Evaluation of
Concern’s
Response to
the Haiti
Earthquake
Andy Featherstone, October 2010
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Andy Featherstone, October 2010
Executive Summary: Recommendations, Best Practice & Lessons Learned
Introduction
The earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 did so with devastating consequences; more
than 200,000 people were killed, 300,000 were injured and over a million were left homeless. The
cocktail of extreme vulnerability coupled with the huge loss of life and massive destruction wrought
on Haiti’s largest urban area and political and commercial hub effectively decapitated the state. It
left hundreds of thousands of people traumatized and without the means necessary to sustain life
and livelihood and it was this that precipitated the tremendous generosity that has seen Concern
raise Euro 28 million and embark on its largest single-country humanitarian programme since it was
established in 1968.
The Scope of the Evaluation
The Evaluation was undertaken 8-months after the earthquake and follows an unprecedented
expansion of the programme and staff. The purpose of the exercise was to review the
appropriateness, timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness of both the interventions carried out and
operational support systems with an important focus being placed on documenting lessons learnt.
The Evaluation Report
Section one of this report describes the methodology and provides background to the earthquake
and humanitarian response that followed. The second section works through each of the evaluation
criteria. The third section reviews each of the sectoral programmes. The fourth section provides a
review of headquarters support and evaluates the effectiveness of organizational systems.
Concluding comments are made at the end of the document.
Evaluation of the Haiti Programme
Timeliness
The response has been timely, particularly the early support to WASH. An area where Concern has
performed particularly strongly is in quickly moving beyond a focus on support to urban areas to
meeting the needs of displaced and host communities in rural areas.



While Concern was successful in providing timely assistance in important sectors of its response, the
organization lacks consensus over the use of its surge capacity mechanisms; the ERT and RDU. It is urgent
that agreement is reached over how to manage and deploy these assets to most effect in the future.
Concern can ill afford not to ensure this talent pool is working effectively (see section 5.1);
There is a need for greater fluency within the organisation in applying streamlined HR systems that better
support emergency recruitment (like the use of generic ToRs and the quicker adoption of recruitment
systems which can fast-track staff appointments, inductions and entry to the programme) (see section
5.1);
While the organisation has a comprehensive financial management system the experience of the team in
trying to link programme outputs with donor contracts to facilitate contract management has been a
challenging one and would benefit from review (see section 5.2).
Coverage
Concern has performed well against the coverage criterion, choosing to launch a multi-sectoral
response which targeted both urban and rural communities. Given the extraordinary nature of the
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Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
crises an extraordinary response was required and while it means that Concern has had to work hard
to deliver against such a large programme, it has done so successfully.
Relevance
The programme has maintained its relevance throughout the response by providing a mix of
targeted assistance (in CFW and livelihoods programmes) and blanket distribution of basic
commodities. While the context of the crowded urban environment has made it difficult at times to
attain minimum standards, interviews with project participants suggest that the services being
provided by Concern are meeting their needs.

The use of SPHERE standards and indicators in Concern’s programmes has provided an important yardstick
for success. Given the clarity that the WASH team now has about progress that needs to be made against
cluster standards, it will be important that swift progress is made to achieve these (see section 3.3).
Connectedness
Concern’s established presence in the country and the strong links it has with communities has
provided an important platform for the earthquake response which has served both to provide
much-needed assistance and further cement Concern’s relationship with project participants. The
fact that the organisation is also working in sectors it has established a competence in means that
interventions in these areas often benefits from strong analysis.

While considerable progress has been made in building a coherent Concern team in Haiti it will be
important to continue to strengthen ways of working to ensure strong integration between all parts of
Concern’s mandate be it long-term development or humanitarian response (see section 3.4).
Accountability
Good progress has been made in cascading key accountability principles such as the provision of
information, consultation and participation throughout the Concern programme. In the coming
weeks it will be important that lessons are learned from the complaints mechanism which is
currently being trialed so that it can quickly be rolled out to other programmes. An important area
for Concern and the broader humanitarian community will be to ensure that camp committees are
consistently working in the best interests of the people they represent.

There is some urgency in establishing accountable and representative camp committees and Concern
should continue to work with the cluster to find workable solutions (section 3.5).
Effectiveness
Concern has been effective in mounting a large multi-sectoral humanitarian programme in Haiti. In
particular, the breadth of the programme, the timeliness of many of its early interventions and the
prioritization of meeting rural in addition to urban needs has been impressive in such a complex
context.


Protection and Peace building are now being mainstreamed across the humanitarian programme. In the
absence of government policy on durable settlement solutions and with elections planned for November
it is likely that these cross-cutting areas will become ever more important and it will be important that
there is sufficient capacity and that activities are fully integrated across all of Concern’s humanitarian work
in Haiti (see section 3.6);
A review of the excellent organization-level meta-evaluation conducted in 2009 and the PEER document
which summarise organizational knowledge and learning suggests that summarizing these into a set of
succinct (1-2 page) documents highlighting key lessons for programme design and delivery and
organisational systems and ways of working would be a wise investment for the future (see section 5.4).
Identifying Best Practice
iii
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
The evaluation highlighted the significant contribution which Concern has made to meeting the
needs of earthquake-affected communities in a timely and effective manner. A number of these are
worthy of particular mention as that they either demonstrate significant innovation, achieve a level
of excellence in response, or show proficiency in a particular area of response where many other
agencies have failed to perform effectively.
Responding to the Needs of Rural and Urban Communities
Concern has built on its established presence in the country to extend both relief and recovery
activities to those living outside the immediate environs of Port-au-Prince. Its operations in La
Gonave and Saut D’eau have been backed up by a robust analysis of the numbers of displaced and
the impact this displacement has had on the local infrastructure and economy. In the first 3-months,
Concern provided cash, tents to meet emergency shelter needs and NFIs to targeted beneficiaries in
these areas. Given the propensity for aid to be targeted at the most visible and most numerous
claimants,1 the targeting of rural areas by Concern is noteworthy. Not only does it have the potential
to ensure that those affected by the earthquake and subsequent displacement are supported but it
potentially goes some way to slowing the inevitable return to Port-au Prince which the limited
services available in the city would struggle to accommodate (see section 3.2).
Transitional Shelter Design and Delivery
The roll-out of the T-shelter programme has been considered by many (including the shelter cluster
coordinator) to be exemplary. While it took some time to conduct the baseline survey, to assess
needs and to procure the materials, the programme has benefited from sound targeting and
excellent organisation of work processes which has allowed for swift production of the shelters. The
design is innovative and has taken account of the needs for earthquake- and hurricane-proofing and
the approach taken towards the use of contractors to manage shelter construction using labour
sourced from the camp has allowed the work to progress quickly while fostering ownership and
transferring important skills to members of the camp population (see section 4.1).
Humanitarian Leadership & Coordination
Throughout the response Concern staff have shown a commitment to participating in humanitarian
leadership and coordination forums. While the Country Director is part of the Humanitarian Country
Team (HCT), sector staff members have also played prominent roles in clusters and sub-cluster
groups. Interviews showed they had an astute understanding of both the resource requirements
that coordination commitments place on the organization but also the opportunity this provides to
influence the humanitarian response far beyond what Concern could achieve through other means.
While some members of the humanitarian community may dismiss the value of coordination as
being too time-consuming it is the way of doing humanitarian business and in contexts such as Haiti
it is essential for prioritizing assistance and avoiding duplication. The team has used the forum that
the clusters offer for raising issues of concern to the wider humanitarian community such as
protection, shelter design issues and the threat of forced evictions. Interviews with Cluster
Coordinators highlighted the value they placed on Concern’s participation as well as the important
contribution that staff members have made to the work of the clusters (see section 3.2).
Lessons Learned
In the evaluation terms of reference an emphasis was placed on lesson-learning and Concern’s
response in Haiti has necessitated interventions that have either been unprecedented or provide the
potential to lead the organization in new directions or challenge current ways of working.
