A Decade of Learning: Lessons from an Evaluation of the Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) Project

In 2003, the Emergency Capacity Building (ECB) Project was conceived by seven relief and development organisations to improve the quality and effectiveness of emergency preparedness and response by improving field-level capacity, collaborating with other partners and organizations and enhancing resources for field set-up, communication and training. These initiatives focused on the themes of (1) staff capacity building, (2) accountability and impact measurement and (3) disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

This report presents the findings of a study commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by the Disaster Resilience Group to distill learning from the ECB Project and other major HEA capacity building interventions over the past decade. The evaluation included a desk review of capacity building practices and trends, surveys of HEA and ECB stakeholders and the use of ECB Project materials and interviews with the ECB Inter-Agency Working Group (IWG), project staff and field stakeholders in Niger, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Horn of Africa. Field visits were made to Bangladesh, Bolivia, Indonesia, London and Niger.