Inter-Agency Real Time Evaluation of the Humanitarian ... - alnap

IA RTE of the humanitarian response to Pakistan’s 2010 Floods crisis
response was scaled up organisations were quickly stretched to the limit in terms of resources
and available capacities.
Non‐prioritised and politicised response
72. The response was poorly prioritised from the start. As a humanitarian organization
representation stated “initially there was an excessive rush to start without deciding on how and
where to respond that led to fundamental distortions in terms of equity and proportionality”.
73. Humanitarian actors have been confronted with challenges of being able to drive forward
an independent needs‐based response, partly because of limited presence and capacity, but
also for political reasons. The selection of beneficiaries was, at times, not done independently
but was subordinated to political interference. Targeting was particularly weak as there was no
systematic registration or verification process ‐ often there were no beneficiary lists or selection
criteria established. When lists were prepared, these were not always drawn up on the basis of
vulnerability. As a result, unknown quantities of assistance have reportedly reached those that
were the least vulnerable, close to feudal landlords or connected through certain political
affiliations. Many people from ethnic and tribal minorities and most vulnerable individuals and
groups, such as widows or other female‐headed households, were not prioritised and therefore
deprived from any assistance at all. People that went into organised camps were better assisted
than those in spontaneous camps; while those in host families received limited assistance.
Riccardo Polastro, Aatika Nagrah, Nicolai Steen and Farwa Zafar
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