Responding to Urban Disasters
1
The most recent example of this was in response to the conflict in the Swat Valley, Pakistan in 2009 where
the absence of support to host families was considered a significant aid failure.
iv
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Humanitarian organisations in Haiti have struggled to make their earthquake responses relevant to
the urban environment. While “camps” are often administratively more easy to support, the lack of
space and the infiltration of powerful gangs into the over-crowded urban environments has created
a significant challenge to agencies who are more used to working in peri-urban or rural
environments where more space is available and where they can have greater influence over the
camp environment. The lesson here may be to stretch humanitarian comfort zones and look at
methodologies to support smaller and more decentralised settlements that focus on the importance
of community, that benefit from strong links with local authorities and which have strong links with
the private sector to ease the process and sustainability of handing over services. In seeking to
address these issues directly the approach taken by Concern in Tabarre Issue has much to offer. In
working with both resettled and host communities, and in trying to plan the settlement less as a
regimented camp, Concern’s programme has taken a ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘community’ approach
which is considered as best practice by many in the cluster (see section 3.3).
Innovative Approaches to Addressing Vulnerability: The Baby Tent Programme
Haiti is the first humanitarian response where the concept of baby tents has been delivered to scale
and in a context where women had suffered significant trauma and where the use of infant formula
was often prioritised over breastfeeding practices, a space which offered privacy, care and
counselling and which could advocate for and educate women on breastfeeding (and where this
wasn’t taken up, could monitor the use of infant formula) provided potentially life-saving services in
addition to strengthening uptake of breastfeeding (see section 4.7).
A High Value Placed on an Independent Procurement Capacity
An important lesson has come from trialing the UNs Humanitarian Response Depot (HRD) which is
available for both pre-positioning of stock items but also for procurement (which is undertaken by
WFP). Experience from the earthquake response strongly suggests the need for Concern to retain an
independent procurement capacity as WFP quotes were found to be uncompetitive and lead times
were considered to be lengthy. While the initial reliance on air freight has a significant cost attached
to it, it did ensure that the programme could scale-up swiftly and ensured that minimum quality
standards for procured items were met (see section 5.3).
v
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
vi
Table of Contents
Executive Summary: Recommendations, Best Practice & Lessons Learned
ii
Table of Contents
Acronyms
vi
vii
1. Introduction
1.1 The Impact of the Earthquake on Life, Livelihoods & Vulnerability
1.2 The Humanitarian Response to the Earthquake
1.3 The Concern Response
1
1
2
3
2. The Scope of the Evaluation
2.1 The Scope of the Evaluation
2.2 Methodology
2.3 Limitations
4
4
4
5
3. Evaluation of the Haiti Programme
3.1 Timeliness
3.2 Coverage
3.3 Relevance
3.4 Connectedness
3.5 Accountability
3.6 Effectiveness
3.7 Evaluating Impact – Emerging Issues and Lessons Learned
5
5
7
9
11
12
13
17
4. Towards a Review of the Programme by Sector
4.1 Shelter
4.2 Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Promotion (WASH)
4.3 Camp Management
4.4 Cash for Work and Cash Transfer
4.5 Rural Livelihoods
4.6 Non-food Distribution
4.7 Baby Tents (PCNB)
4.8 Education
18
18
19
20
20
21
21
22
23
5. Evaluation of the Headquarters Response & Organisational Support Systems
5.1 HR Systems &Surge Capacity
5.2 Finance & Funding
5.3 Logistics
5.4 Learning & Knowledge Management
23
24
25
26
26
6. Conclusion
27
Annexes
Annex 1 Evaluation Participants
Annex 2 Terms of Reference for the Review
Annex 3 Methodology Matrix
29
30
33
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Acronyms
ACTED
ALNAP
CESVI
CFS
CFW
CMAM
CoC
DEC
DPC
DRR
ECHO
ERT
GDP
GoH
HAP
HCT
HRD
HR
HSP
HRD
IASC
IOM
MINUSTAH
NFI
NGO
OCHA
OFDA
P4
PCNB
PIN
PEER
RDU
RTE
UN
UNDP
Unicef
UNOPS
USAID
WASH
WFP
Agence d’Aide a la Cooperation Technique et au Developpement
Active Learning Network for Accountability & Performance in Humanitarian Action
Cooperazione e Sviluppo (Cooperation & Development)
Child Friendly Space
Cash For Work
Community Management of Acute Malnutrition
Red Cross/NGO Code of Conduct
Disasters Emergencies Committee
Civil Protection Department
Disaster Risk Reduction
European Community Humanitarian Office
Emergency Response Team
Gross Domestic Product
Government of Haiti
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership
Humanitarian Country Team
Humanitarian Response Depot
Human Resources
Humanitarian Support Personnel
Humanitarian Response Depot
Inter Agency Standing Committee
International Organisation for Migration
United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti
Non Food Items
Non-Governmental Organisation
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Office for Disaster Assistance
Programme Participant Protection Programme
Points de Conseil en nutrition pour bébés
People in Need
Preparing for Effective Emergency Response
Rapid Deployment Unit
Real Time Evaluation
United Nations
United Nations Development Programme
The UN Children’s Fund
United Nations Office for Project Services
United States Agency for International Development
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Promotion
World Food Programme
vii
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Andy Featherstone, October 2010
1. Introduction
1.1 The Impact of the Earthquake on Life, Livelihoods & Vulnerability
The earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12 2010 did so with devastating consequences; more
than 200,000 people were killed, 300,000 were injured and over a million were left homeless. With
its epicenter being only 10km below the surface and close to the cities of Port-au-Prince, Leogane
and Jacmel and measuring 7 on the Richter scale, damage to the built environment was both
extensive and immediate; public buildings and houses were either destroyed or damaged beyond
repair, roads were blocked and power lines collapsed. Phone lines and mobile masts collapsed
making communication impossible and both the port and airport were badly affected which crippled
trade and significantly hampered humanitarian response. At the peak of displacement it is estimated
that as many as 2.3 million people left their homes, relocating with friends and family in the city or
moving further afield to rural areas outside of the affected area placing a huge burden on families
hosting earthquake survivors.
Box 1: Map of the Epicentre of the Haiti Earthquake
2
The total damage has been estimated to have been in excess of the country’s total GDP for 2009.
23% of Haiti’s schools were damaged and 60% of its hospitals were severely damaged or destroyed,
including the Ministry of Health building which collapsed killing 200 staff. There was also a
considerable impact on farmer’s living in earthquake-affected area who lost an estimated 32% of
2
This is a derivative map. Original map sourced from CIA 2008 World Factbook (internet) available at
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html. Photo’s depict people carrying
relief items (Source: Concern, 2010) and latrines with painted hygiene messages in Place De La Paix Camp
(Source: Andy Featherstone, 2010)
1
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
their seed stock.3 Water supplies were badly affected with piped water being cut significantly
reducing the availability of drinking water. The earthquake compounded the extreme human
vulnerability which already existed in Haiti; almost three quarters of the population are known to
live on less than $2 a day4 and the country is ranked 149 out of 182 in the 2009 Human Development
Index.5
The cocktail of extreme vulnerability coupled with the huge loss of life and massive destruction
wrought on Haiti’s largest urban area and political and commercial hub effectively decapitated the
state and left hundreds of thousands of people traumatized and without the means necessary to
sustain life and livelihood. A report written by Concern’s Geneva-based Humanitarian Protection
Advisor highlights the significant vulnerability of people both prior to and after the earthquake
struck
“Prior to the earthquake there were already serious concerns regarding the rule of law in
Haiti with weak institutions and ongoing impunity. GBV was a serious concern, especially
domestic violence, and children were particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse
relating to the activity of criminal gangs, trafficking for sexual and other economic
exploitation, and domestic service. These pre-existing protection concerns have been
exacerbated by the crisis and additional protection issues have become priorities, including
security in and around IDP camps and access to assistance for vulnerable groups. Protection
mechanisms for victims of sexual violence were poor before the earthquake, now they are
practically non-existent.”
