Global Security and Stability

Measuring Progress in Conflict Environment (MPICE) Workshop
January 14 - 17 2008 at the Naval Postgraduate School

The Cebrowski Institute for Innovation will host the West Coast review of the Metrics Framework for Assessing Conflict Transformation and Stabilization at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, January 14 - 17, 2008. Measuring Progress in Conflict Environments (MPICE) is a collaborative project by the United States Institute of Peace, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the United States Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute. The Naval Postgraduate School is seeking delegates from neighboring academic institutions to participate in a peer review of assessment questions and indicators for five sectors:

* political moderation and stable democracy
* safe and secure environment
* rule of law
* economic sustainability
* social well being

A recent General Accountability Office report on military operations is one of many identifying the need for measures of effectiveness in stability operations, and a systematic approach to develop those metrics. MPICE aims to provide a baseline assessment tool for diagnosis of stabilization challenges and also a tool to measure progress from the point of intervention. This work was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department Office of the Coordinator for Stabilization and Reconstruction, (S/CRS).

The framework focuses on drivers of violent conflict and instability and the capacity of indigenous institutions to address them in three conflict transformation stages: imposed stability (active intervention needed), assisted stability (local actors and institutions developing sufficient capacity to reduce outside military and civilian intervention), and self-sustaining peace (indigenous institutions cope effectively on their own).

Peer reviews have previously been conducted at Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin. The format for the West Coast session will be a facilitated review of each sector with a limited number of select experts. Those selected may be entitled to receive funding for travel and compensation.

Please click here to indicate your interest in the workshop or to nominate a colleague by December 19.

Private rooms are booked in the NPS enclave for out of town participants who wish to stay overnight in Monterey, at a rate of $45 per night. Marti Brooks will follow up to confirm participation, provide workshop materials, and logistics information by the end of December.