Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP
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Evaluation Department Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP Report 4/2013 Norad Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation P.O.Box 8034 Dep, NO-0030 Oslo Ruseløkkveien 26, Oslo, Norway Phone: +47 22 24 20 30 Fax: +47 22 24 20 31 Foto: J. Makongo Design: Siste Skrik Kommunikasjon Print: Møklegaards Trykkeri ISBN: 978-82-7548-780-1 Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP September 2013 Ternstrom Consulting AB in collaboration with Channel Research SPRL The report is the product of its authors, and responsibility for the accuracy of data included in this report rests with the authors. The findings, interpretations and conclusions presented do not necessarily reflect the views of Norad Evaluation Department. Note on layout and language The layout of the document has tried to conform to guidelines for accessibility and ease of reading, which require Arial font and left (not full) justification of the text. The report has tried to avoid unnecessary use of acronyms and abbreviations. Disclaimer: The report is the product of its authors, and responsibility for the accuracy of data included in this report rests with the authors. The findings, interpretations and conclusions presented do not necessarily reflect the views of Norad Evaluation Department. Preface The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is the largest Norwegian humanitarian organization, measured by the number of employees. It employs more than 3000 persons and has programme activities in more than 20 countries spread across Africa, Asia, America and Europe. NORCAP, a division of NRC, has some 850 persons on a standby roster who can be deployed on short notice to support the UN and other international organizations. NRC has grown significantly in later years. In 2011, the revenue (and operating costs) exceeded 1,200 million Norwegian Kroner, more than twice the amount in 2006. Such a rapid expansion is in itself a valid reason for an evaluation. In 2010, 52 % of the total funding to NRC was provided by the Norwegian Government. Among other major donors is the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and there has been a useful cooperation with Sida regarding this evaluation. According to the evaluation, NRC has in general delivered agreed outputs in the humanitarian programmes examined, and has managed to do so under extremely difficult conditions. NRC has good access to difficult areas and its conflict sensitivity is apparent. However, greater gains might have been obtained through a more long-term approach. The quality of NORCAP secondees is considered high and NORCAP provides high quality response to actual challenges. If the identified shortcomings are remedied, the emergency roster could according to the evaluator increase its relevance and efficiency. The evaluation team of Termstrom Consulting AB in collaboration with Channel Research SPRL faced a challenging task. The security situation in the case countries Pakistan, Somalia and South Sudan made data collection difficult. Field visits and interviews occasionally had to be cut short because of overriding security concerns. This methodological challenge has to a large extent been compensated for by assessing NRC’s organizational capacity to meet its objectives. We hope that the evaluation contributes in a useful way to the documentation of NRC/NORCAP activities and that it provides valuable insights to stakeholders. Tale Kvalvaag Director, Evaluation Department Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP iii iv Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP Acknowledgements Ternstrom Consulting wishes to thank all the people who have received us and given their time and effort in order to allow us to gather data concerning NRC operations. These people represent beneficiaries, community leaders, local authority officials, local and international NGOs, the United Nations system, donors and responsible governments. They have been welcoming and generous with their time despite challenging agendas. Special thanks are extended to the staff members of NRC, especially those working with NORCAP, NRC's core competencies, and the case countries Pakistan, Somalia and South Sudan. The evaluation team has benefited from the NRC security and logistics "umbrella". Given the context within which we have worked, this was a necessity. It has implied, at times significant, additional workload for selected NRC staff. The assistance given to us was efficient, friendly, and respectful of our role allowing