While exact figures are unknown, estimates suggest that there are still 1.3 million people displaced
across 1,300 camps and spontaneous settlements. It is in this highly challenging context that the
international humanitarian effort has sought to bring succour and assist people to literally rebuild
their lives.
1.2 The Humanitarian Response to the Earthquake
In the aftermath of the quake the immediate response was led by the Haitian population themselves
with initial search and rescue efforts characterized by families and community members desperately
searching for friends and family who were trapped by fallen buildings. In the initial hours of the
response, having sustained heavy human and material losses, the government could provide little
organized assistance although within a day the Civil Protection Department (DPC) became
operational. NGOs and UN agencies with an established presence in the country were all similarly
affected and were faced with the task of dealing with the trauma of loss at the same time as being
faced with a crisis of huge proportions. Despite this, search and rescue activities quite quickly
commenced, and with new agencies arriving to support search and rescue and provide humanitarian
relief, it has been estimated (by OCHA) that by the end of January there were already 400
operational organisations6
While numbers of agencies quickly mushroomed many consider it to be one of the most challenging
contexts within which to provide quality assistance. The significant poverty which existed in large
parts of the city and a fragmented social structure raised initial concerns of violence and insecurity
and while the response has been spared this to any significant degree it has been the complexities
associated with operating in a heavily built-up urban environment that have been most difficult to
3
Damage estimates taken from Inter Agency Standing Committee (2010) Response to the Humanitarian Crisis
in Haiti: Achievements, Challenges and Lessons to be Learned, IASC
4
World Bank (2009) ‘World development indicators.’ World Bank, Washington D.C.
5
United Nations Development Programme (2009) Human development report 2009: Haiti. UNDP, New York
6
The IASC RTE cites a number of 2,000 agencies at the height of the response while the DEC made a more
conservative estimate of 1,000
2
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
3
resolve. In such a context where many of those who lost their homes were renters and where many
of the open spaces that were subsequently occupied by displaced families are under private
ownership and with large parts of the city still covered with rubble from collapsed buildings, the
ability of the humanitarian community to identify sustainable solutions (or even workable shortterm compromises) has been extremely difficult.
Box 2: Humanitarian Facts & Figures (OCHA, 14 September 2010)
Information
Earthquake-affected population
Destroyed or partially destroyed
homes
Assessed buildings
Displaced people in settlement
sites
People migrating to West
Department
Spontaneous settlement sites
Camp management
Camp management & mitigation
Emergency Shelter
Transitional shelter construction
Flash appeal funding
Figures
Over 2 million people affected
188,383 houses
Source
Government of Haiti (GoH)
GoH
250,801 buildings
1.3 million people
Ministry of Public Works (UNOPS)
GoH
661,000 people (majority living
with host families
1,354
1,108 sites registered; 291450
households
226 sites have been assessed for
vulnerability to storms & flooding.
Mitigation work has started in 29
sites
97,000 tents & 681,490 tarpaulins
serving over 2.1 million people
13,073 transitional shelters
completed serving over 60,000
people; 117,811 T-shelters are
funded for construction
70% funded
GoH
DTM Analysis, 11 August
IOM, 05 September
IOM, 08 September
Shelter Cluster, 13 September
Shelter Cluster, 13 September
Financial Tracking Service, 06
September
1.3 The Concern Response
Concern has been present in Haiti since 1994, following Hurricane Gordon. Since that time it has
been implementing development programmes in health and HIV, education and livelihoods. It has 3
areas of operation; the island of La Gonave, the commune of Saut D’Eau in the Central Plateau, and
in five slum areas of Port-au-Prince. Before the earthquake concern employed 108 staff. In the
capital the organisation has been particularly active in the provision of community health
promotion, support to health centres providing care to children suffering from acute malnutrition,
and in supporting peace-building efforts aimed at overcoming the polarisation resulting from the
violence that rocked the country 5 years ago. In its work Concern partnered with a range of agencies
including government and local authorities, grassroots organisations and a number of community
peace committees.
Like other organizations with an established presence in Haiti the earthquake had a significant
human impact on the Concern team. Despite this, from mid-January a core team bolstered by
several senior staff members began to conduct a series of rapid, multi-sector assessments in some of
the most affected areas in Port-au-Prince. On the basis of these a humanitarian programme was
developed which has seen Concern providing assistance in its traditional sectors of operation and in
new areas where unmet needs have been too great to ignore. Sectors of intervention include
distribution of NFIs, camp management for 13 settlements, provision of water and sanitation
facilities, cash for work and cash transfers, nutrition interventions, temporary learning spaces and
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
4
child friendly spaces and livelihoods support. Concern has been one of the lead agencies in
providing transitional shelter for families/communities who wish to move out of the over-crowded
camps in Port-au-Prince.
As a result of the earthquake, Concern’s programme inputs expanded rapidly with the team having
increased to approximately 389 national staff and 40 international staff by September 2010 with an
estimated Euro 28 million funds raised to date.7 While many of the programmes are still in their
emergency phase and will continue to be for the duration of the rainy season, Concern is in the
process of preparing strategies for recovery and has already secured funding for livelihoods
interventions in both rural and urban areas of its operations. Concern has received its funding from a
variety of sources including USAID, European Union (ECHO), Disaster Emergencies Committee (DEC),
Irish Aid and from private donations. The humanitarian response is one of the biggest since Concern
was established in 1968 and is the largest since the response to the Great Lakes crisis in 1994.
2. The Scope of the Evaluation
2.1 The Scope of the Evaluation
The Evaluation commenced 8-months after the earthquake and follows an unprecedented
expansion of the programme and staff. The purpose of the exercise was to review the
appropriateness, timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness of both the interventions carried out and
operational support systems with an important focus being placed on documenting lessons learnt.8
2.2 Methodology
A methodology matrix was prepared prior to the evaluation and circulated to key staff members for
review. The matrix included a summary of the criteria, key questions to guide the evaluator and a list
of information sources. The matrix is reproduced in annex 3.
Box 3: Evaluation Criteria
Criterion
Effectiveness
Timeliness
Relevance
Connectedness
Accountability
Coverage (inc.
coordination)
7
Description
The extent to which the activities achieved their purpose or whether this can be
expected to happen on the basis of the outputs. Included in this criterion is costeffectiveness
The extent to which the programme was delivered according to its timetable and
the needs of beneficiaries
The extent to which the programme activities are in line with local needs and
priorities
The extent to which the emergency programme was able to build on existing work
and capacity and the extent to which it is being are carried out in a manner that
takes longer-term needs into account
Upwards & downwards accountability: provision of information, communication,
participation, reporting, decision-making
The overall size of the programme relative to needs taking into account other
agency programmes and gaps in coverage (and the quality of in-country and
international co-ordination and collaboration)
rd
A budget figure for this calendar year will be finalised with the submission of the 3 Budget Revision in lateSeptember 2010; a budget for next calendar year will follow 2-months later.
8
The full ToR is reproduced in Annex 2
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
The evaluation was conducted by a single consultant. The schedule for the evaluation was as
follows9;







Desk Study of project documents, reports, background documents;
Interviews in Dublin, Concern HQ;
Interviews of Concern staff and partners in Port-au-Prince;
Field trips to programme areas and community consultations;
Presentation of headline findings and debrief with Concern in Port-au-Prince;
Telephone interviews with departed staff and Concern US;
Presentation of headline findings and debrief with Concern in Dublin.
The evaluator was given access to considerable internal literature and communications which
included several evaluative reports and reviews;







Internal Review of the Cash Transfer and CFW Programmes, RM McIndoe, June 2010;
Report on Education in Haiti [in response to the earthquake], Linda Horgan, May 2010;
Emergency Nutrition Programme Report, Jennifer Martin, March 2010;
Protection Review Report, Laura Cometta, June 2010;
Haiti Wash-up Notes, Concern Headquarters, Dublin, June 2010;
Concern Worldwide US Contribution to Haiti Earthquake Relief, June 2010;
One-Month on - thoughts on the initial response to the January 12th earthquake, Feb 2010.
A comprehensive set of documents was also provided to the evaluator which included assessments,
project proposals, monitoring reports, trip reports, and handover notes. Given the extent of the
programme and the time limitations imposed on the evaluation this material has been drawn on
heavily to inform the overall findings contained within this report.
2.3 Limitations
The Concern programme in Haiti is extremely large and covers a range of sectors and the ToR for the
evaluation is also extensive. There were limitations in the ability of the evaluator, working alone, to
comprehensively cover all aspects of the programme in the 10-days field work. At this stage of the
response individual sectoral strategies remain under development and these were not routinely
shared with the evaluator; a broad strategy does exist (which was strengthened in May by the
articulation of a transitional country strategy) but it doesn’t provide details of outputs. While this is
justified by the early stage at which the evaluation took place it compromised the ability of the
evaluator to make judgments on the effectiveness of the response. However, broad conclusions
could be made from a mix of field observation, community discussions, staff interviews and a study
of donor reports.
3. Evaluation of the Haiti Programme
3.1 Timeliness
A Timely Response
From mid-January Concern conducted a series of rapid, multi-sector assessments in some of the
most affected areas in Port-au-Prince and a small number of early distributions were made to the
staff many of whom had lost family and friends in the earthquake in addition to losing material
possessions. An ERT WASH engineer and the Operations Manager of Concern US were amongst the
9
See annex 1 for a list of persons interviewed and locations visited
5
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
6
first to arrive in Port-au-Prince and both bought important knowledge and capacity to the team.
WASH equipment and some non-food items started to arrive soon after and initial WASH
commitments were made to camp populations living in St Martin and Martissant where Concern had
existing links with communities. Two days after the arrival of a shelter/distribution specialist, NFI
distributions commenced on 03 February and the emergency programme began to take shape.
While assessments took some time to complete and there was pressure placed on Concern to
respond as quickly as possible, the information which resulted was used to drive decision-making
about where to respond and how to provide assistance and as such was time well-spent.
Efforts were made to ensure that communities had access to basic services through the distribution
of a cluster-approved basket of NFIs between February and May. Rather than wait until all the arrival
of all the items incomplete distributions were carried out, justified on the basis of the significant
need that existed. Where there were gaps, they were filled by a second round of distributions. This
approach would appear to be well-justified given the urgency of meeting peoples’ basic needs.
Box 4: A Snap-shot of some of the Achievements of the First 3-months of the Programme




10
Hygiene items: 16,439 hygiene kits distributed and 15,769 rounds of replenishment soap distributed
Temporary shelter: 16,500 tarpaulins, 10,450 blankets, 10,450 mosquito nets, 11,000 buckets and
11,000 kitchen sets had been distributed
Water: By April 17 188,500 litres of water was being delivered to 53,000 people in Port-au-Prince;
Sanitation: 229 latrines had been deployed to camps under Concern’s supervision
Areas of Challenge
A key risk associated with multi-sector programming is being able to adequately resource key posts
and while in scaling up the team considerable efforts were made to ensure that the right people
arrived at the right time this has at times fallen short of what was required. The evaluation identified
staffing gaps in education, WASH and finance which caused delays. This was also noted in the Haiti
Wash-up.
“The organisation has lost many of the key competencies required for emergencies
(distribution management, watsan engineer) and this had an impact on the speed of the
emergency programming.”
There have also been delays caused by factors beyond the control of the organization such as for
customs clearance which has become increasingly labored and there have also been difficulties
experienced in getting trucks into Haiti from neighbouring Dominican Republic. This has impacted on
some activities such as the distributions; it is only now that distributions of DRR materials are
nearing completion at a time when the hurricane season is coming to a close.11 There have also been
critical delays as a result of a lack of government leadership or policy-making.
Beyond Relief: Supporting Livelihoods and Transitioning to Early Recovery
Concern was one of the first agencies to launch cash for work and cash distribution programmes
which were both extremely timely and provided people with a much-needed cash injection and also
made an important contribution to revitalising livelihoods activities. While discussions about
10
Figures sourced from the Concern publication, “Haiti: 6-months Later: your Concern at Work” and the DEC
Interim report, submitted on 31 May 2010.
11
The hurricane season ends in November.
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
embarking on an ambitious rural recovery programme started very soon after the earthquake, the
launch of the programme has taken longer due to internal capacity limitations and a protracted
negotiation process with the donor, ECHO. At the time of the evaluation, the Euro2.5m livelihoods
programme was just commencing. It will include CFW, repair of irrigation canals, provision of seeds
and tools and provision of fishing equipment for over 130,000 people.
3.2 Coverage
Crafting a Multi-Sector Response
Immediately following the earthquake spontaneous self-settled camps were formed by those made
homeless in the capital’s open spaces. In these places population numbers rose rapidly in sites that
lacked even the most basic water and sanitation facilities serving to create a situation where there
was a serious risk of the outbreak of disease. With very limited space to construct temporary
accommodation, the challenges of meeting needs in the city were many. The focus of Concern’s
activities in St. Martin and Martissant has been maintained throughout the response with the
strategy adopted being to increase the amount of support in new sectors as capacity and funds have
permitted.
By 19th January the PCN had been finalized and the broad ambition of the organisation was clear; to
contribute to an integrated response intended to meet the immediate needs of people affected by
the earthquake through the establishment of an integrated intervention targeting Shelter, NFI, camp
management, WASH, nutrition, livelihoods and emergency education. Estimates suggest that the
programme has provided humanitarian services to a total of 110,000 people to date and while this
has seen Concern’s capacity and resources stretched at times it has provided important support to
communities under their care.
Box 5: Providing Aid to Camp Populations – the Challenge of Chasing a Moving Target
One of the consequences of Concern’s decision in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake to take on camp
management and provision of services to camp populations is the requirement to meet needs of the camp
populations and the elastic nature of camp numbers has meant that numbers have increased since the initial
commitments were made. At the time the commitments were made, estimates of the total number of
residents in the camps where Concern had WASH responsibilities were approximately 50,000 people. Since
that time, the population of these camps may have increased to up to 90,000 people. The implications of this
on the quantity of water provided or the number of latrines is significant. Furthermore, the impact on budgets
of a 55% increase in beneficiary numbers is a concern given the current lack of long-term solutions for those
who were made homeless by the earthquake.
Of important note here has been the willingness of the team to take on complex or unpopular
sectors; camp management and transitional shelter are good examples of this and while some
organizations have tended to shy away from these and focus on core competencies the Concern
team has put their energies into meeting commitments in sectors that are outside of their in-country
comfort zone.
Given the extraordinary nature of the crises an extraordinary response was justified and while it
means that Concern has had to be creative about how it’s used its resources when the right staff
haven’t been available, the situation has warranted this. There are also other benefits to be had
from providing multi-sector assistance; in a country which has had bouts of insecurity the strategy
has been quite successful in establishing strong relationships between Concern and the communities
it works with.
7
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Beyond the City - Supporting Rural Relief and Recovery
As noted in the timeliness section above, Concern has built on its established presence in the
country to extend both relief and recovery activities to those living outside the immediate environs
of Port-au-Prince. Its operations in La Gonave and Saut D’eau have been backed up by a robust
analysis of the numbers of displaced and the impact this displacement has had on the local
infrastructure and economy. In the first 3-months, Concern provided cash, tents to meet emergency
shelter needs and NFIs to targeted beneficiaries in these areas.
Given the propensity for aid to be targeted at the most visible and most numerous claimants,12 the
targeting of rural areas by Concern is noteworthy. Not only does it have the potential to ensure that
those affected by the earthquake and subsequent displacement are supported but it potentially
goes some way to slowing the inevitable return to Port-au Prince which the limited services available
in the city would struggle to accommodate.
Placing a High Value on Coordination
Throughout the response Concern staff have shown a commitment to participating in humanitarian
leadership and coordination forums despite it having a significant time cost for senior staff,
particularly in the early days of the response when coordination was essential to ensure aid
priorities were identified and responded to.
While the Country Director is part of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), sector staff members
have also played prominent roles in clusters and sub-cluster groups. Interviews provided an astute
understanding of both the resource requirements that this placed on the organization13 but also the
opportunity this provided to influence the humanitarian response far beyond what Concern could
achieve through other means. While some members of the humanitarian community diminish the
value of coordination, it is the way of doing humanitarian business and in humanitarian responses
such as Haiti is essential for prioritizing the response and ensuring that efforts aren’t duplicated. The
team have also used the forum that the clusters offer for raising issues of concern to the wider
humanitarian community such as protection concerns, shelter design issues and forced evictions.
Interviews with Cluster Leads highlighted the value they placed on Concern’s participation as well as
the important contribution that staff have made to the work of the cluster.
The HCT and clusters also plays an important interlocutor role between those in need of assistance
and those with power which given the important need for government leadership on complex issues
such as land tenure and education policy provides an important foundation for partnership with key
government representatives. While government leadership in Haiti has been slow to materialize, a
commitment to working alongside relevant line ministries and mandated government officials is
important for the sustainability of the response and at a local level Concern’s coordination with the
authorities has strengthened relationships and provided a strong foundation for its work.
Beyond formal cluster coordination activities Concern has developed a network of partnerships with
key humanitarian allies which have facilitated close working relations. In instances where delays in
clearing items from customs have meant that humanitarian goods have not been available in
sufficient quantities for planned distributions, agencies have filled gaps in each other’s inventories
which has provided an important safety net. NGO members of the HCT have also sought to pool
their experience and heighten coordination through the creation of a dedicated coordination post to
help facilitate joint advocacy positions and to allow organizations to speak with a single voice on key
12
The most recent example of this was in response to the conflict in the Swat Valley, Pakistan in 2009 where
the absence of support to host families was considered a significant aid failure.
13
At the peak of the clusters, interviews suggest that there were as many as 85-meetings a week!
8
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
policy issues. Given the present impasse with the government on crucial issues such as land rights
and camp evictions, a means to facilitate the coordinated delivery of key policy messages is an
important initiative to support. An important recommendation of the recent DEC Haiti Desk Study
was for humanitarian agencies to support coordination mechanisms and to work together,
particularly in relation to advocacy. In maintaining a commitment to supporting coordination and in
using the opportunities this brings as an opportunity to influence humanitarian outcomes, Concern
is maximizing its likelihood of having positive impact in its earthquake response.
An ‘added value’ approach has been taken towards coordination with Concern’s Alliance 2015
partners. Regular coordination meetings have occurred throughout the post-earthquake period to
ensure that members are informed about each other’s work and also to discuss key strategic or
advocacy issues that affect the response and that different members can progress through the
different coordination and leadership forums they attend.
Box 6: Background to the Alliance 2015
Alliance 2015 is a strategic network of 7 European NGOs engaged in humanitarian and development activities.
Its goal is to combine efforts in fighting poverty in developing countries and to influence public (and political)
opinion in Europe. Its members include Welterhungerhilfe, Concern Worldwide, Hivos, People in Need (PiN),
Cooperazione e Sviluppo (CESVI) and Agence d’Aide a la Cooperation Technique et au Developpement (ACTED)
and IBIS. Seven countries have been selected as pilot countries in which the aid effectiveness principles of
more harmonization, alignment and division of labour will be applied. Haiti is one of the seven countries.
Beyond coordination, some of the Alliance members have established joint programmes;
Welthungerhilfe and PiN are working together on school reconstruction, CESVI and Welthungerhilfe
are working on WASH and Concern is implementing an Education project with a Teacher Trainer
seconded by IBIS. A partnership was established between Concern and PiN, with the latter deploying
a staff member to the former. While the deployment caused some confusion in the initial stages, it
ultimately bore important fruit as Concern’s Child Friendly Space (CFS) programme was borne out of
the partnership. The lesson here is that partnerships need clarity if they are to work effectively and
must be driven by a common understanding of need and mutual agreement on ways of working.
There were also efforts early on in the response to realize efficiencies through the establishment of a
joint logistics base in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The initial 3-month agreement was
extended once and was dissolved in August – albeit at relatively short notice. With the opening of
the port and the airport in Port-au Prince the added value of procurement from the Dominican
Republic was considered by Concern to have diminished. ACTED and Welthungerhilfe have
continued to fund the operation alone and are committed to retaining the facility until after the
hurricane season with an open invite for Alliance 2015 partners to re-join should there be a need.
As a relatively diverse group of agencies the Alliance 2015 partners have differing capacities and
priorities and the approach taken to respect and compliment each other’s competencies rather than
force collaboration on each other has been a wise one. Looking to the future, the Alliance has
committed to working more closely together in the recovery phase where priorities will likely be
more closely aligned and an assessment is planned to commence in the near future to help identify
livelihoods programming synergies.
3.3 Relevance
The Complexities of Targeting the Most Vulnerable
9
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Given Haiti’s position towards the bottom of the Human Development Index, accurately assessing
vulnerability has been a challenge for the humanitarian community. In the immediate aftermath of
the earthquake the general approach to providing basic relief items was to provide blanket
distributions to camp-dwellers. Outside of the capital Concern has used its experience to target its
work in La Gonave and Saut D’eau at those made most vulnerable by the earthquake. By not solely
focusing on displaced people alone but also seeking to support host families, Concern deserve some
measure of praise.
Targeting specific vulnerable groups from within the earthquake-affected caseload has been more
complex and a challenge that many organizations providing assistance have shied away from. It is
here that Concern have had some important successes. Vulnerability criteria has been successfully
adopted in a number of their programmes including the OFDA/UNDP-funded cash distribution
programme and the emergency shelter distribution in La Gonave and Saut D’eau. More recently the
transitional shelter programme has conducted a participatory process of identifying and targeting
the most vulnerable which has seen some of the groups who are often overlooked being prioritised
to receive T-shelters.
In a programme of such breadth it was impossible to identify specific groups whose needs have been
overlooked although secondary data suggests that such groups exist. In particular, efforts to meet
the needs of the elderly or disabled took some considerable time to gain momentum. However,
Concern has established some important safety nets in their programmes. Interviews suggested the
important role that staff attached to the baby tents programme provided in identifying and
monitoring pregnant mothers and infants through their outreach activities, and there certainly is the
potential for the Camp Liaison Officers to pay an important role in identifying those whose needs are
overlooked.
The Complexities of Working in Densely Populated Urban Environments
Humanitarian organisations in Haiti have needed to make a significant effort to make the response
relevant to the urban environment. While “camps” are often administratively more easy to support,
the lack of space and the infiltration of powerful gangs into the over-crowded urban environments
has created a significant challenge to agencies who are more experienced in working in peri-urban or
rural environments where there is more space and where they can have greater influence over the
camp environment.
The lesson here may be to stretch humanitarian comfort zones and look at methodologies to
support smaller and more decentralised settlements that focus on the importance of community,
that benefit from strong links with local authorities (as opposed to central government) and which
has strong links with private sector to ease the process of handing over service.
While Concern has contributed to broader problem-solving about appropriate means to provide aid
through its participation in the clusters, durable solutions have been hard for the humanitarian
community to find. In supporting rural recovery and seeking to balance the aid ‘pull’ factors Concern
has acted responsibly. Its approach to working with both host and displaced communities in Tabarre
Issa camp is another example of an appropriate strategy used by Concern to reduce negative
sentiment about the displaced and to foster the development of communities.
Achieving Minimum Standards
Concern has taken a responsible approach to establishing standards, monitoring its compliance and
reporting against its achievements. The team has a strong awareness of the SPHERE minimum
standards which are extensively referred throughout proposals and reports. The nature of the urban
10
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
environment with very limited open space and high population densities has seen the humanitarian
community having to contextualize key indicators for some of the more basic minimum standards.
Particularly problematic have been achieving minimum standards for the provision of water,
sanitation and hygiene promotion and while Haiti has not witnessed any significant diarrheal
disease, actual quantities of water provided and number of latrines per head of population have
been comparatively low even against the modified targets established by the cluster (Concern’s
mean per capita water supply at end-June has been 4.7l/p/d against a WASH cluster indicator of
10l/p/d, the mean latrine user ratio was 1:265 against a cluster indicator of 1:50 and the total
number of showers was 172, a deficit of 1,62814). While these figures suggest there is a need to
make progress in meeting its WASH responsibilities, Concern now has a plan in place to guide it
towards compliance and it will be important that sufficient resources are made available to achieve
success in this.
3.4 Connectedness
Concern’s established presence in the country and the strong links it has with communities has been
seen as an important opportunity by the team. The extension of both relief services and livelihoods
work into rural areas is a key strength of the programme and has served both to provide muchneeded assistance and further cement Concern’s relationship with project participants. The fact that
the organisation is also working in sectors it has established a competence in means that
interventions in these areas often benefits from strong analysis; the knowledge that Concern has
developed in education provides the organization with a strong foundation for its emergency
education programme; the peace-building work in Port-au-Prince has offered important knowledge
and resources to Concern’s work in the camps; and its history of work in La Gonave and Saut D’eau
and strong links it has with communities and local authorities has permitted the provision of welltargeted assistance.
In addition to benefitting the programme the rapid scale-up in the humanitarian programme has
bought some challenges. The perceived prioritization of Concern’s humanitarian work over existing
development programmes was initially a divisive issue within the team and while the team have
worked hard to maintain a level of support to their existing programme, support to it was
understandably diluted in the initial weeks after the earthquake.
It’s important to note that steps have been taken to bring staff together and to ensure information is
available to a broad section of the team; from relatively early on in the response there has been a
schedule of meetings in Port-Au-Prince to strengthen coordination, to broaden knowledge of the
programme and to allow issues of concern to be raised. These measures have played an important
part in bringing the staff together and in strengthening the team. One of the strategies adopted to
promote a greater sense of shared priorities has been a 3-day strategy meeting held in May which
provided an important moment of reflection in addition to bringing the team together. While some
consider the strategy which resulted was a ‘modest’ achievement, it did represent an important
effort to promote greater ownership and it also articulates a vision of where the programme is going
(albeit in broad brush strokes).
Interviews with national and international staff indicated a growing unity of purpose. With the
delayed rural livelihoods programme15 beginning to start which will link more closely Concern’s
longer-term programme goals and will build on the work already undertaken, there is a strong
14
th
rd
Rapid field status and gap assessment 29 June – 23 July, Concern
an initial lack of capacity in the Concern team delayed the final articulation of the proposal until May and
then delays and protracted budget discussions with ECHO meant that the contract was only signed in July (see
section 4.5)
15
11
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
commitment within the team to ensuring that in addition to recognizing the value of the
development programme, Concern’s relief and recovery seeks to contribute more directly to its
goals.
3.5 Accountability
A review of Concern’s donor proposals suggest that accountability to project participants is a part of
the organisations language; many of its proposals and reports speak to ambitions to work
transparently with those in need of assistance and to establish complaints mechanisms.16 Resource
constraints and pressure of work has seen these ambitions taking longer to fully translate into
practice as the June trip report of the Concern Protection Officer suggests.
“Key accountability principles such as community information, community consultation and
participation, and complaints handling are still weak in our programme. It is time to make up
for this by reviewing some practices (beneficiaries’ selection, distribution procedures) and the
way we work through camp committees, working towards improved transparency and
information sharing, monitoring systematically the work done focusing on the quality of our
work. Speed is certainly paramount in emergencies, especially in the first phase, but it should
not come at the expense of accountability to beneficiaries.”
However, as the capacity of the team has increased there has been a greater focus placed on
strengthening accountability to project participants and there have been some examples of good
practice in Concern’s response which has helped meet accountability commitments and which are
elaborated below.17 The recruitment of an accountability post into the camp management team
signifies an important statement of intent and will provide the necessary capacity to continue to
strengthen practice in this area.
Provision of Information
An important part of Concern’s commitment to ensuring the provision of information and
participation of people displaced by the earthquake is their network of nationally-recruited Camp
Liaison Officers who act as their eyes, ears and voice in the camps and who are responsible for
overseeing camp coordination responsibilities and whose role includes providing information to and
eliciting feedback from residents. While there was some confusion about roles and responsibilities
in the early days and weeks of the response this has now been addressed and with Concern’s camp
management team also now strengthened, the Camp Liaison Officers now receive far better
support.
Provision of information remains a big task, particularly given the congestion in the camps and other
complicating factors. In 2 of the camps visited there appeared to be active mis-information being
pedaled from within the camp population about the work of particular organizations. This is not
necessarily surprising given the complex environment and the influence of powerful gangs who have
infiltrated into some of the camps and it will be important for Concern to continue active
dissemination of information about entitlements to counteract the impact of inaccurate messages.
Participation in Programme Delivery and Design
It’s difficult to generalize about participation across the programme as it has been mixed. The early
response understandably prioritized provision of relief over participation with a focus on establishing
access to basic services and blanket distributions of relief goods. With time participatory
methodologies have been woven into many of the programmes with the result that the relevance of
some of Concern’s key interventions has increased. Areas of good practice include the work of the
16
17
This was written into the DEC proposal, submitted on February 28 2010
Concern received HAP certification in June 2010
12
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
WASH hygiene promotion team which has potential reach into community. The Camp Liaison
officers deployed by Concern to each of the camps have a similar opportunity to foster participation
of camp-dwellers in decision-making although this is complicated by the role of camp committees
who play the dominant role in making decisions on behalf of the camp residents. At the time of the
evaluation, Concern-sponsored DRR teams were visiting the camps and working with communities
to identify hazards and to help mobilize camp populations to address them.
This progression in practice shows an important understanding of the importance of participation in
programme design and delivery and certainly provides an opportunity for Concern staff to listen to
and act on the views of those participating in their programmes.
Accountability to Earthquake-affected People
One challenge which Concern has been working with others in the humanitarian community to
resolve has been to build representative accountability structures in the camps, many of which are
dominated by powerful groups who often act in their own interests rather than in the interests of
those living in the camps.
This has been identified as a particular weakness in the humanitarian response by the Humanitarian
Accountability Partnership (HAP) and during the evaluation Concern’s Camp Liaison Officers
underlined the importance of making progress in this given the potential impact it could have on
escalating tensions and increasing conflict. The camp management team has come up with tentative
plans to decentralize the responsibilities of camp committees and is also trialing an independent
complaints mechanism in Tabarre Issa camp which may go some way to addressing this but it is
important that thinking is progressed and efforts are made to act quickly.
It is important to emphasize that this is a shared problem and one that requires a solution from the
humanitarian community and given their participation in the clusters, Concern are well-placed to
contribute to broader problem-solving.
Donor Accountability
A review of the proposals and the early reports which have been submitted show that these are of a
consistently high standard and have been well-written. Interviews with one of Concern’s key donors,
ECHO showed the high regard in which Concern is held in Haiti and interviews with other external
stakeholders echoed this praise.
“I have a very good relationship with Concern. They have a good analysis of the situation and
their work is of a high quality. They are a mature partner. But they are ambitious!”
To date the team has a good track record of reporting on its achievements and in providing timely
financial data. There have been no recorded incidents of fraud and systems are considered to be
providing the necessary levels of control in key areas such as financial management and
procurement and supply.
The rapid scale-up of the team and the initial fluidity in the situation of those displaced by the
earthquake meant that a degree of flexibility was written into the early proposals and while there
was clarity about geographic areas and sectors less detail was provided concerning outputs. While
the team is making strenuous efforts to support contract management this remains an area of risk
given the number of proposals and the heavy reporting burden and it will be important to ensure
that the team has sufficient capacity to fulfill its reporting requirements.
3.6 Effectiveness
13
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Concern has been successful in scaling-up the programme to a size and scale where it is delivering a
range of services to a significant number of earthquake-affected people in both rural and urban
areas. While generating accurate data is still a work in progress, the most recent estimates of
beneficiary numbers suggest that over 110,000 people were reached in the first 6-months of the
programme many of whom benefitted from several Concern interventions. While Sphere standards
have been a challenge to meet, continuing engagement at cluster level and a commitment to
strengthening programme accountability has ensured that the team has taken a responsible
approach to providing the basic needs of earthquake-affected people.
In scaling up the team considerable efforts were made to ensure that the right people arrived at the
right time and while this has at times fallen short of what was needed and gaps in important sectors
of the response (WASH & Education) and in essential areas of programme support (finance) have at
times have significantly added to risk but the diligence and tenacity of the team have ensured that
services have been provided throughout and that commitments have been met.
The readiness of the organization to take on complex sectors like shelter and camp management, to
balance its urban response with support to rural areas, and to embark on innovative programmes,
such as the baby tents programme is commendable. While the WASH assessment18 identifies some
gaps in service provision that need to be met and a strategy is now in place to address these and is
being implemented by the team. A focus on fewer sectors would certainly have made it easier for
Concern to meet programme objectives but the cost would have been borne by those in need of
assistance. There is a dearth of response capacity across a number of the sectors and so the focus
within Concern is now on sectoral planning to ensure adequate delivery capacity.
There is no doubt that the team has taken risks in scaling up the programme to such an extent but
these have been consistently well-managed and the effectiveness of the programme is testament to
the motivation and capacity of the team. Interviews across the Headquarters, UK, US and Haiti team
members highlighted the strength of organizational desire to respond proportionately and in a way
that reflects Concern’s solidarity with those affected by the earthquake. In delivering a programme
of such size which is providing a significant breadth of services, the team have achieved considerable
success.
Cross-Cutting Issues
While in the early days of the response, the team’s energy was wholly-focused on the provision of
timely assistance to scale, efforts have been made to incorporate a menu of cross-cutting issues as
time and resources have permitted. The baby tent programme was targeted solely at vulnerable
women and has gone some way to providing an important safety net. The livelihoods programme in
Saut D’eau and la Gonave has benefitted from a comprehensive targeting criteria which placed
women-headed households at the top of the list as did the cash distribution programme. The WASH
programme sought to ensure that women were provided with separate toilets and bathing areas
despite a lack of space in the camps.
Protection has been an area that Concern has focused attention on albeit with greater momentum
having been achieved since the deployment of the Dublin-based Protection Officer whose
recommendations have provided important guidance.
“The protection risks for displaced people living in camps and spontaneous settlements in
Haiti are significant. The causes are overcrowding, lack of space, living near strangers, scarcity
or lack of light, lack of security especially at night, and general living conditions that lead to
18
th
rd
Rapid Field Status and Gap Assessment 29 June to 23 July as outlined in the document ‘Concept for
Concern Haiti Emergency WASH Interim Work-plan July – December 2010’
14
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
increased frustration and increase in violence. Much has been achieved by Concern since the
12th of January in several locations despite the chronic understaffing and the challenging
19
operating environment.”
After consultation with camp committees and residents, many of the camps under Concern’s
management have been fitted with solar lights to reduce the risk of violence. A Protection Officer
has also been recruited as part of the ECHO-funded urban project whose team works with camp
populations to identify protection issues, mitigate risk and provide messages about how to contact
responsible authorities if help is required. A swifter deployment of a protection advisor to the
programme has been an important lesson of the response.
Historically, Concern Haiti had a sound record of implementing the Programme Participant
Protection Policy (P4) in the programme with training of staff and partners and the establishment of
an internal complaints mechanism for staff. With the massive expansion of the team and the
departure of some of those most knowledgeable staff, the implementation of the P4 initially lost
pace. In recent months, however, a round of workshops have taken place which has seen knowledge
and a level of understanding cascaded across much of the team and there is a commitment to
ensure that new staff receive training as they arrive in the programme.
Peace building was an important component of the Concern programme prior to the earthquake and
given the potential for assistance provided to exacerbate conflict and given the influence that gangs
and power-holders have over assistance through their participation in camp committees, the role
the peace building team can play in both a practical and advisory capacity is an important one. That
it took some time for the team to become fully integrated in the programme is disappointing but
their role has increased in recent months and will likely become ever more central to the
programme in the future.
Efforts have been made across much of the programme to integrate DRR into Concern’s work,
particularly in recent months. DRR teams have been deployed to many of the camps and are
engaged in hazard-mapping with the camp communities and have conducted risk assessments.
There is also a DRR distribution ongoing which is providing people with sealable boxes to store
important documents during the hurricane season and additional tarpaulins and rope to strengthen
shelters. DRR is also being incorporated across other programmes; the design for transitional
shelters incorporates important risk reduction measures and is considered by the cluster to
demonstrate best practice. The WASH team has also embarked on a programme to retro-fit drainage
channels in some of the camps at greatest risk of flooding. While this has also suffered from delays
which has seen some of the camps flooded in recent weeks, it’s an essential area of work and
Concern’s commitment to it is important.
It is more difficult to identify how vulnerability as a result of HIV/Aids has been addressed through
the programme although it was included in the targeting of some of the interventions.
Cost-effectiveness
Given the limited data made available to the evaluator, an assessment of the efficiency criterion is
beyond the reach of this exercise, however important progress is being made in seeking to increase
cost-effectiveness. Discussions about programme efficiencies have been rolled into the budget
revision process and will also inform next year’s budget.
Areas where savings can be made have been identified across the staffing budget line, particularly
for international staff, where costs have been estimated to be between $7,000 - $17,000 per-person
19
Haiti Field Vision Report, 20 May – 02 June, Laura Cometta, Humanitarian Protection Advisor
15
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
per-month. Given the large number of international staff (currently 40), a reduction in this number
will provide considerable savings. A second area that is under scrutiny is the transport budget; with
cars costing up to $160 a day to hire, efficiencies can be achieved by sharing cars between teams
which will be possible if planning is strengthened. Important here is that savings are sought only
once the team is sufficiently stable to plan effectively. To start reducing staffing or to introduce carsharing at too early a stage risks compromising the momentum which has been built up over the last
weeks and which remains fragile.
The biggest cost to the programme during its early months was procurement. An analysis
undertaken by the logistics team of the cost of one of the early air freights show the considerable
cost of using this means of transport; on one occasion £120,000 of plastic sheeting and relief items
cost £380,00020 to air freight to Port-au-Prince. While in the days and weeks after the earthquake
airfreight was the quickest (and often the only) means of obtaining urgently-needed relief items the
high cost underlines the importance of looking for ways to achieve greater efficiencies whether
through the use of local tenders or by purchasing items in the local market wherever possible.
However in a country that has suffered 99% deforestation there will always be a need to procure
items from the international market particularly for the temporary shelter programme which
requires considerable quantities of timber and building materials in quantities impossible to find in
the local market.
