This evaluation is deemed important by UNICEF at this point in time for a series of reasons:
• Significant increases in funding to WASH humanitarian action within UNICEF, and protracted emergencies in particular.
• The scale of the increase in funding to WASH Humanitarian action, both as an absolute figure and as a proportion of all emergency expenditure is covered in section 1. WASH is now the single largest sector by the expenditure of emergency funding in UNICEF. This evaluation will provide a measure of accountability to the UNICEF senior management, Executive Board and donors for the strategies, results and expenditure on WiPC, and assurance that UNICEF is (or is not) fulfilling its mandate for WASH humanitarian action. The evaluation has been commissioned, in part, in response to demands for more evidence on UNICEF (WASH) humanitarian action from Board members.
• A paucity of UNICEF evaluations specific to humanitarian WASH, including in protracted crises.
UNICEF considers that its portfolio of WASH humanitarian action is under-evaluated. The WiE synthesis undertaken by the EO recommended that UNICEF “improve the overall evaluation coverage of the UNICEF WASH response (and coordination) in emergencies”. Before the synthesis report, Emergency Preparedness in WASH has been jointly identified as a key topic for evaluation by the EO and the WASH section in October 2015. Whilst WASH is frequently a programme area covered in Real Time Evaluations (RTE), the depth of coverage is variable. Within the humanitarian WASH sector, there are also concerns over the quality and standards of humanitarian WASH programming, as discussed in 3.2 below, and over the capacities, processes and accountability mechanisms for addressing shortfalls in quality – an issue also identified by the Mid-Term Review of the Global Wash Cluster Strategy (p7).
• The increasing frequency with which UNICEF programmes (across all sectors, not only WASH) take place within protracted crises settings.
Year Published | |
Type | |
Joint | No |
Partner/s | N/A |
Consultant name | |
Agency Focal Point | Omar El Hattab |
Focal Point Email | oelhattab@unicef.org |
Managed by Independent Evaluation Office | No |
Geographic Scope | Country |
Country/ies |