About ARC

KPSRL was entrusted with facilitating the Fund’s global learning agenda between 2016 and 2022. This began in 2017 with the first ARC global learning event, where the MFA, KPSRL, and ARC partners came together to revise the Fund’s monitoring and evaluation framework and to establish five thematic learning groups: (1) income generation for peace and social cohesion; (2) gender transformation; (3) conflict sensitivity; (4) working in securitized environments; and (5) adaptive programming.

ARC organizations have shown ownership of the global learning agenda by taking the lead in identifying learning needs and opportunities, distilling insights for broader regional and global exchange, and proposing or organizing regional learning events. These efforts were supported both technically and financially by KPSRL. Over time, this collaborative approach led to a more regionally anchored learning agenda, with workshops and events tailored to the specific contexts and experiences of local partners. To further encourage participation and deepen engagement, ARC partners were also offered access to KPSRL’s Knowledge Management Fund (KMF) and other relevant support mechanisms.

KPSRL’s secretariat capitalized also on the Annual Conference throughout the years, by creating space for ARC organizations to showcase their work and engage with various programming and policy stakeholders.

The Secretariat has also supported both ARC program-level mid-term reviews and fund-level mid-term review. At the ARC Fund level, the Secretariat has actively participated as a member of the Reference Group for the ARC Mid-Term Review, reviewing drafts, providing key informant interviews and hosting a Focus Group Discussion at the Secretariat. The mid-term review final report can be found here.

Some of the learning briefs and events produced/organized as part of the said agenda include(among others):

 

ARC Learning Briefs

ARC Learning Events

2021 Learning Review Support

For the final year(2021), KPSRL aimed to support an ARC strategic learning assessment/review process...

  • To consolidate the evidence base that has been generated through ‘learning by doing’ at the local and national level by supporting the packaging and dissemination of  key lessons generated during program implementation.
    • For example, KPSRL supported the Red een Kind (ARC implementing partner) in producing external research on ‘The role of informal justice in fostering the rule of law,' which was presented during the 2021 Annual Conference of the Knowledge Platform on Security & Rule of Law (14 October 2021). 
  • To capture, via a participatory reflection, promising practices, lessons learned, and evidence of change at both thematic and methodological level within the ARC program. The participatory reflection process provided opportunities for ARC grantees to engage with pertinent questions of collaborative learning (what worked/what didn’t work/why) and explore  pathways  to strengthen  collaborative  and  creative  action  in learning  for  a  better  knowledge  uptake  in  future  programming  and  policy. A number of learning conversations/webinars took place to this end:​​​​​​
07 Jan 2021
KPSRL
Virtually Accessible
Addressing Root Causes (ARC) Mid-Term Review: Lessons Learned
For the past decade, addressing root causes of conflict and irregular migration through “bottom up” civil society engagement in fragile states has been a priority for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The Addressing Root Causes, or “ARC” fund (2016-2021) is the latest centrally-managed tender program that the MFA’s department for Stabilisation and Humanitarian Aid (DSH) has launched to this effect. The ARC program is implemented by 21 consortia comprised of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local civil society organizations (CSOs)  in 12 fragile and conflict-affected countries, namely Afghanistan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria. In these countries, ARC-funded projects contribute to 1) Human Security; 2) Rule of Law; 3) Peace processes and Political Governance; and 4) Social and Economic Reconstruction. In 2020, a Mid-Term Review (MTR) focusing on the extent to which the ARC program is on the right track to achieve its intended objectives, has been conducted. The ARC MTR session will discuss key findings and recommendations of the review, and will highlight best practices, challenges, and lessons learned during ARC implementation. Objectives The aim of the session is to: Exchange on key findings and recommendations of the review (from diverse relevant perspectives: donor, implementing actors including local partners, embassies…) Highlight lessons learned, challenges encountered, and possible solutions when developing and implementing approaches for centrally managed programs such as ARC (in order to inform future programming) Discuss the ARC learning agenda (structure, resources, process..) Speakers Rens Twijnstra & Marije Balt, Ecorys Expert panel: George Monsanto, Dutch MFA – ARC Rens Willems, Dutch MFA – IOB Madeline Church, Saferworld Messina Laurette Manirakiza, KPSRL Registration Please note that this is a closed door event. If you are interested in learning more, you may contact the Dutch MFA (Erin Kuipers: [email protected]) or KPSRL Secretariat (Messina Laurette MANIRAKIZA: [email protected])  
24 Jun 2021
KPSRL
Virtually Accessible
ARC Learning Event on VSLAs in Nexus Programming
Background The Addressing Root Causes (ARC) Programme in South Sudan seeks to build the resilience of nineteen communities (payams) of diverse and sometimes conflictive ethnic groups in four counties across Jonglei state to endure economic- or conflict-induced shocks through peacebuilding and economic development work. The three programme outcomes—Economic Resilience, Peaceful Conflict Resolution, and Social Cohesion—are mutually reinforcing and together contribute to more resilience and a culture of peace. This programme combines humanitarian programming with development and peacebuilding and is therefore an example of a ‘triple nexus’  programme. Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)  have been introduced in the programme in order to assist women and men to save and invest money in launching (small) economic enterprises. The MTR findings of the ARC programme indicate that access to loans and training of VSLA groups is empowering women and youth in the targeted communities to engage in Income Generating Activities (IGAs) and micro-enterprises, thereby broadening their livelihood and resilience options and creating market linkages with traders across different ethnic communities. To learn more about how VSLAs supported by ARC in South Sudan have been contributing to the programme’s social cohesion outcome, and how they have been adapting to the changing context (due to pandemic, floods and conflict), CARE Nederland has commissioned a study centred around the following main research question: ‘How does men and women’s participation in VSLAs in fragile and conflict affected settings   (FCAS) affect social cohesion in the community?’ This research will be finalized in June 2021 and will culminate in a learning brief. The Event Together with KPSRL, CARE Nederland wants to organize a learning session to share the main findings of the research and to facilitate discussion related to the potential of economic programming (esp. savings groups) for social cohesion in FCAS. If there are sufficient findings from the study we will also explain how resilient the VSLAs have proven in case of the pandemic, floods and conflict. Questions that will be addressed in the session are: 1. What are the enabling factors/characteristics of VSLAs in FCAS that impact social cohesion both within communities and with other, surrounding communities of different ethnic background? 2. How do VSLAs and the emerging income-generating activities and micro-businesses enable women to build bridges with other communities/ethnicities? 3. How does the involvement of young men in VSLA groups (in cattle camps) affect their attitudes and behavior with regards to social cohesion - in and between - communities? Speakers Katie Whipkey, Research Consultant Sarah Ward, Post-conflict/Post-disaster Market Systems Specialist CARE South Sudan Speaker TBA Registration Registration is mandatory to attend this event. Please register by clicking the button below. If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to Messina Manirakiza at [email protected] or Berlinda Nolles at [email protected]    Please click here for all answers to the Q&A that took place in the chat during the event.

2022 ARC Closing Process

The ARC trajectory closed in 2022. Two regional closing events were organized in Bujumbura(Burundi) and Entebbe (Uganda) in June 2022 and a global closing event was held in The Hague in December 2022. Below you can find the relevant outputs for these closing events.