Attachments
John Cosgrave and Maurice Herson
4.1 Introduction
Evaluation Syntheses in previous ALNAP Reviews of Humanitarian Action have revealed few surprises, an indication that most of what is right and wrong with the performance of the humanitarian system is known and acknowledged. Hugo Slim’s chapter in the last Review (ALNAP, 2006) advanced the idea that there are different modes for how we view the very flawed performance of the international humanitarian system. He offered us the concept of ‘realistic expectation’ to focus efforts for improvement.
The present ALNAP Synthesis aims to draw lessons from evaluations undertaken of the humanitarian response to the Pakistan earthquake of 2005. Like previous ALNAP Syntheses of evaluations, this one has been carried out with the intention of ‘stimulating reflection by the humanitarian sector on its activities with a view to enhancing performance and promoting learning and accountability’ (Minear, in ALNAP 2005, p 74). The evaluation dataset is outlined in the annexe at the end of this chapter, and the principal evaluations are listed by focus and criteria.
The evaluations that form the dataset for this Synthesis have as their own purposes some mixture of accountability and learning. In aggregate, these evaluations provide material reflecting what happened, what was done, and what can be learned from what was done. The inclusion of material from other reports that are not evaluations as such brings further validation. Synthesising their findings to provide a broader view for the wide audience that is the ALNAP membership and beyond will, it is hoped, enable analysis to rise above the perspectives of specific projects, programmes and groups of programmes.
After a brief account of the disaster itself, this chapter reflects on evaluation findings in relation to the following broad areas of current concern to the humanitarian sector:
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needs assessments
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funding
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response capacities
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ownership and accountability
It then uses these reflections as a way of assessing the quality of the work done in Pakistan in response to the 2005 earthquake. Finally, it assesses the parameters and criteria intended to describe the components of performance in development and humanitarian programmes in order to judge that performance. These OECD/ DAC criteria are also the basis of the ALNAP Quality Pro Forma for judging the quality of evaluations.