The Ethics of Evaluating Civilian-Military Programming

Led by the Washington Evaluators, July 9th, 7:00pm - 8:30pm ET

Event Description:

U.S. foreign assistance includes security assistance provided by the State Department to partners around the world.  This aid aligns to the theory that strengthening partners’ militaries to counter terrorism and other threats will make the U.S. safer. However, local communities can be left out of the discussion. How do local communities fit into and support the types of changes the U.S. hopes to achieve with security assistance? 

Civilian-Military (Civ-Mil) programming – a type of U.S. security assistance that fosters collaboration and coordination between foreign civilians and military personnel - is one example to showcase a solution for engaging communities. However, this approach to programming also comes with a complex problem set. The “civilian” in Civilian-Military programming can be hard to incorporate into meaningful, solid program design and is arguably not done at all, or not done well, in a way that achieves broader U.S. security goals. This then begs several questions when it comes to evaluation. Such questions will be explored in small groups during this event.

Guidehouse is a management consulting firm for businesses and government entities, including the State Department. Guidehouse’s Monitoring and Evaluation services have supported State Department clients for years, focusing in the last two years on questions of Civ-Mil program design and ethical concerns during assessment. The topic has also been submitted to this year’s annual AEA conference for broader discussion. The purpose of this WE event is to solicit notes and feedback from the community on the ethical issues presented.

Presenters:

Kiely Barnard-Webster is a Managing Consultant at Guidhouse and the Deputy Team Lead for a Monitoring and Evaluation Team at the State Department. Before State, she worked for the City of Somerville in Massachusetts and for CDA Collaborative Learning Projects. She has focused most of her career on evaluating U.S. aid effectiveness and accountability to affected populations. Kiely holds an MA from Tufts University and a BA from Bates College. She speaks French, has two delightfully vocal cats, and enjoys backcountry camping in her native Colorado.

Sarah Constantine is a Managing Consultant at Guidehouse and the Team Lead for a Monitoring and Evaluation Team supporting the State Department. She previously worked as a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses focused on sub-Saharan Africa. Sarah holds an MA from Georgetown University, a BA from Emory University. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two sons, and Archie, a very fluffy Great Pyrenees.

This event is FREE and open to WE and AEA members only. To become a member visit https://washingtonevaluators.org/membership. If you have questions about this event, please email programs@washingtonevaluators.org