Mobile Arts for Peace

The Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) programme is an international study funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund that seeks to provide a comparative approach to peace-building utilising interdisciplinary arts-based practices, working with communities in Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Rwanda. MAP has been delivered across the above four countries over the last two years, through the Phase One activities and the Phase Two Small Grants. This delivery will continue until early 2024 with the delivery of the Medium and Large Grant elements of the project. This proposal represents a summary of the proposed evaluation of the MAP programme in its entirety, encompassing the analysis and reporting of historical data from the Phase One activities and the Phase Two Small Grants, as well as data yet to be captured on programme delivery in the next two years.

This proposal maps out the evaluation to be carried out by the University of Northampton’s Institute for Social Innovation and Impact (ISII) between September 2022 and February 2024, the methodology to be utilised to deliver this and the proposed timeline for delivery. Whilst the proposed research will evaluate the efficacy and impact of the MAP programme across all four countries, this evaluation will be carried out specifically in partnership with Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI) in Kyrgyzstan and Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya (AJCUI) in Indonesia, with countries acting as specialist case-studies for exploring the impact of youth-led, arts-based approaches to peacebuilding. A key feature of this research proposal will be the in-depth involvement of young people in the design, delivery and analysis of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) activities. This co-participant model is being adopted as the research team believe that a youth-led evaluation approach centred upon capabilities, empowerment and justice are crucial for effective evaluation of arts-based peacebuilding activities. The theoretical approach of the MEL activities will be centred on Sen’s (1989) Capabilities Approach, as well as Social Impact Measurement Framework (SIMF) theory as a form of social innovation empowerment process (Mulgan, 2019; Hiruy et al., 2021). This will be embedded within a methodological approach centred on epistemic justice in which local, novice researchers (the young people) are involved in gathering data on the ground in a way that encourages engagement from peers and limits the outside or in-betweener status of international researchers (Kaya and Benevento, 2022). In adopting this combined theoretical approach alongside a participatory methodology, the research will be able to demonstrate the impact of MAP activities in a way that is relevant to the young people and their local communities. Indeed, as will be explored later, the young people will benefit from this engagement through in-depth training and mentoring that will support their development and empower them.

The Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) programme is an international study funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund that seeks to provide a comparative approach to peace-building utilising interdisciplinary arts-based practices, working with communities in Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and Rwanda. This project provides an evaluation of the Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) Medium Grant project.