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

IA RTE of the humanitarian response to Pakistan’s 2010 Floods crisis
there is a general perception amongst most partners that more could have been done to ensure
that needs assessments were more strategic and instrumental, hence feeding into organisations’
flood response.
39. United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams were deployed in
early August to perform initial needs assessments. The UNDAC was, however, not instrumental
in addressing needs and was more focused on setting up hub‐coordination mechanisms. Since a
very early stage, attempts to consolidate data and information from different agencies’
assessments were not successful, as formats and methodologies were not compatible, an issue
that continues till date.
40. Several joint assessments have been carried out in the aftermath of the floods in order to
arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of needs, including the Multi‐Cluster Rapid
Assessment Mechanism (MCRAM) 22 assessing humanitarian issues, Early Recovery Needs
Assessment (ERNA) and the Damage Needs Assessment (DNA) that looked at economic
infrastructure. While these assessments are clear evidence of attempts of concerted efforts,
linkages are missing and there is an absence of joint programming around the assessments.
41. The MCRAM was carried out during the last week of August and while it is recognised as a
‘joint’ step forward in terms of strengthening joint assessment tools, it is still considered an
‘imperfect tool’ or ‘works in progress’. Its main utility was as baseline data in the formulation of
the initial response plan (e.g. PIFERP) and it was not used in the field as organisations did not
have access to collected data immediately. Furthermore, this assessment and other assessments
have been criticised for not being sufficiently disaggregated and disseminated to province‐ and
district levels and therefore, were of little usage in terms of informing organisations´
programming.
42. From August to September, WFP carried out rapid needs assessment and a Vulnerability
Analysis and Mapping (VAM) in four provinces with the assistance of its local implementing
partners (IPs). Findings were shared with OCHA and the GoP. The VAM provided the basis upon
which much of the initial assistance was provided, including that of PDMAs.
43. The different joint assessments and single agency assessments carried out were criticised
for their lack of interlinkages, especially MCRAM and the DNA. From the onset of the disaster,
there was no clear strategy as to how different assessments would feed into programming to
ensure timely and smooth transition from relief to (early) recovery.
22
The MCRAM was already inter‐cluster project already in place in Pakistan prior to the floods with equipment,
capacity and partners could be quickly mobilized. The MCRAM benefited from ownership by the Clusters in Pakistan,
financial support of UNICEF, coordination from OCHA and in kind support from a range of UN organizations including
WFP and WHO and several implementing partners.
Riccardo Polastro, Aatika Nagrah, Nicolai Steen and Farwa Zafar
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