Abstract 
All too often, peacebuilding and development programmes are designed on the basis of limited inputs from a small number of in-country experts or conflict analysis consultants, which provide insufficient data-driven insights to resolve strategic design dilemmas. While conceptual linkages between conflict drivers, programmatic activities and desired outcomes are routinely proposed in everyday peacebuilding practice, these rarely amount to more than untested working hypotheses. Hence, existing assessment approaches are often challenged when it comes to empirically linking potential drivers of conflict with desired peace outcomes, in a way that can help resolve such programmatic dilemmas.

The Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) Index was developed by SeeD in partnership with UNDP to address the abovementioned deficits in designing sustainable processes of conflict transformation. As a customisable, flexible and evidence-based predictive instrument, the SCORE Index can be utilized to identify programmatic entry points which are most likely to have a positive impact on peacebuilding outcomes. From this perspective, the SCORE Index speaks to the concerns of the donor community which fund post-conflict peacebuilding projects but are still uncertain about the real efficacy of their investments. By providing evidence-based prioritization, the SCORE Index offers governments, donors and peacebuilding organisations the opportunity to systematically design and test conflict transformation theories of change before sponsoring and endorsing new peace-building programmes. So far, the SCORE Index, has been implemented in Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nepal, Ukraine, Liberia and Moldova.

About the Speaker
Alexandros Lordos is the Research Director of the Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development (SeeD). In this capacity, he has led the development of the Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) Index in partnership with UNDP. The SCORE has been designed to assess social cohesion challenges in conflict-affected societies, with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of the UN and major development organizations in preventing conflict. Specifically, the SCORE Index, under the leadership of Dr. Lordos, has been implemented so far in Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nepal, Ukraine, Liberia and Moldova. Additionally, Dr. Lordos has been advising the European and Arab Region bureaus of UNDP on ways to assess social cohesion in conflict affected countries with a view to enhancing programmatic effectiveness. Dr. Lordos holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology, during which he investigated issues related to youth violence and its prevention. Dr. Lordos is also a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative at Harvard University, where he is collaborating with colleagues to develop novel assessment methods in support of efforts to prevent violent extremism.

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