Description:

The Jackson School of Global Affairs’ Peacebuilding Initiative will host a presentation by Pamina Firchow, associate professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the founding executive director of Everyday Peace Indicators, a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and evaluation. She will discuss how Everyday Peace Indicators (EPI) differ from traditional measurement approaches in peacebuilding and provide a brief overview of EPI data collection methods.

Firchow will delve into the many ways EPI can be applied: as a research methodology, a tool for measuring peacebuilding outcomes, a policy development resource, an impact evaluation framework, and a catalyst for community engagement on key local issues. The discussion will also include examples of EPI in practice, with a particular focus on her forthcoming article in World Development, “After War Ends: Understanding Aid Paradigms and Post-Conflict Preferences.”

In her research, Firchow focuses on the international accompaniment of communities affected by mass violence and the localization of international development and peacebuilding aid. She has published extensively on participatory approaches to the design, measurement, and evaluation of transitional justice, reconciliation, and peacebuilding initiatives in leading peer-reviewed journals. Her award-winning book, “Reclaiming Everyday Peace: Local Voices in Measurement and Evaluation after War,” exemplifies her innovative work in this field.

In addition to her academic and nonprofit leadership roles, Firchow serves as an advisor to several international organizations, including USIP, USAID, the World Bank, and the United Nations. Since 1999, she has worked as a scholar-practitioner for non-governmental organizations and academic institutions on finding ways to use local knowledge to improve the way we respond to conflict. Since 1999, she has served as a scholar-practitioner with non-governmental organizations and universities, focused on harnessing local knowledge to improve how we respond to violent conflicts. She served as a USIP Senior Jennings Randolph Fellow in 2016 and a Fulbright Fellow in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2020.

The event is co-sponsored by the MacMillan Center’s Conflict, Resilience, and Health Program.

This event is open to the Yale community. Registration is required.