A Summary of Lessons Learned: Studies and Evaluations
Date
2020
Authors
United Nations
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs
Abstract
The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, in order to strengthen its accountability and organizational learning, commissions several evaluative exercises—lessons learned studies and evaluations—every year. This report provides key findings, lessons learned, and recommendations of evaluative exercises commissioned by the Department in 2020. These include an evaluation around the drawdown, reconfiguration and withdrawal of a number of peacekeeping operations and Special Political Missions (SPMs) and how they affected the presence and work of the wider UN. The report also focused on the UN mediation of the Equatorial Guinea-Gabon boundary dispute between 2008 and 2016, which relates to their overlapping claims of sovereignty over three islands, and the delimitation of their maritime and land boundaries. In addition there were evaluations of the increased support by the Mediation Support Unit (MSU) for local mediation initiatives and an analysis of UN engagement with the Maldives in support of its nascent democratic gains to build confidence between political actors and to foster the conditions for meaningful political dialogue and the discussion of delicate religious and societal issues. Finally, the report reviews UN efforts to advance the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda during the peace negotiations (2012- 2016) and then through the establishment of two consecutive special political missions (SPMs) in Colombia to verify specific provisions of the Agreement. In its efforts to implement the WPS agenda in Colombia, the UN worked in close cooperation with the authorities and former guerrillas, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), as well as with civil society and international stakeholders.
Description
Keywords
Mediation, Local peacebuilding, Gender, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Maldives, Colombia, Peacekeeping