us to focus on our work. The evaluation was implemented by Ternstrom Consulting in collaboration with Channel Research. The evaluation team consisted of Core Team Björn Ternström, Team Leader, Lead Consultant Somalia Ingela Ternström, Overall Methodology, Editor Annina Mattsson, Liaison Channel Research/Ternstrom Consulting, NORCAP Anne Davies, Field methodology, Lead Consultant Pakistan Charles Byamugisha, Lead Consultant South Sudan Uma Narayanan, Lead Consultant NORCAP Technical Experts Japhet Makongo, Public Expenditure Tracking Survey and Analysis Hampus Pihl, Financial Issues and Efficiency Ewa Eriksson, NORCAP Bo Göransson, Policy Ralf Otto, ICLA Patrick Fox, WASH Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP v Local Consultants Abid ur-Rehman, Local Consultant Pakistan Abdishakur Othowai, Local Consultant Somalia Liban Hassan, Local Consultant Somalia Leben Moro, Local Consultant South Sudan Main report authors: Björn Ternström and Ingela Ternström. Each team member has contributed to the analysis and text relating to their respective fields. This report is the product of its authors, and responsibility for the accuracy of data included in this report rests with the authors. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions presented in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of EVAL. Täby 2013 Björn Ternström CEO, Ternstrom Consulting AB vi Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP Table of Contents Preface iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii Acronyms and Abbreviations ix Executive Summary xiii 1 Introduction and Background 3 1.1 Purpose and Scope of the Evaluation 4 1.2 NRC and the Humanitarian Landscape: Contexts and Tendencies 4 1.3 NRC: Organisational Setup 9 1.4 Literature Review 11 2 Research Strategy and Methodology 12 2.1 Data Collection Tools 15 2.2 Limitations 19 3 Findings Relating to Management and Programming 22 3.1 Management 22 3.2 Programming 26 4 Findings Relating to Core Competencies 34 4.1 Findings Relating to Core Competencies in General 34 4.2 Shelter 37 4.3 ICLA 45 4.4 Emergency Food Security and Distribution (EFSD) 51 4.5 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) 62 4.6 Camp Management 66 4.7 Cross-Cutting Issues 66 5 NORCAP 74 5.1 Selection and Utilisation of Secondees 74 5.2 Professional Performance 75 5.3 Changing Needs and Context 76 5.4 Sense of Purpose and Usefulness 77 5.5 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) 78 5.6 Quality 80 5.7 Relevance 82 5.8 Efficiency 83 6 Synergies Between NORCAP and Other Activities 86 Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP vii 7 Conclusions 87 7.1 Overall Conclusions 87 7.2 Specific Conclusions 91 7.3 Conclusions Regarding NORCAP 92 8 Recommendations 95 8.1 Recommendations Regarding NRC Core Competencies 95 8.2 Recommendations Relating to WASH as a Core Competence 100 8.3 NORCAP Recommendations 102 Annexes 107 Annex 1a: Data Collection Sources and Methods 108 Annex 2a: Distribution of Roles and Responsibilities in the Team 110 Annex 2b: Literature Review 113 Annex 2h: List of Documents 115 Annex 3b: List of Interviewees 146 Annex 4: Terms of Reference 165 The following annexes are to be found in a separate volume available for down- load at www.norad.no/evaluation Annex 1: Definitions, Data and Survey Instruments Annex 1b: About the Evaluation Questions Matrix Annex 1c: NORCAP Key Results Areas and Indicators Annex 1d: NORCAP Process, Procedure, System’s Review Checklist Annex 2: Other Information Annex 2c: Statistical Overview of NRC’s International Humanitarian Assistance 2010-2012 Annex 2d(a): NORCAP Recruitment and Deployment Flowchart Annex 2d(b): NORCAP Proposed Recruitment and Deployment Flowchart Annex 2e: NORCAP: Comparative Table of Standby Rosters Annex 2f: NORCAP SWOT Annex 2g: NORCAP Online Survey Analysis Report Annex 3: Field Work Itinerary and List of Interviewees Annex 3a: Field Work Itinerary viii Evaluation of Five Humanitarian Programmes of the Norwegian Refugee Council and of the Standby Roster NORCAP Acronyms and Abbreviations1 ALNAP Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance CAD Core Activity Database CGI Corrugated Galvanised Iron CHF Common Humanitarian Fund CV Curriculum Vitae Danida Danish International Development Agency DfID Department for International Development (UK Aid) DRC Democratic Republic of Congo DRR Disaster Risk Reduction ECHO European Commission Humanitarian Office EFSD Emergency Food Security Distribution EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas FGD Focus Group Discussion HAPPDA Humanitarian Assistance and Protection to People Displaced in Africa