Feminist Evaluation Toolkit for Crisis Contexts

This synthesis report and toolkit, developed by the FIME awardee Rai Sengupta, draws on 17 evaluations commissioned by UN agencies and INGOs examining how feminist evaluation approaches have been applied in crisis settings (2019–2024). 

Overview

This resource brings together two linked outputs from the FIME project:  From insights to action: advancing feminist evaluation innovations in crisis contexts. It combines a qualitative synthesis, which examines how feminist evaluation innovations have been applied in crisis-affected contexts, and a practical toolkit, which translates these insights into guidance for applying feminist evaluation approaches in practice. The synthesis focuses on generating evidence and lessons, while the toolkit focuses on practical application across the evaluation cycle.

Key features

The synthesis brings together evidence from 17 humanitarian evaluations conducted across diverse crisis settings, offering insights grounded in practical implementation rather than theory alone. It identifies key innovations across four areas of evaluation practice - design, methods, analysis, and ethics - demonstrating how feminist principles can be integrated throughout the evaluation process, and identifies key lessons and conclusions that highlight the strategic shifts needed at policy, institutional, and practice levels to realize the transformative potential of feminist approaches in evaluation.

The toolkit translates these insights into practical guidance for evaluators and organisations. It provides step-by-step support across the full evaluation cycle, including planning, design, methods, analysis, ethics, and dissemination. Drawing on global feminist evaluation innovations, humanitarian guidance, and gender evaluation best practices, it offers adaptable tools, participatory and arts-based methods, guiding questions, and templates. Designed for both natural disasters and human-made crises, the toolkit is flexible for use during and after emergencies, and has been shaped by the synthesis, co-design workshops, and expert consultations to ensure usability and relevance.

What contribution does the resource make to Feminist Evaluation?

This combined resource makes a strong contribution to both the evidence and practice of feminist evaluation in crisis contexts. The synthesis is particularly valuable because it consolidates evidence on feminist evaluation practice in settings where systematic documentation has historically been limited. By analysing multiple real-world evaluations, it shows how feminist principles can be applied even under the constraints of humanitarian environments, strengthening the evidence base for feminist evaluation. It highlights how these approaches can enhance methodological rigor, credibility, and accountability, while amplifying marginalised voices and redistributing evaluative power. The lessons and typology identified in the synthesis also provide insights for strategic shifts at policy, institutional, and practice levels, making it useful for evaluators, policy actors, and institutions seeking to design more inclusive and equitable evaluations.

The toolkit builds directly on this evidence, translating it into practical guidance for evaluators and organisations. It addresses a critical gap in guidance for applying feminist evaluation in fragile and emergency contexts, foregrounding participation, power dynamics, and lived experiences to strengthen the relevance and rigor of evaluations. Its adaptable design allows for integration of feminist principles across institutional, donor, and national M&E systems. By providing concrete tools, participatory methods, templates, and guiding questions, the toolkit supports learning, accountability, and policy influence, helping evaluators and organisations translate insights into action. Together, the synthesis and toolkit provide a comprehensive resource that bridges theory and practice, enabling both the understanding and application of feminist evaluation approaches in complex and crisis-affected environments.

How can other people use this resource?

The synthesis and toolkit are designed for multiple audiences working in evaluation, policy, and research. Evaluators and researchers can draw on the synthesis to understand emerging feminist evaluation innovations and use the toolkit to apply these approaches in practice, ensuring their evaluations are participatory, context-sensitive, and power-aware. UN agencies, international NGOs, and commissioning bodies can use the synthesis to inform evaluation design and management in crisis-response contexts, while the toolkit helps integrate feminist principles throughout the evaluation cycle.

Policy and programme teams can use the synthesis to strengthen accountability and learning systems within humanitarian programming, complemented by the toolkit’s practical methods for embedding equity and inclusion in practice. Academic institutions and evaluation networks can draw on the synthesis to support teaching, training, and research, using the toolkit for hands-on learning through examples, templates, and exercises. Women’s rights and women-led organisations can use the toolkit to build evaluative capacity, document impact, and advocate for systemic change, while capacity-building initiatives can leverage it to train evaluators and programme staff, adapting tools to fit available resources, time, and the specific demands of diverse crisis environments.