacebuilding efforts across nine recipient countries, analyzing the integration of development and peacebuilding. It highlights the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and NORAD, the introduction of 'transitional assistance' to bridge the gap between humanitarian and long-term aid, and the specific instruments used in security, political, socio-economic, and reconciliation sectors. While noting successes in high-profile peace processes, the report identifies a lack of clearly defined peacebuilding goals in socio-economic projects and a need for more consistent regional perspectives and long-term sustainability in post-conflict reconstruction.

• Norway has developed a policy framework that integrates peace and development, defining the goal of peacebuilding as "durable and sustainable peace". This approach recognizes that peace and security are preconditions for development, and that poverty reduction serves as an investment in preventing conflict.
• To address the institutional and financial gap between short-term humanitarian aid and long-term development, Norway introduced 'transitional assistance' in 2002. In that year, spending totaled NOK 345 million, with Afghanistan (NOK 90 million) and D.R. Congo (NOK 53 million) as the primary recipients.
• A survey of 122 projects across nine countries (Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Sudan) shows that socio-economic projects are the most numerous and financially dominant, while security projects, though fewer in number, often have high individual budgets (some worth NOK 40–50 million).
• There is a significant gap in the clarity of peacebuilding objectives within the socio-economic sector. While political and reconciliation projects have well-defined intentions, socio-economic projects are often "least clearly defined, and sometimes even vague".
• Norwegian peacebuilding activities in the security sector are heavily skewed toward humanitarian mine action (HMA), particularly in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Mozambique, and Bosnia, with very few projects dedicated to security sector reform or small arms control.
• Consistency between high-level strategy and project-level implementation is strongest in countries where Norway is directly involved in the peace process, such as Guatemala and Sri Lanka, compared to other partner countries.
• External evaluation rates vary significantly by activity type; security projects had the highest rate of external evaluation (46.2%), while socio-economic projects had the lowest (12.5%), despite the latter's larger financial scale.
• The report identifies a challenge in ensuring the durability of peace after agreements are signed, noting that assistance levels may be scaled down too quickly, as seen in Guatemala where aid was kept at 80% of previous levels from 2001–2003.

APA

Peace Research Institute Oslo (2004). Evaluation Report 2/2004 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/e38b2476-ec4c-4f6e-8dec-91c81300ff32/210674-rapp204.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Peace Research Institute Oslo. Evaluation Report 2/2004 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead. 2004. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/e38b2476-ec4c-4f6e-8dec-91c81300ff32/210674-rapp204.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Peace Research Institute Oslo |title=Evaluation Report 2/2004 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead |date=February 2004 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/e38b2476-ec4c-4f6e-8dec-91c81300ff32/210674-rapp204.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peaceresearchinstituteoslo2004evaluation, author = {{Peace Research Institute Oslo}}, title = {{Evaluation Report 2/2004 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norwegian Peacebuilding Policies: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2004}, month = feb, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/e38b2476-ec4c-4f6e-8dec-91c81300ff32/210674-rapp204.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }