Within the peace and development field, How do we ensure participation and inclusion in research and evaluation? While peace and development programs regularly tout the importance of locally-led initiatives, and the importance of inclusive processes, true participation and inclusion are often missing from both programming and evaluation. Efforts to change this dynamic increasingly hinge on the decentralization of input. This comes in two ways relevant to the theme: first, through changing the role of local Community Based and Civil Society Organizations (CBOs and CSOs) to have more say in programming decisions. CBOs and CSOs are becoming more empowered conduits who are able to define measures of success relevant to the communities where they live, as well as refocus programs toward local sustainability as an integral part of definitions of success. Second, through the rise in access to new media – and new uses for old media -, communities themselves are able to engage more actively in feedback loops that give them a voice in which peace and development outcomes are most meaningful to them. Search for Common Ground (Search), the world's largest peacebuilding INGO, will share examples of recent and ongoing work to improve inclusion in research and evaluation. Methodologies include Conflict Scans (purely qualitative, rapidly deployed, utility based research responses to conflict), Outcome Mapping with CSOs (working backward from changes we see to determine which are the most meaningful), and Human Centered Design (an approach that intentionally moves beyond the linear, problem-solution model, and to recognize the multiple variables that often contribute to effective problem solving). Each of these methods has been used by Search in East and Central Africa. These methods give space for participants to become an active part of research, sharing not only what works but also capture the real experiences of living through program “learning” and failure. Discussion around these lessons from radical inclusion will serve to sharpen actionable solutions to breaking barriers to participation and inclusion. A particular goal of this presentation will be to foster dialogue, with a focus on shared learning and mitigating the risk of transparent sharing within a normally competitive field.