Global: Evaluating UNFPA Capacity to Prepare for and Respond to Humanitarian Crises

Every year, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) responds to an average of 60 emergencies. Addressing these challenges requires innovative, flexible, and agile modes of engagement in fragile contexts. With a rising number of people affected by increasingly frequent and severe humanitarian crises, UNFPA commissioned an independent, external, and objective global evaluation of its humanitarian capacity. The evaluation covered a period from 2012-2019 and included global-level data as well as specific findings from 15 country contexts.

Conducted by DT Global, the evaluation aimed to assess:

• The relevance of UNFPA’s humanitarian programming.
• The extent to which UNFPA’s internal systems, processes, policies, and procedures related to humanitarian programming allow for efficient and timely humanitarian action at all levels of the organization (global, regional, and national).
• The effectiveness as well as the coverage of UNFPA’s humanitarian action, in terms of preparedness, response to, and recovery from humanitarian crises.
• The extent to which UNFPA’s humanitarian interventions relate to UNFPA’s long-term vision and strategic plan in order to ensure a continuum between humanitarian, development, and sustaining peace efforts (addressing the humanitarian-development-peace nexus).
• The extent to which humanitarian principles (humanity, neutrality, impartiality, independence), humanitarian minimum standards, human rights, and gender equality are integrated in UNFPA’s humanitarian action.

Results include:

• The evaluation served to draw lessons from UNFPA’s past and present humanitarian work and proposed recommendations for the future organization of the humanitarian function, and for future humanitarian programming at UNFPA.
• Ensured that the evaluation findings and recommendations informed the implementation and enhancement of the UNFPA humanitarian response action plan.