ARTICLE - HUMANITARIAN AID EVALUATION

HAITI HUMANITARIAN AID EVALUATION - STRUCTURED ANALYSIS SUMMARY REPORT
(ReliefWeb) - Source: Tulane University (TU)

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Executive Summary
Over the past twelve months, the international community comprised of non-governmental organizations, United Nations, and donor governments have supported the Haitian people and its government by providing humanitarian assistance and development aid to rebuild the country. This extraordinary effort on the part of local and international actors has been immense in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, resulting in lives saved and alleviating the suffering of the affected population. As we look towards the next twelve months and beyond, the question now is what can be done to help those who survived . . . thrive.

In an effort to help answer this question, Tulane University's Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy (DRLA) in partnership with the University of Haiti (UEH) is undertaking a humanitarian aid evaluation in Haiti with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal of this evaluation is to provide programmatic recommendations to the government (and people) of Haiti and the international actors that will increase the resilience of Haitians and their communities.

As part of the inception phase of the DRLA/UEH humanitarian aid evaluation, we carried out an extensive desktop review of current evaluations, assessments, surveys and studies conducted in Haiti since the earthquake to summarize existing knowledge of the results of humanitarian interventions and to develop a database that will provide the local and international actors in Haiti with an ongoing tool to assess and analyze evaluation-related information (the structured analysis database can be accessed at www.drlatulane.org).

A major finding in our structured analysis was the need for more engagement of Haitian local leaders, civil society and more importantly, those directly affected, in future project development to promote resilient recovery. Moreover, the IASC Evaluation Responses to the Humanitarian Crisis in Haiti reported that "the provision of humanitarian assistance was defined in Haiti by a particular circumstance (the loss of a dwelling due to a disaster), rather than by vulnerability (such as the lack of access to basic necessities), this results in inequity which create nefarious social tensions that make developing exit strategies almost impossible." It was also indicated that the coordination between the international humanitarian community and their national and local counterparts within the Haitian government and civil society has been particularly weak, resulting in weak national and local ownership.

We hope this structured analysis report which includes our initial findings on humanitarian aid and Haitian resilience as well as the extensive database of current evaluations and assessments will help guide donors and implementing partners as they continue to support the people of Haiti and their government work towards a brighter and more resilient future.

Sincerely,
Ky LuuExecutive Director
Disaster Resilience Leadership AcademyTulane University

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