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Evaluations of emergency operations

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Key points
  • Typically, longer running operations are evaluated. Evaluations do not normally occur in the first months of an emergency operation (this is when real time reviews are held).
  • The Evaluation Service commissions, oversees and completes an evaluation of each UNHCR Level 3 emergency operation, within 18 months after its declaration.
  • Evaluations of L1 or L2 emergencies may also be commissioned by the Evaluation Service at the High Commissioner's request.
  • For humanitarian system-wide L3 emergencies, an Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation (IAHE) is typically conducted some 9 to 12 months after a system-wide scale-up activation is declared.
  • Evaluations seek to improve the design, performance, and results of projects and operations.
  • They are an essential tool for finding out why programmes succeed or fail, and to document insights, lessons and experiences that can be acknowledged and incorporated in future planning and decision-making.
  • Evaluation reports are in the public domain.

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