C. Remote Field Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research in Countering Violent
Extremism Environments – Syria 2017 (Lesson #2622)
Observation.
Lack of recruitment of woman field specialists compromises the implementation of Monitoring,
Evaluation, and Research (MER) tools, namely, household surveys, and assessments conducted
through Key Informant Interviews (KII) that inform analysis of the drivers of conflict and support a
comprehensive picture of program performance in the recipient communities. In Syria, the sensitivity
of the U.S. role in supporting anti-Regime entities requires a stringency that complicates the options
for recruiting local field specialists and has meant that hiring women is especially challenging.
[Note: For the purposes of this lesson, 'local staff' refers to staff based in the HQ country of operations i.e. a base of
operations outside of Syria, and 'local field staff' or 'field specialists' refers to MER staff inside Syria.]
Discussion.
The insight offered by civilian-conducted MER is a crucial complement to what can be accomplished
by stakeholders in uniform. As the evolution of stability operations in light of ISIS's presence in already
fragile, conflict-affected states has increased, so has the sensitivity of what the civilian/non-
governmental organization (NGO) component of stability operations entails. Experts in the MER field
have become adept at designing surveys that do not alienate respondents nor cause suspicion regarding
the intentions of those conducting surveys and interviews. The problem arises with obtaining
samplings that are representative of women. MER tools in the context of governance capacity building
in the newly liberated areas (NLA) of Syria are designed to capture 'client' feedback on activities in
their area, with the 'client' in this context being the local population. However without female field
specialists to enable access to women participants, this demographic is largely excluded from MER
results.
MER in the CVE context requires both top-down and locally-driven solutions. However current
practices and protocols preclude inclusion of women on field teams. The result has been
marginalization of women from the MER process, without their insights as a material component of
MER data. Contractual MER requirements include reporting against U.S. Standard Foreign Assistance
Indicators as well as custom indicators. This menu of indicators, also known as the 'F-Indicators,'
require most data to be disaggregated by gender, youth, and region; and where democracy and
governance is involved, entity.[1] In Syria, the program's Results Monitoring Plan (RMP), the go-to
document for MER guidance, outlines a results framework of 5 Objectives each with a number of
Sub-objectives, for a total of 26 related indicators (18 Standard, eight Custom). Of these, 13 are
expected to have the data disaggregated by sex. An example indicator in the RMP is: "#/% of moderate
opposition actors that are responsive to input from citizens and/or other stakeholders (which could
include local councils, among others)... Disaggregated by sex, youth (15-24), entity type (local
council, provisional council), and the region."[2] Without this disaggregation, which cannot occur
without all parties represented, the options for trends analysis are limited.
In terms of top-down generated limitations, vetting and hiring requirements are a security issue as
well as a more straightforward human resources challenge. The need to vet potential MER field
specialists is an unfortunate reality in Syria. Vetting a selected candidate during my tenure with the
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