Greater Collaboration for Evaluating the Haiti Response

Greater Collaboration for Evaluating the Haiti Response

GREATER COLLABORATION FOR EVALUATING THE HAITI RESPONSE

26/05/2010

Evaluations of the international response to the Haiti earthquake will be better co-ordinated following a meeting of over fifty NGOs, donors, UN agencies and humanitarian networks in London. Representatives of the international humanitarian system committed their organisations to collaborate on evaluating the Haiti relief efforts and to reduce the burden on Haiti which multiple poorly co-ordinated evaluations could cause.

Fritzner Gaspard, Charge d’Affaires in the Haitianembassy to France, told the meeting via a written message that on the 12th January 2010, “The lights went out in Haiti”. He went on to outline the strategic axes that the Haitian government envision for their future- “Institutional, economic and social reconstruction.” Tatiana Wah, Director of the Haiti Policy Programme, Columbia University, concluded that the evaluation of the international response would ultimately be judged on “how you have supported the Haitian people to achieve that vision.”

The meeting was hosted by three major networks within the humanitarian system, ALNAP, OECD- DAC Network on Development Evaluation and the UN Evaluation Group, and brought together evaluators from the major International NGOs working in Haiti, UN agencies, the largest bilateral donors with Haiti, including the United States, Canada, EU, Mexico and Brazil as well as Haitian representatives.

A presentation from the Inter Agency Real Time Evaluation, which deployed to Haiti within one week of the earthquake, highlighted the challenges facing the Haitian people and the importance of evaluating the international humanitarian response.

Nick York, Chair of the OECD-DAC evaluation Network, summarised on behalf of the meeting’s Chairs, on where the international community goes from here, “The next steps in ensuring a genuinely co-ordinated response will include developing a shared evaluation framework for use by any agency carrying out an evaluation in Haiti; this would include shared principles, such as ensuring open, equal dialogue with the Haitian government from the outset and minimising any disruption to the Haitian people resulting from evaluations.

Subject to discussions with the Haitian government we will look to establish a task-force to monitor and raise funds for joint evaluations of the humanitarian response and develop an evaluation support office in Haitito provide advice to evaluation teams and training for Haitian evaluators.”

(ENDS)

Notes for Editors

  • The meeting, ‘Evaluating the Haiti Response’ was held in London on 18th-19th May 2010. Speakers included Michael Quinn Patton, Independent Evaluation Consultant; Ross Mountain, Director General of DARA; Tatiana Wah, Director Haiti Policy Program, Earth Institute, Columbia University & Policy Advisor to Government of Haiti;Niels Dabelstein, Danida; and Susanne Frueh, Chair of the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition.
  • The initial findings of the Inter Agency Real Time Evaluation were introduced by Scott Green, UN-OCHA, and presented by Francois Grunewald, Groupe URD, who led the evaluation team in Haiti.
  • ALNAP, UNEG or OECD-DAC representatives are available for comment, interview and background briefings. Please contact:

Josh Harris, Communications Officer, ALNAP- 0207 922 0393 or 07739 021000

  • ALNAP is the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action, a unique network of the key international humanitarian organisations and experts from across the humanitarian sector
  • The Network on Development Evaluation brings together evaluation specialists from development cooperation agencies and multilateral development institutionsto increase the effectiveness of international development programmes by supporting robust, informed and independent evaluation. The Network is a subsidiary body of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the principal body through which the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD) deals with issues related to co-operation with developing countries.
  • The UN Evaluation Group is s a professional network that brings together the units responsible for evaluation in the UN system including the specialized agencies, funds, programmes and affiliated organisations. UNEG currently has 43 such members.
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