Guidelines for Implementing Interagency Health and Nutrition Evaluations in Humanitarian Crises

The Interagency Health and Nutrition Evaluations in Humanitarian Crises Initiative (IHE) commissioned six evaluations in Nepal (September 2003), Zambia (November 2003), Pakistan (December 2003), Burundi (April 2005), Liberia (September 2005) and Chad (February 2006). These evaluations traversed agency and national boundaries to examine the impact of health and nutrition interventions on populations affected by a humanitarian crisis. They analyzed the overall performance of the health and nutrition sector, and identified gaps and overlaps in programming. They provided the evidence base for re-orientation and improvement of the health and nutrition response, and became part of the on-going planning process. The ultimate aim of the evaluations was to improve the performance of the health and nutrition sector, to decrease threats to the lives and health of affected populations, and to enhance the collective accountability of the health and nutrition sector.

Based on the experience of the IHE initiative to date, the IHE core working group has developed practical guidelines for conducting inter-agency health and nutrition evaluations (IHEs). There are two parts to these guidelines. Part I describes the nature of IHEs and outlines an evaluation framework and methods that can be used to design and conduct IHEs. Part II describes how to manage an IHE evaluation, disseminate the findings and develop an action plan for follow-up.