Abstract
The ‘distinctiveness criteria’ are an instrument of peace and conflict impact assessment (PCIA) applied to the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland (Peace II). This article evaluates the capacity of the ‘distinctiveness criteria’ tool, as applied, to generate a peace-building impact for the fund. While the criteria are found to have influenced project design, their potential impact is weakened by a relatively narrow and quantitative application at assessment, monitoring and evaluation stages, and by the absence of independent conflict analysis. A stronger monitoring and evaluation culture at the project level could increase the impact of the criteria and, therefore, the peace-building impact of the programme, and could help the framework to avoid some of the weaknesses generally associated with PCIA.
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