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Impact evaluation of supporting traditional leaders and local structures to mitigate community-level conflict in Zimbabwe

This report is by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

This report presents results from the follow-up survey carried out as part of an impact evaluation of the Supporting Traditional Leaders and Local Structures to Mitigate Community-level Conflict in Zimbabwe project. The evaluation is part of the Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance’s impact evaluation initiative and was co-funded with the USAID/Zimbabwe Mission. The project itself was jointly funded by USAID/Zimbabwe and USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM) and implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC)/Zimbabwe. The project is a capacity building initiative targeting all traditional leaders at all levels of the traditional chieftaincy system (chiefs, headmen, and village heads) in two rural districts, Mutare and Mutasa, in Manicaland Province.

A rigorous impact evaluation was designed to provide evidence on the following policy questions:

1) Can training programs for traditional leaders improve their governance and reduce conflict?

2) What is the best way to implement training programs to reduce conflict and to promote positive relationships at the community-level? Specifically, are training programs more effective when other community leaders are also included?

This study addresses these questions focusing at the village level, the lowest level of traditional governance. The study uses a randomized control trial (RCT) design, in which villages are randomly assigned to receive project activities, which are rolled-out in two waves (year 1 and year 2). The study also examines whether training is more effective if structured in a way that creates social pressure on traditional leaders to change their behavior. This is done by randomizing villages in year 1 into either a “training only” group or “training plus horizontal pressure” group in which other community leaders, such as teachers, religious leaders, and women’s group leaders, have been invited to the training. This design allows us to compare the outcomes between the two groups and attribute the changes to the key components of the project.

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Uploaded on: Mar 08, 2016
Last Updated: Mar 09, 2016
Year Published: 2014


Resource Tags

Resource Type: Impact Evidence Issues: Generalist Legal Services, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Traditional / Customary Justice Tool Type: Monitoring, Evaluation, & Case Management Forms, Reports / Research Target Population: Rural Method: Mediation & Conflict Resolution, Research, Strengthening Customary Justice Systems Languages: English Regions: Zimbabwe Nature of Impact: Change in institutional / government practice, Conflict resolution / Case resolution, Legal Knowledge and Skills, Sense of fair process Scale of Intervention/Impact: 1,000 to 10,000 people Institutions Engaged: Chief, Court, Local legislative representative, NGOs, Traditional / Customary Authorities Evaluation Method: Interviews, Randomized Control Trials, Surveys