Joint Humanitarian Impact Evaluation: Report on consultations

Report for the Inter-Agency Working Group on Joint Humanitarian Impact
Evaluation. Tony Beck  January 2011

” Background and purpose

Since the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition there have been ongoing discussions concerning mainstreaming joint impact evaluation within the humanitarian system. With pressure to demonstrate that results are being achieved by humanitarian action, the question has arisen as to whether and how evaluations can take place that will assess joint impact. An Inter-Agency Working Group was established in November 2009 to manage and facilitate consultations on the potential of Joint Humanitarian Impact Evaluation (JHIE). It was agreed to hold a series of consultations between February and November 2010 to define feasible approaches to joint impact evaluation in humanitarian action, which might subsequently be piloted in one to two humanitarian contexts.

Consultations were held with a representative cross section of humanitarian actors: the affected population in 15 communities in Sudan, Bangladesh and Haiti, and local government and local NGOs in the same countries; with national government and international humanitarian actors in Haiti and Bangladesh; and with 67 international humanitarian actors, donors, and evaluators in New York, Rome, Geneva, London and Washington. This is perhaps the most systematic attempt to consult with the affected population during the design phase of a major evaluative exercise. This report details the results from the consultations.”