The Danish Peace and Stabilisation Fund (PSF) was set up in 2010 as an inter-ministerial, flexible funding mechanism aimed at contributing to enhanced peace and stability in some of the world’s conflictual “hotspots.” A comprehensive, “whole of government” approach was adopted to manage the fund, which involves the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Since the establishment of the fund a wide range of mostly 3-year programmes have been carried out across Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe with a diverse set of partners. The PSF is managed by an inter-ministerial steering committee, chaired in rotation between the MoFA and the MoD. This committee approves and provides overall supervision of the programmes of the Fund. A joint secretariat (Samsek) with staff from MoFA and MoD supports implementation and administration. The programmes under the PSF are managed and monitored by Danish embassy teams and MoFA/MoD units.

Given the considerable expansion in activities since 2010 and the importance of continued peace and stabilisation efforts in numerous conflict zones around the world, it has been decided that a follow up evaluation of the PSF will be undertaken. Danish initiatives within the humanitarian, development and peace “nexus” as well as the recent strategic shift towards “doing development differently” will constitute important contextual frameworks for this assessment. Thus, strengthening the strategic coherence as well as the flexibility of development engagements - including bilateral “country programmes”, humanitarian assistance and support to multilateral and international organisations - are intended to ensure the best ways of organizing and implementing Danish development cooperation.

Nordic Consulting Group Partners Anne-Lise Klausen (team leader),  Ayla Olesen Yurtaslan (research analyst), and Per Kirkemann (QA manager) will implement this assignment in consortium with Ecorys (UK). They will provide an in-depth analysis of three case studies of PSF programmes as well as difficulties encountered and opportunities arising.