This is an evaluation of the project "Support to peacebuilding and community development in Ituri". The project was carried out from 2003 onwards in the Ituri district of the DRC by the UNDP and the UN Office for Project Services. It was co-financed by Norad and UNDP.

Local NGOs welcomed the rather unconventional idea of using development as a tool to build peace, and acted on it in their micro projects, says Ingrid Samset. Thanks to many skilful and dynamic local partners and a dedicated UN team in Ituri, the micro projects came a long way towards reaching the aims of reconciliation, reconstruction, local capacity building, and HIV/AIDS awareness-raising. As a whole the project thus contributed to launching the processes of peacebuilding and community development in Ituri.

The report concludes that the peacebuilding and community development project was a success, yet a success that materialised in spite of an unsuitable organisational framework, weak strategic management, insufficient coordination, and continued violence in Ituri. It was a "success by default": one that came about despite choices made within the project that were not the most amenable to goal attainment.

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