raiding . The main goal of this program was “ to strengthen livelihoods and encourage economic interaction between groups with a history of violence ” through projects such as joint farming on lands previously inaccessible due to instability , building dams to increase water access , joint road / market rehabilitation , and training for local leaders in conflict management mechanisms ( Vaughan , “ Uganda ,” 2011 , p . 5 ). Survey data through the EAPC research project showed that “ as [ conflicting ] communities share more resources , freedom of movement increases , the number of violent incidents decreases , and perceptions of security increase ,” ( Vaughan , “ Uganda ,” 2011 , p . 9 ). Focus groups confirmed these findings , suggesting that as the frequency of economic interaction increases , frequency of ambushes and cattle raids decrease .
While the EAPC research project in Uganda indicated a positive relationship between economic variables and stability , the EAPC in Indonesia showed a more complex relationship between economic development and stability . The MERP II program in Maluku Province , Indonesia , was a two-year program designed to strengthen livelihoods and develop dispute resolution capacity in a region with lingering tensions from past conflicts . Preliminary findings from the EAPC research project in this region showed that “ economic development , like any social change , can exacerbate underlying tensions ,” ( Graham , 2011 , p . 3-4 ). Increasing economic interactions and strengthening livelihoods might not necessarily promote peace , as hypothesized , and improved livelihoods may in some cases actually lead to a decrease in trust . EAPC ’ s participatory focus group discussions provided contextual information about this finding , pointing to the role of jealousy when benefits and improved livelihoods are not distributed equally . Thus , “ simply increasing economic interaction is not sufficient to rebuild trust and promote peace between previously adversarial communities ,” ( Graham , 2011 , p . 7 ). However , findings also showed that community members recognized that there were economic benefits of peace and so did feel some incentive to maintain peace .
There were many challenges during data collection in both Uganda and Indonesia . The EAPC research project in Uganda polled 432 people via surveys , conducted 27 focus groups with participatory assessments , and implemented a violent incident reporting form among community-based monitoring teams . The participatory assessments took a long time to complete compared to the surveys ( 2-3 hours vs . 1 hour ), and so a smaller sampler size was collected , which made it more difficult to generalize . Furthermore , the tools used complex and nuanced questions , which made it more difficult in the end to interpret the results . The questions were designed to be complex due in part to concerns about asking direct questions about sensitive issues , since community members may not feel comfortable speaking openly and honestly about conflict situations due to personal trauma or security concerns . However , in the end , simple , direct questions produced more reliable data than nuanced questions . Respondents in Indonesia also experienced survey fatigue , as the survey with 124 items was too time-consuming . Simplifying and pairing down tools to only essential questions is recommended for future data collection .
Despite these challenges , overall , the EAPC research project met Mercy Corps ’ goal “ to develop and test measures and tools that could start to capture relationships between economic variables and stability outcomes ” ( Vaughan , “ Conflict ,” p . 17 ).
Recommendation .
The following recommendations ( for developing economic programming and evaluation methods ) are from Mercy Corps ’ final report from its EAPC research study , “ Conflict & Economics : Lessons Learned on Measuring Impact ” ( p . 17-18 ).
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