Project Management Training

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Session 3:

Everyday Peace Indicators

25 March 2026

Meet our Guest Trainer:

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Amanda Woomer

Amanda has a PhD in International Conflict Management and a MA in Anthropology. She is currently an independent consultant and founder of Baobab Tree Consulting, which focuses on MEL for environment, climate, and conflict-related programming as well as capacity development through true partnership and accompaniment.

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learn more about Amanda

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connect on LinkedIn

Everyday Peace Indicators

agenda

Why use indicators?

• Indicators help you design by asking:
• What do I want to change?
• Who are these changes for?
• Indicators help you understand:
• What’s going on?
• What has changed (good or bad)?
• Evidence from indicators starts to shed light on:
• How am I contributing to that change?
• What might I do differently?

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What are Everyday Peace Indicators?

• Technically... A group that conducts participatory research and evaluation.
• But also… a type of people-centered indicators that reflect lived realities.

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Communities of people define what peace looks like to them.

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For example, indications of peace might be:

• Girls are going to school
• There are no armed youth on the road
• Merchants can travel to the market to sell

Why are EPIs different?

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Breakout group: What does peace look like to you?

Breakout Group Instructions:

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What does peace look like to you?

Share specific signals that 'peace' is present in your community.

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Consider this for you, but also for other groups in your area.

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You can also consider specific signals that indicate concerns with conflict or other disruptors to peace.

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As a group, talk about:

• What peace signals are universal, shared among all of us?
• Which indicators are very specific to your local context?

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

Breakout Groups:�Session A

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What does ‘peace’ look �like in your context?

Room 1A:

• safe and sufficient access to water and electricity for the entire community
• ability to listen to moderate political discourses in public settings
• safety and freedom to protest and not face repression by the police
• access to school and water, even in the light of non-peace circumstances
• ability to have freedom of speech for religious and ethnic groups to practice without discrimination
• ability to freely express criticism of the government
• absence of conflict between tribes, different religious groups celebrating religious holidays together
• access to cost-conscious and inclusive recreations spaces like parks
• women and girls are and feel safe when walking alone at night on the street
• safe and inclusive spaces for youth and people with disabilities

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

PERCEPTION matters as much as ‘objective reality’, for community peace!

Room 2A:

• Sense of safety/security regardless of ethnicity/cultural background. Embracing of multiculturalism (Marion, UK)
• Peace signals (signs of stability) vs. peace stressors; these are usually climate-driven/increasing resource scarcity. Breakdown of traditional elder mediation system. Decline in cross-community events (Ephrem, Ethiopia)
• Peace, for me, looks like feeling a sense of stability and trust in my surroundings, where I can focus on my work and family without underlying stress or uncertainty, especially for safety; and where relationships, both personal and professional, are open, respectful, and supportive. I am based in South Africa. Through my work I am often exposed to contexts where conflict and uncertainty in the communities is evident. Often this creates travel challenges to certain location in Africa, but becomes part of daily life, which makes these moments of stability and trust even more important. (Paige, south Africa)
• Being able to speak your language without feeling excluded/unwelcome. Access to, and time for, time in Nature (George, Belgium)
• Being able to go out at any time of the day safely without being harassed by security forces/police. (Bethel, Nigeria/Canada). In Nigeria, herders and farmers being able to feed cattle and tend to land without being threatened
• Ability of children to learn safely and without fear (Abdulali, Libya)

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

Room 3A:

• intergenerational conversations
• inclusion of youth and women within dialogues
• sense of safety and trust for independence for youth and society as a whole
• being able to wake up in the morning and do my morning jog
• kids beings picked up by the bus with no interruption
• no long term injuries at work (mining industry)
• no work emails after work hours
• small business being able to operate
• access to natural resources, in an equitable way
• communication lines open between survivors
• the ability to move between places and walk in public without fear (between villages, to cities, and across other borders) (from Maimouna in Burkina Faso)

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

Room 4A: (Examples from UK, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria)

• Reduction of drug use amongst young people
• Inclusive transportation / Accessible and safe transportation
• Ethnic groups residing in the same neighbourhoods
• Reduction in cases of GBV
• Kids playing freely and safely in the neighbourhood
• Reduction in theft and violence at the market (Example from Kigali)
• Positive interactions between neighbours
• Students with disability can move freely
• An inclusive learning environment (where people from different backgrounds have the same opportunities)
• Frequency of communities engaging in informal conversation (with their neighbour, on the street, in public transportation)
• Peace is freedom (Freedom - from kidnapping, banditry)
• Safe accommodation

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2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

the EPI approach can be used for both ‘hot’ conflicts and structural forms of violence

Breakout Groups:�Session B

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What does ‘peace’ look �like in your context?

Group 1B:

• freedom to speak freely without fear
• right to live
• have an education
• daily activities connected to peace
• the interpretation of greetings: if people respond to your greeting with welcome and hospitality
• waking up, feeling sound, and not worrying about what to eat

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

Breakout Room 2B:

• being safe to talk with other people
• being safe from natural disasters
• being safe to participate in political discussions
• being safe to walk alone at night
• attending protests without fear of political violence
• farmers doing agriculture
• People feel able to step away from work and survival pressures to attend community gatherings and volunteer (moving out of survival mode)
• ability to practice the faith, having inner peace
• being safe to enjoy travels
• breathe fresh air
• planing long term

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

Group 3B:

• access to health
• depolarising within political parties, and between them
• satisfaction of individuals in themselves: confidence, self-acceptance
• freedom from fear
• religious freedom: co-existence of different worldviews and faith communities
• social solidarity
• when colleagues are promoted, the safety to celebrate that progression
• measuring how children are removed from families re: child abuse and neglect (how many families are able to stay together)
• not having to live near industrial contamination and sea levels rising

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

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Group 4B:

• Go out without worry about immigration
• Access to young woman to education
• Can go to work, to the school,
• Talk about political division
• Social justice

2026 ECCP Project �Management Training

What did you learn?

How To

Design

1. Ask people to describe what peace means to them
2. Don’t use the word peace if it doesn’t make sense for your context
3. Make sure to ask different kinds of people
4. Use those responses to inform the design of your work

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Measure & Evaluate

1. Collect regular information on your indicators of peace
2. Review the evidence
3. Identify what works and can be amplified and what might not be working
4. Go beyond EPIs

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Do this all with communities (if possible and safe)

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Example Use of EPIs

• Peacebuilding project in South Sudan that combines livelihoods, climate, and other approaches to address conflict
• Asks how safe people feel:
• Using roads between towns
• Leaving the house at night to assist a neighbor
• Going to the market
• Participating in cultural events
• Information is shared back with community members via deliberation circles, where it is validated and discussed

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Reflections & Questions

What does this mean for you?

Do you have any questions?

suggested resources:

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• Toolkit on Monitoring and Evaluation of Environmental Peacebuilding (available in English, French, and Spanish)�
• the Everyday Peace Indicators Research Group
• specific indicator and coding examples are available here

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• the Conservation International EnPAx Training Manual �(available in English, French, and Spanish)

Q: How do we create a safe space for different people’s priorities? How to balance ‘obviously’ life-threatening issues with others that are incredibly important to people?

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A:

Q: How can we reconcile the Everyday Peace Indicators approach with mandatory and more mainstream indicators (at outcome and output levels) that large donors often require?

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A: