Real-time evaluation of UNICEF’s response to the 2021 earthquake in Haïti

UNICEF estimates that around 2,200 people lost their lives and 1.2 million people, including 540,000 children, have been affected by this powerful earthquake of 7.2 magnitude. The impact of the earthquake was then made worse by the heavy rainfall brought by Hurricane Grace, which caused flooding.

After the earthquake in 2010, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, political, security and economic crises, outbreaks of cholera and growing food insecurity, this brought yet more hardship to the country. On the strength of our experience evaluating earthquake responses (El Salvador and Afghanistan in 2001, Haiti in 2010 and Nepal in 2015) and hurricane responses (Mitch in 1998, Jane in Haiti in 2008 and the typhoons in the Philippines in 2011), Groupe URD has been commissioned by UNICEF to evaluate its response to these disasters.

The evaluation will highlight the lessons learned by UNICEF’s Haitian and regional offices regarding the management of high intensity disasters which are becoming more frequent due to urbanisation and the impact of climate change. UNICEF has developed response tools related to its Core Committments for Children which need to be constantly improved to meet future challenges.

The evaluation will look at the extent to which UNICEF responded in a timely manner to the needs of the most affected people. It will aim to identify shortcomings and ways to improve operational coverage and effectiveness. Methodologically, it will be based both on the OECD DAC criteria (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability) and analysis of UNICEF’s specific crisis response tools (Core Commitments for Children ).

Following a detailed literature review, a field visit is planned for March 2022. This will be highly participatory, involving different stakeholders and affected people.