In his work Peacebuilding: A Planning, Monitoring, and LearningToolkit, J.P. Ledarch states that in order to create a peacebuilding project organizers must have “a theory of change … an explanation of how and why a set of activities will bring about the changes a project’s designers seek to achieve” (25). Though we are not using a ‘theory of change’ to plan our own peacebuilding project, this online project uses this idea of a theory of change in identifying what the peacebuilding projects we examined are actually doing to create peace. Ledarach reminds us that “in demystifying theory, it is important to remember that a theory of change is not an academic hypothesis, but rather an everyday expectation about ‘how the world works’” (25). This question, as to whether what we are doing here is purely academic, or if it actually helps create a better sense of ‘how the world works,’ forms one of the central challenges for us in this project. Whether what we are doing is simply an academic solution to an academicized problem, we aren’t entirely sure. This question is one we hope to explore in the project as a component of self-reflective analysis. In this way, we hope to not only present our analysis of peace projects funded by The Ireland Funds, but also participate in the process of self-conscious reflection we believe to be an integral part of peacebuilding.
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