Evaluation of humanitarian action guide

This comprehensive guide covers all steps of the evaluation process while providing real-life examples, practical tips, definitions and step-by-step advice.

This guide is available in English, Français and Español.

This resource and the following information was contributed by Amelie Sundberg, Neil Dillon, and Maria Gill.

Authors and their affiliation

  • Margie Buchanan-Smith, Senior Research Associate at Overseas Development Institute
  • John Cosgrave, Independent Consultant
  • Alexandra Warner, at the time of writing she was a Research Officer at ALNAP. She is now Programme Manager at Trocaire.

Key features

This comprehensive guide covers all steps of the evaluation process, while providing real-life examples, practical tips, definitions and step-by-step advice. It took five years to produce and covers many aspects of humanitarian evaluation, all of which are part of a highly complex operating environment. It has also benefited from an unusually high level of participation, with over 40 organisations testing and providing feedback through the pilot process.  

How have you used or intend on using this resource?

I have used this guide during my position as Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at a large NGO, to help design the ToR for the recruitment of an evaluation consultant and to find other evaluative options where a full, formal evaluation was not appropriate. The formatting of the resource was particularly useful, as it was easy to navigate with tips and key takeaways highlighted in clear boxes and content cut down in to concise sections. With limited time available, I was happy that I did not have to read through a full report to get to the content that I wanted. 

Why would you recommend it to other people?

This guide is great to help all those thinking of planning, designing and implementing evaluations and/or intending to use them, drawing on a critical mass of knowledge and particularly on a large number of good practice examples. The guide addresses key challenging areas expressed by evaluation commissioners, managers, designers, implementers and users, and presents potential practical solutions. It is easy to navigate, allowing you to quickly find exactly what you need to know to help implement your evaluation. 

Sources

ALNAP (2016) Evaluation of Humanitarian Action Guide. ALNAP Guide. London: ALNAP/ODI

'Evaluation of humanitarian action guide' is referenced in: