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Strengthening humanitarian action through evaluation and learning

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HomeOur topicsResearch topics (menu position rule)

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)

aid worker interviewing CAR refugees in Cameroon

Humanitarians need monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to know whether they're on the right track and to assess performance and outcomes.

Humanitarian M&E practitioners often face challenges due to the volatile contexts in which humanitarians operate and the nature of the work undertaken.

Improving the quality of M&E is one of ALNAP’s areas of strategic focus. We do this through research, peer-learning events and a Community of Practice. 

Jump to
M&E during COVID-19
Humanitarian M&E guidance
Monitoring of humanitarian action
Use of evaluation evidence
Event
08 Jul

Watch now | Refugee rights and protection during COVID-19: hard lessons & concrete actions

8 July 2022
Blog
16 Dec 2021

Breaking the evaluation rule book: how do we learn in the midst of a global pandemic?

Susanna Morrison-Metois
Audio/Video
03 Nov 2021

2021 ALNAP Meeting | Evaluation in the time of COVID-19

ALNAP, UNICEF, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Event
05 Jul

Watch now | Learning for Ukraine: Challenges and Opportunities for Change

5 July 2022 14:00–17:00, CET
Event
07 Feb

Watch ALNAP – UNEG event: Real-Time Learning and Real-Time Evaluation approaches during COVID-19

7 February 2022 | 09:00 - 10:30, ET
Online
Event
25 Mar

Watch ALNAP Webinar: How is COVID-19 transforming M&E?

25 March
 

M&E during COVID-19

M&E practitioners are dealing with a myriad practical and strategic challenges due to COVID-19, from rethinking their approaches to evaluation strategy and planning, to relying on remote M&E and data collection.

ALNAP convened a series of skills-building workshops in February and March 2021, bringing over 100 M&E practitioners together to reflect and exchange learning from their work during COVID-19. ALNAP prepared the below papers for the workshops, which were updated to also include key discussion points from the events. This 'M&E during COVID-19' series also includes a paper looking into real-time learning during COVID-19.

Report / Study
21 Oct 2021

From Real-Time Evaluation to Real-Time Learning

Buchanan-Smith, M. and Morrison-Métois, S.
Report / Study
30 Apr 2021

Getting remote M&E right: ethics, challenges and gaps

Raftree, L.
Report / Study
30 Apr 2021

Learning as we go: how COVID-19 is changing evaluation strategy and planning

Buchanan-Smith, M.
Report / Study
30 Apr 2021

Evolving evaluation practice: past, present and future challenges

Chaplowe, S., Castleman, AM. and Cho, M.

Humanitarian M&E guidance

How do we know whether the objectives of humanitarian action are being met?

Humanitarian action is all about saving lives, alleviating suffering and maintaining human dignity during and in the aftermath of crises and natural disasters. Evaluation of Humanitarian Action (EHA) provides systematic and objective examinations to draw out lessons learned, which help to improve policy and practice and enhance accountability. 

ALNAP regularly releases guidance to support evaluation practitioners, from our EHA Guide, to our most recent paper with CaLP on challenges when evaluating cash-based assistance. In 2022 we will release an updated version of our popular guidance on Evaluating humanitarian action using the OECD DAC criteria.

Report / Study
01 Apr 2021

Cashing in: Turning challenges into opportunities when evaluating humanitarian cash assistance

Dillon, N., McCormack, R. and Sundberg, A. with Hafiz, S., Harvey, P. and Smith, G.
ALNAP, CALP Network
Tools/guidelines
10 Oct 2016

Evaluation of Humanitarian Action (EHA) Guide

Cosgrave J., Buchanan-Smith M. and Warner, A.
Tools/guidelines
25 Oct 2018

ALNAP Guide: Evaluation of Protection in Humanitarian Action

Christoplos, I. and Dillon, N. with Bonino, F.
ALNAP
Tools/guidelines
01 Mar 2006

Evaluating Humanitarian Action using the OECD-DAC Criteria

Beck, T.
ALNAP

Monitoring of humanitarian action

When providing relief to people affected by crisis, how do we know if we’re doing it right? How do we know what we need to change to improve? For many humanitarian organisations, this is hard to know.

Little progress has been made on the monitoring front and three issues in particular keep coming up: how to use qualitative methods to collect data; how to monitor the outcomes of programmes; and how to make M&E more useful for decision-making at project level. ALNAP has published three papers exploring each of these issues and looking at ways of fixing them.

Audio/Video
24 Jun 2019

Animation | Improving monitoring in humanitarian action

ALNAP
Report / Study
21 Jun 2019

Breaking the Mould: Alternative approaches to monitoring and evaluation

Dillon, N.
Report / Study
21 Jun 2019

Back to the Drawing Board: How to improve monitoring of outcomes

Dillon, N. and Sundberg A.
ALNAP
Report / Study
21 Jun 2019

Beyond the Numbers: How qualitative approaches can improve monitoring of humanitarian action

Sundberg A.
ALNAP
  • more

Use of evaluation evidence

Not taking action on M&E insights is a missed opportunity. They provide valuable evidence to trigger change and improved performance in programmes approaches and policies.

ALNAP aims to support the effective uptake and use of M&E findings and wider knowledge management and learning processes in humanitarian action.

Our research looks at how to improve the utilisation of M&E for more effective humanitarian practice and sector-wide learning.

Report / Study
28 Oct 2013

Using Evaluation for a Change: Insights from humanitarian practitioners

Hallam, A. and Bonino, F.
ALNAP
Factsheet/summary
08 May 2017

Strengthening the quality of evidence in humanitarian evaluations

Christoplos, I., Knox-Clarke, P., Cosgrave, J., Bonino F., Alexander, J.
ALNAP
Article
17 Dec 2020

Missing the point? Reflections on current practice in evaluating humanitarian action

Darcy, J. and Dillon, N.
ALNAP
Report / Study
16 Jan 2020

Learning from What We Know: How to improve evaluation synthesis for humanitarian organisations

Dillon, N.
ALNAP

Contact

ALNAP
ODI
203 Blackfriars Road
London SE1 8NJ
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7922 0421
Email: alnap [at] alnap [dot] org

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