Chasing the Caux Guiding Principles: Assessing their Legacy on Monitoring and Evaluation of Media Assistance

Post conflict societies offer an opportunity to reform and democratize media, as part of peace building and democratization. Since the 1990s, nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations have provided assistance to local media in societies emerging from conflicts. This thesis explores the concept of monitoring and evaluation of media assistance in conflict and post conflict settings. Only when properly assessing the assistance can we understand if and how it has an impact on peace building and democratization. The thesis’ case study is the Caux Conference, which assembled key actors and resulted in eight principles, the Caux Guiding Principles, providing advice on how to improve the sector. I interviewed six of the thirty participants to find out if the conference had an impact and if the principles are being applied. The research suggests that the Caux Conference did not have a substantive direct impact, but that some of the principles are applied.