The present project aim at investigating how, to what extent, and under what conditions multi-stakeholder partnerships implemented in post-conflict settings can be ‘more than PR gimmicks’ and can contribute to human security, to post-conflict reconstruction policies and programs, and thus, to long-lasting peace-building (general objective).

The project has been structured in three main stages, corresponding to three specific objectives:

first stage: elaboration of the theoretical framework of multi-stakeholder partnership, i.e. elaboration and finalization of the research questions that will guide the core research (for a preliminary list of research questions, refer to the following paragraph). This stage will last from month 1 to month 8 and will produce as major outcome a working paper on methodology for research of multi-stakeholder partnership in post-conflict (month 7) that will be transferred into a training package (month 7), and a working paper on the research’s theoretical foundations (month 8). All these documents will be presented on the occasion of the internal workshop and training to be held on month 8.

second stage: core research, i.e. analysis (on the basis of the research questions elaborated at stage one) of multi-stakeholder partnership in four sectors that have been identified as relevant in post-conflict reconstruction – security; economic and social development; democracy, good governance and rule of law; reconciliation – crossed with the analysis of multi-stakeholder partnership in three core case studies – Kosovo; Democratic Republic of Congo; Afghanistan. This stage will last from month 9 to month 25 and its major outcomes will be: working papers on the four different thematic researches (month 23), summing up working paper on the update of the model (month 26) and country studies on each of the case study analysed (month 22) that will be presented locally on the occasion of roundtables with key stakeholders in the selected countries.

third stage:integration of the empirical findings, definition of policy recommendations and conclusions. This final stage will last from month 26 to month 31 and will produce as major outcomes a final publication on partnership in post-conflict (month 30), an evaluation manual of multi-stakeholder partnership in post-conflict (month 30) - to be presented on the occasion of the open final international conference (month 30) - and a set of policy recommendations for the European Union (month 31) - to be illustrated to policy-makers in roundtables at month 31 at the European and national levels.