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Forskningsprosjekt

Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON)

2018 - 2021 (Ongoing)

NUPI together with 40 partners from across the globe have established an international network to undertake research into the effectiveness of peace operations.

Peace operations are among the most important international mechanisms for contemporary conflict management. However, their effectiveness remains the subject of debate in both the policy and academic communities. International organizations that conduct peace operations, like the United Nations, have come under increasing pressure to justify their impact.

Although various initiatives are underway to improve the ability of these organizations to assess their performance, there is a lack of independent, external research about the effectiveness of peace operations.

To address this gap, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) together with 40 partners from across the globe have established an international network to undertake research into the effectiveness of peace operations. Of these, 18 are included in the NORGLOBAL EPON project. The overall aim of EPON is to enhance the effectiveness of international peace operations, by enabling and supporting collaborative research. The results of these research studies will be shared at seminars in Oslo, Addis Ababa (African Union), Brussels (European Union) and in New York (United Nations).

Over time, EPON will produce a substantial amount of mission-specific research studies, which will be a rich source for further research, for instance, for identifying common factors that influence the effectiveness of peace operations across a broad range of cases. This data will be made available via a dedicated web-based dataset that will be a publicly available repository of knowledge on this topic. EPON has been developed in close coordination and consultation with the UN Department of Peace Operations and the African Union’s Peace Support Operations Division.

EPON is the first global research network that will use a shared methodology to assess the effectiveness of contemporary peace operations. The data generated will be freely available to the global peace operations community, with the overall aim to enhance the effectiveness of international peace operations.

Related projects:

For frequent project updates, please visit EPON's webpage, where you will find publications from all network partners. By scrolling further down this page, you will find a list of EPON related publications published by NUPI or authored by NUPI researchers from our archive. Key EPON reports are: 

EPON events, news and streams:



Podcasts from EPON:

  • What effect is United Nations peacekeeping having in South Sudan?

  • Effectiveness of Peace Operations: The case of Mali with Jaïr van der Lijn


  • How effective is the African Union mission in Somalia?






  • On 7 November 2018, an EPON panel was organized as part of the Geneva Peace Week, hosted by one of the members of the network: the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) and one of the network's Board members, Annika Hilding-Norberg. Here, the network shared the initial findings of the first three pilot studies:


Want to know more about NUPI's work on these topics? Check out our pages on peace operations and the UN.

Funding program

This project is funded by the Research Council of Norway (NORGLOBAL) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (via UNPO)

Publications

News