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Session Title: Haiti: Challenges in Emergency Response and Recovery Bring Challenges (and Innovation) in Evaluation
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Panel Session 397 to be held in CROCKETT D on Thursday, Nov 11, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Disaster and Emergency Management Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Nan Buzard, American Red Cross, buzardn@usa.redcross.org
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| Abstract:
On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the Haitian coast 10 miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince, causing massive damage and significant loss of life. The American Red Cross (ARC) delegates working in Haiti were among the first to respond, and the public was generous in providing funds to ARC for emergency response and recovery programs. In coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Committee for the Red Cross, and UN and US Government agencies, ARC continued the immediate emergency response while an IFRC needs assessment team deployed to conduct field assessments in eleven sector areas, to begin defining medium-term recovery priorities. This panel by ARC staff (including the Lead of the IFRC Recovery Assessment Team) will discuss how this unprecedented urban disaster challenged existing models of needs assessment, data collection and analysis, and M&E design, leading to useful innovation.
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Six Weeks After Haiti Disaster: The Challenge of Leading a Multi-donor Emergency Recovery Needs Assessment
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| Michael Zeleke, American Red Cross, zelekem@usa.redcross.org
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When the Haiti Recovery Assessment Team of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was organized, the presenter was recruited as an advisor. Several days before departure, he was asked to the lead the team. During the next week, the team size grew from an estimated 6 to over 28, as various Partner National Red Cross Societies who were donating funds and supplies asked to join the team. The challenge of managing this large team also encompassed: seeking model approaches for sector and geographic coverage; question definition and analysis; coordination challenges (with UN and other international actors); deployment of multisectoral teams to respect counterpart and survey respondent time; and working within resource and time constraints in a climate of high expectations. This presentation will give a flavor of how these challenges were met and what can be learned from them for future urban disasters.
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Innovation in Collecting and Analyzing Geographic Information: Immediate Contributions to Recovery Efforts and Potential Contributions to Monitoring and Evaluation of Results in Haiti
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| Dale Hill, American Red Cross, hilldal@usa.redcross.org
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After the Haiti earthquake, worldwide interest and compassion catalyzed an unusual set of collaborative initiatives focused on geographic information, made possible also by technological innovation. For example, 500 technical experts from over 22 countries were mobilized to interpret data to assess the earthquake impact in Haiti to feed into a comprehensive damage assessment, accomplished in weeks, not months. Also, some non-profit organizations bringing a different skill set to disaster needs used social networking to develop dynamic technical solutions implemented in days by volunteers, such as usable street maps of Port-au-Prince. These tools and the information that resulted from them, were put to immediate use on the ground in Haiti. The presenter brings perspectives from both development and relief organizations to examine whether these innovative tools devised for near-term damage and needs assessment can also be applied over the long term to monitoring and evaluation of relief and recovery projects.
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Haiti: From Response to Recovery: Determining Sectoral Priorities and Beginning the Monitoring Process
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| Amy Gaver, American Red Cross, gavera@usa.redcross.org
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The magnitude of damage from the Haiti earthquake required immediate response on a huge scale in emergency aid such as food, medical assistance, safe water supplies, sanitation, and shelter. But the disaster also destroyed assets and sources of livelihood required for longer term resumption of economic development-- medical facilities, schools (87% destroyed in Port-au-Prince) and markets. Learning from its experience with other disaster relief operations, the American Red Cross (ARC) response program emphasized the transition from emergency relief to recovery early on. But to respond to the emergency and early recovery needs, ARC needed to accelerate and innovate in several of its traditional sectors such as cash transfer programs and livelihood support for beneficiaries. The presenter, the ARC manager in charge of recovery programming will discuss how the IFRC needs assessment was used to help define sectoral priorities and ensure early monitoring systems supported learning from innovative programs.
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Recovery Program Monitoring and Evaluation Design: Challenge of an Impacted Population on the Move in Haiti
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| Christine Connor, American Red Cross, connorch@usa.redcross.org
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The Haiti earthquake was unprecedented since it occurred so close to the major urban center of a country with great poverty. Not only homes serving as shelter, but major buildings and facilities serving Government and the market economy were destroyed, affecting livelihoods and services. A large number of people remain displaced, and some have opted to stay with relatives in areas outside of Port-au-Prince. As recovery efforts continue, the “market pull” of jobs and improved services can attract residents to resettle outside their original home base. This creates special challenges for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) design. The presenter will draw on her experience with other projects involving refugees and displaced persons to discuss how M&E design for projects supporting Haiti’s shifting displaced population presents similarities, and how it presents differences which need to be taken into account in the context of the Haiti earthquake recovery program.
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