Counting What Matters: Monitoring and Evaluating Peacebuilding for War Widows in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This thesis examines to the extent to which grassroots peacebuilding organisations in Sri Lanka use feminist peacebuilding and gender transformative framework theories to design programmes for war widows in Sri Lanka. It also aimed to analyse the barriers and enabling conditions that influence how monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) mechanisms are used by the organisations to evaluate their programmes. Designed as a case study research, it draws on research papers and interviews to understand how the gendered vulnerabilities the war widows face are approached by the peacebuilding organisations, and in ways they may be made visible or invisible through programme design and MEAL processes. Data collection was difficult as the peacebuilding field in Sri Lanka proved difficult to penetrate as the organisations were very guarded with information and networks operated on trust. As such, this thesis shows how politically sensitive such research can be and the necessity of relational access to gain entry to this industry. The thesis also identifies unique challenges the widows face that programmes need to address, how donor relations influence the way the peacebuilding organisations operate, and the barriers and enabling conditions that affect whether gender-transformative MEAL is employed. In conclusion, this thesis underscores the need to adopt feminist evaluation philosophies to make peacebuilding programmes more inclusive for war widows and the conditions necessary to make MEAL processes more egalitarian for the peacebuilding organisations.

Popular Abstract

Accessing peacebuilding initiatives in Sri Lanka in a more feminist and gender-transformative way
War widows are one of the most vulnerable populations in post-conflict societies. They face intersecting vulnerabilities of economic instability, social stigmatisation and severe trauma. These vulnerabilities are further complicated by the added layer of gender, which affects the way these vulnerabilities play out and the way the women cope with them. Against this backdrop, post-conflict peacebuilding aims to lessen these burdens and rebuild the lives of the women affected. To ensure that the peacebuilding activities are truly aiding the people, monitoring and evaluation methods are used to assess the progress and impact of the activities.
For these peacebuilding programmes to effectively aid the war widows, it is vital that they are cognizant of how gender plays a role in peace and peacebuilding. This focus also translates into the type of methods that they utilise to evaluate their programmes as work in women’s empowerment and gender progress is non-linear and can result in challenges. As such, this thesis examines the extent to which peacebuilding programmes in Sri Lanka adopt feminist peacebuilding and gender transformative ideals in their programme design and assessment processes.
However, research into the peacebuilding evaluation methodologies used by the grassroots organisations proved difficult. It highlighted how political this information is as it is very much tied to funding from external and international donors. The rigidity of funding and the dependency it creates has led to the gatekeeping of information on monitoring and evaluation methods used by the organisations as any critique on these methods could negatively affect their funding. Furthermore, the need to constantly show results, especially positive results, limits the flexibility the organisations have to design and implement their programmes.
These insights underscore how much influence funding can have on peacebuilding organisations and the way these organisations deliver their programmes. They highlight the need to make monitoring and evaluation more egalitarian by adopting feminist methods of evaluation that dismantle the entrenched hierarchy between donor institutions and the grassroots peacebuilding organisations. Doing so would better enable the peacebuilding organisations to better serve their community. Further findings indicate the unique, intersecting vulnerabilities the war widows face that require special forms of help and how their coping strategies should be studied to inform the way programmes can be designed to better suit them.
As a methodology, this thesis adopted the case study approach, using war widows and the post-conflict context of Sri Lanka to elucidate feminist and gender transformative peacebuilding philosophies can be utilised in programme design and assessment mechanisms. Through a narrative literature review and semi-structured interviews, the background and the conceptual foundations of the thesis were developed and insights into the field of peacebuilding in Sri Lanka were obtained. Feminist peacebuilding and gender-transformative frameworks were used as perspectives to discuss the findings.

• author: Chandramohan, Hema
• supervisor: Misse Wester
• organization: Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
• course: VBRM15 20261
• year: 2026
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Social Sciences
• keywords: Peacebuilding, feminist peacebuilding, gender transformative framework, monitoring and evaluation, accountability, MEAL, war widows, Sri Lanka
• language: English
• id: 9252017
• date added to LUP: 2026-09-29 09:49:59
• date last changed: 2026-09-29 09:49:59