Passion Project team members Corina Ajder, Suluck Fai Lamubol, and Lucia Sobekova (all MPA ’16) met with Distinguished Visiting Professor Gareth Evans to gain insights into their project partner, the International Crisis Group (ICG). From 2000-09, Evans was the president and CEO of ICG, an international NGO focused on conflict prevention and resolution.
The Passion Project team is working with ICG to write a report on lessons learned from 20 years of conflicts and post-conflict transitions worldwide. Leveraging ICG research, the team seeks to identify key lessons as well as areas in which ICG approaches or assumptions may need to be reexamined.
Still in the early phase of their project, the team interviewed Evans on March 18 to learn about his perspective on ICG. “Any organization has to ask itself, ‘What is our value added?’” Evans emphasized. “How do our reports add value to the organization’s reputation and impact? How does the organization add value to policymaking? Are we making a difference?”
Evans and the team discussed a number of issues including Evans’ view on ICG today, the mission of the organization, and characteristics of good ICG reports. Evans highlighted the three-pronged approach of ICG to its work: field-based research, policy prescriptions for relevant actors, and high-level advocacy. “High-quality work opens doors to high-level people,” Evans said. “Once your foot is in the door, you must give people reason to believe that you have information and insights that other people don’t have. That is your value added.”
“Meeting with the former president of ICG was a unique opportunity to hear about the organization,” Ajder commented. “It was an enlightening experience to speak with someone with a strong policy background in both the public and non-profit sectors.”