Evaluation of UNICEF´s response to hurricane Matthew in Haiti
Dahlia, in association with DARA, conducted the evaluation of UNICEF´s response to hurricane Matthew that struck Haiti on October 4th 2016.
The field phase took place in May 2018 and a number of locations were visited in 4 out of the 5 most severly affected departments: Nippes, Sud, Grand´Anse and Nord-Ouest. The final report will be released in the following months.
FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE EVALUATION
The main purpose of the evaluation is to assess UNICEF´s response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti as a consequence of hurricane Mathew with the purpose of drawing lessons for future emergencies, providing critical feedback to ongoing UNICEF programs as well as informing the transition from response to recovery efforts, and capacity building of UNICEF Haiti. Additionally, the evaluation will aim at strengthening accountability and transparency to UNICEF´s partners and donors.
COMMUNICATING EVALUATION FINDIGNS
A common concern is that evaluation findings are little read and under-used. There are many reasons for this, but the way evaluation findings are communicated, plays a key role. Evaluators are finding increasingly innovative ways of presenting their evaluation findings beyond the standard written report: multimedia presentations, photo-stories, workshops, webinars – and video.
The video format is an excellent medium to communicate findings to a range of stakeholders – it conveys messages visually, in a manner that facilitates understanding, and is more accessible. Dahlia is working to produce a video that will include i) observation of efforts and achievements of the work done by UNICEF to respond to Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, ii) footage of interviews with stakeholders (including implementing partners, local authorities and affected populations), that could be useful to illustrate evaluation findings, conclusions and lessons learned. This material will be the basis for a specific evaluation audiovisual product aiming at the dissemination of the process and the results of the evaluation, which will allow UNICEF to engage and inform partners, and will contribute to ensure accountability to affected populations and donors.
Dahlia would like to provide UNICEF with a product that could be used to show UNICEF´s efforts in Haiti, raise awareness of children´s cause, promote behaviours that promote child rights, promote cooperation, share lessons learned and best practices.