Evaluating peacebuilding initiatives using multiple methodologies: Lessons learned from a Greek-Turkish peace education

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1076536 (Table of Contents)

This paper discusses the results of the evaluation of a Greek-Turkish peace education initiative at the grass-roots level titled Learning Conflict Resolution and Producing Peace: Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue (TGCD). The purpose of the initiative was to build and improve relations among Turkish and Greek youth. TGCD incorporated contact and peace education as the primary tools for change. This research evaluated the program by combining a two-way evaluation methodology. The first part investigated the program’s theory of change through structured interviews with the organizers and participant observation. A process map has been created as a result of this. In the second part, we conduct an experiment involving the treatment group and a control group to assess the outcomes from the workshop at the inter-personal level. We measure the sustainability of three major traits in the treatment group: attitudinal empathy, behavioral empathy, and trust. The findings of the experiment suggest that there are significant differences between the treatment group and the control group with regard to the development of attitudinal empathy and trust. Finally, we compare the results from the mapping of the program’s theory of change and the findings from the experimental design. This study contributes to the literature at large in a sense that it assesses and tests a program’s theory of change with multiple methodologies using qualitative interviews, mapping, and a field experiment.