Measuring effectiveness in complex operations

Effectiveness has become the meta-narrative of complex operations and the evaluation of which has captured the imaginations of most stakeholders involved in such activities, including the Government of Canada and Canadian non-state actors. [...] The international community’s ability to contribute to tenable peace and security depends on an ability to work cooperatively – to do the right things, at the right times, in the right ways, using the right means – and to accurately assess effectiveness of complex operations. [...] The WoG approach to international interventions brings together military and civilian resources in a focused and coherent fashion, where the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Forces (CF) work closely with government departments and agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).14 Th [...] Adopting a cooperative approach forces the international community to work together to forward the global peace and security agenda, with the intention of jointly improving the efficacy of interventions during the process.17 One of the ways to improve operational effectiveness is by applying appropriate measuring frameworks and to measure effectiveness in a cooperative and coordinated process. [...] The significance of these effects, however, is not necessarily captured using EBAO, but the Approach creates a map of potential impacts of an activity across the spectrum of complex operations.29 If other sectors began using the same sort of framework, this could result in the ability to map the wider effectiveness of complex operations.