Die deutsche humanitäre Hilfe im Ausland - Channel Research

Executive SummaryBackground to the evaluation andapproach adoptedOn behalf of the Federal Foreign Office(AA) and the Federal Ministry forEconomic Cooperation and Development(BMZ), German humanitarian assistanceabroad has been subjected to an interministerial,independent evaluation for thefirst time ever. The objective of theevaluation was to undertake anindependent, comprehensive analysis andassessment of Germany’s humanitarianassistance abroad (not includinghumanitarian mine clearance) in order togain insights which can be used formanagement purposes by the twoministries concerned. Another use for theinformation acquired was accountabilitytowards parliament.The following issues were to beconsidered in particular:1. Relevance and results of themeasures2. Interface management betweenthe Federal Foreign Office and theFederal Ministry for EconomicCooperation and Development3. Coordination and complementaritywith the measures of other donors,in particular the European Unionand United Nations organisations4. Appropriateness of the financingchannels (international as opposedto national organisations, takinginto account local implementationcapacities) and5. Linking up emergency relief,emergency and transitional aid,reconstruction and developmentcooperation in line with the conceptof linking relief, rehabilitation anddevelopment (LRRD)with recommendations being provided forpossible improvements.The focus of the evaluation was thehumanitarian assistance abroad providedby the AA and BMZ in the last five years(2005 to 2009) and ongoing aidinterventions if any. At the forefront of theevaluation were the humanitarianemergency assistance of the AA and thedevelopment-oriented emergency andtransitional aid of the BMZ. Otherinterventions by the AA and interventionsby the BMZ for reconstruction and(government and non-governmental)development cooperation were includedwith a view to assessing internalcoherence and alignment with the LRRDconcept (linking emergency relief,emergency and transitional aid,reconstruction and developmentcooperation). Earmarked contributions tointernational organisations were alsoincluded in the evaluation. However, thesewere assessed primarily on the basis ofreports and evaluations made by therespective organisation itself.The evaluation of German humanitarianassistance is a complex undertakinginvolving a large number and a widespectrum of measures and participants.Key elements of the evaluation includedan evaluation matrix, a reconstructedintervention logic for German humanitarianassistance and six case studies fromHaiti, Uganda, Chad, Myanmar, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (East)and Darfur, Sudan; each one of whichincluded a number of project casestudies. Taking the evaluation matrix as astarting point a variety of methods wasused to collect and analyse data.xi