Peacebuilding Evaluation, Analysis, Research, and Learning (PEARL) Learning Strategy

PEARL provides direct support to USAID's Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization (CPS) Center for Conflict and Violence Prevention (CVP), which provides technical assistance, funding, and mechanisms to help USAID Missions prevent and mitigate the impacts of conflict and violence. The PEARL initiative aims to address the unique challenges Missions and Operating Units (OUs) face in conflict and violence-affected settings through innovative, data-driven, and high-quality peacebuilding evaluations, analysis, and research. The PEARL team will identify, capture, and disseminate best practices in evidence-based peacebuilding, enabling effective learning across a dynamic and complex set of buy-in activities. In close collaboration with CVP, PEARL has developed a Learning Strategy to address CVP's program cycle knowledge gaps, strengthen CVP's strategic engagement with and technical assistance to Missions, and support CVP with applied learning, improved evidence, and innovative tools to enhance conflict analysis, peacebuilding evaluation, and integration of evidence. The PEARL Learning Strategy has defined and prioritized three primary Learning Objectives that capture what PEARL aims to achieve, accounting for the mechanism's resources and manageable interests. These objectives include: 1. The PEARL Management Team captures and applies learning generated from buy-in activities to deliver high-quality support. 2. PEARL learning informs evidence-based decision-making in the USAID Peacebuilding Community of Practice (COP), including but not limited to key decisions around program and strategy design, activity adaptation, and improved conflict analysis and evaluation. 3. PEARL disseminates and ground-truths lessons learned and knowledge products with the external peacebuilding COP. The PEARL Learning Strategy has identified four priority learning themes that are relevant to its core services and 17 Lines of Inquiry (LOIs) within these priority learning themes. The priority learning themes include: 1. Violence and Conflict Analysis 2. Peacebuilding Evaluation and Analysis 3. Conflict Prevention and Mitigation 4. Peacebuilding and Development Integration The PEARL initiative has mapped connections to existing learning efforts within its Tier 2 and 3 audiences, including CVP's Armed Conflict and Violence (AC&V) Learning Agenda, USAID/Democracy, Rights, and Governance (DRG) Learning Agenda, United States Institute for Peace (USIP) Learning Agenda, USAID Agency Learning Agenda, and USAID Evidence in Crisis and Conflict Learning Agenda. The PEARL Learning Strategy's learning themes and associated LOIs complement CVP's AC&V Learning Agenda through an emphasis on exploring what works in conflict, violence, and peacebuilding analysis, evaluation, and uptake. PEARL focuses on informing methods, approaches, processes, and tools that can contribute to building the broader evidence base. The PEARL initiative has identified specific points of connection in Section 2 under individual learning themes and lines of inquiry, highlighting the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing across different stakeholders and audiences.