Programme teams are also exploring potential cost savings with significant work having gone into
analyzing the WASH budget and expenditure. Specifically, the move from tankering water treated by
reverse osmosis to chlorinated water has reduced costs of up to $22 per m3 per day. For a
programme providing water to such a large population this represents a significant saving.
The team has sought to foster greater ownership of budgets by providing monitoring information to
sectoral teams and by requesting sector managers to sign off on purchase orders as a first step to
delegating responsibility for budget management. Given the humanitarian programme is still
relatively young and that the majority of the team members are still settling into their roles the
commitment to increasing efficiencies and scrutinizing costs is an impressive one.
Monitoring & Evaluation
This has been an area of challenge for the team and as a general comment, monitoring systems have
developed as greater time and resources have been available. At a sector level there is generally
good information about the number of beneficiaries who have been targeted by each response and
a good indication of the entitlements they have received. However consolidating this data into a
single database which can be used to write reports and provide a comprehensive measure of
Concern’s achievements has been more difficult to achieve and remains a work in progress. The
evaluation used data which had been collected up until end-June 2010.
The organization has taken a responsible approach towards review of their work and the HQ-based
advisory staff have played an important role in providing snap-shots of progress and in providing
real-time support to programmes. The trip reports and reviews which were submitted to the
evaluator were excellent and provide extremely sound feedback on both the successes and
challenges of the programme. Discussions with the Haiti team revealed the importance attached to
this support and there are numerous examples of programme practice being modified as a result of
input. Where there have been gaps identified in evaluative data, then efforts have been made to fill
these – a good example of this are the ongoing efforts to finalise post-distribution monitoring for the
NFI distributions.
20
This is an estimate provided by the Haiti Logistics team and is for guidance purposes only
16
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
There is also an organizational desire to learn from new or innovative work. The Haiti response has
seen Concern work outside their areas of distinctive organizational competence (e.g. emergency
education) and has seen new programmatic responses trialed (e.g. the baby tents programme) and
there has been an important emphasis placed on learning from these with a view to expanding
knowledge and strengthening practice.
3.7 Evaluating Impact - Emerging Issues and Lessons Learned
While 8-months into a lengthy relief and recovery programme is an early stage to identify impact
there are certainly some consequences of aid programmes, both intended and unintended that are
beginning to emerge. While the scale of the response makes attribution extremely difficult, it will be
important for agencies to plan their programmes with these issues in mind in the future.
The Impact of Relief Assistance
Some positive impacts of the response by the humanitarian community to the earthquake have
already emerged; the fact that there wasn’t a significant secondary public health disease outbreak
and that the country’s diarrheal disease rate after the earthquake has remained similar to that of
before the earthquake suggests that health provision has been adequate. Similar trends are
emerging for rates of malnutrition, a sector which Concern has played an important role in both preand post-earthquake. Early data from cash distributions suggests that while some beneficiaries used
the money to meet immediate needs, a significant proportion have managed to sustain their
livelihood activities beyond the programme period. Not so positive has been the focus of much of
the aid on Port-au-Prince and while Concern is one of the few agencies who have supported
communities in both urban and rural areas, this has been the exception rather than the norm and
there continues to be a significant risk of an aid ‘pull’ factor which will exacerbate problems of overcrowding.
The Contribution that Aid has made to Security
The provision of aid to people throughout the earthquake-affected areas has made an important
contribution to meeting many people’s basic needs and has gone far in making up for the services
that the earthquake destroyed. While the history of violence in Haiti led to many people fearing that
the instability in the country tied to the desperate level of need may lead to an upsurge of violence
which could disrupt aid operations, the reality has been that the country has remained relatively
peaceful. Whether this has occurred because services have met people’s basic needs or if it is
related to the fact that negative elements within Haitian society are also benefitting either directly
or indirectly by the aid benefit is an issue that will be important for humanitarian agencies to
understand.
The Implications Offering Free Service Provision
The provision of free services in health, water and education and the provision of free transitional
shelter has been necessary to ensure people have had access to basic services. However this choice
will have medium-term consequences for the sustainability of aid operations and may also have a
lasting impact on the future of service provision in the country. In the medium-term, agencies are
grappling with the dilemma that they risk creating unsustainable settlements where free provision of
utilities and maintenance to the built environment can last only as long as the relief and
development community are present which will complicate the transition from relief to recovery.
Looking longer-term, the necessity of providing free services in the emergency phase has had a
negative effect on private providers of these services. The fact that nearly all basic services are
privately run in Haiti has created extreme inequality but it is also part of the economic fabric of the
country and the undermining of these practices by humanitarian service provision will certainly have
implications for the future. Anecdotal evidence suggests that several private hospitals and schools
may have gone bankrupt since the earthquake.
17
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
18
The relatively early stage in the earthquake response means that the humanitarian community still
has time to reflect on the impact and influence that it’s having on people’s lives and Haitian society
more broadly and re-calibrate its assistance if necessary. The evaluation has highlighted the mature
approach that Concern has taken towards ensuring its assistance is relevant and its engagement in
strategic humanitarian forums means that it will be well-positioned to influence these decisions in
the future.
4. Towards a Review of the Programmes by Sector
Estimates for the reach of the programme by the end of June suggest that Concern’s programme
had reached almost 110,000 people which is a significant achievement. While there are a number of
sector-specific evaluations ongoing this section will seek to provide an overview of the outputs and
achievements of Concern’s work.
Box 7: Estimated Numbers of Beneficiaries by Sector (end-June 2010)
Activity
Reached
Camp Management Beneficiaries
58,093
WASH Beneficiaries
58,380
Shelter/NFI Beneficiaries
95,753
Supplementary food Beneficiaries
9,678
Nutrition Beneficiaries
6,174
Child Friendly Space Beneficiaries
1,200
Cash for work Beneficiaries
58,190
Cash Transfer Beneficiaries
37140
Education Beneficiaries
1,000
Estimated total Beneficiaries reached
109,087
4.1 Shelter
Concern’s provision of emergency and transitional shelter has been a considerable strength of the
programme. Early tarpaulin distributions in Port-au-Prince were timely and Concern was amongst
the first to focus on meeting needs outside of the city, providing a targeted distribution of tents to
communities in Saut D’eau and La Gonave which is commendable. While blanket distributions were
conducted in the capital, in working with the authorities to determine beneficiaries in the rural areas
Concern’s approach to coverage enabled a far greater opportunity to target the most vulnerable.
The commitment to construct and service Tabarre Issa camp has been approached responsibly and
has been effective. While it certainly stretched the capacity of the team at a time when it was lacking
in resources, the design and construction of the camp has been very successful and the camp
residents are certainly benefitting from the significant efforts that went into re-designing the
drainage and incorporating safety features such as fire breaks. The partnership with MINUSTAH,
which took on responsibility for constructing the camp, was managed effectively and the outcome
provides a blue-print for similar transitional settlements.
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
The roll-out of the T-shelter programme has been considered by many (including the shelter cluster
coordinator) to be exemplary. While it took some time to conduct the baseline survey, to assess
needs and to procure the materials (a process which started in May and was completed in
September), the programme has been well-received by those it has targeted and in seeking to
support both host and displaced populations with an approach that seeks to build a ‘neighbourhood’
rather than a regimented camp, Tabarre Issa provides a model for other agencies providing T-shelter
to aspire to.
The design used for the construction of the T-shelter components (timber frame, walls, and fixings)
has taken account of the needs for earthquake proofing and hurricane-proofing and the approach
towards construction has been well-thought through.
4.2 Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Promotion (WASH)
The WASH programme benefitted from the timely deployment an ERT member who remained in the
programme for a considerable length of time and bought valuable Concern and WASH experience
with him. Initial commitments made to support WASH activities were ambitious, with 18 settlements
(including 10-camps) targeted with a population of 50,000 people and as a result of the timely
procurement and transport of WASH equipment, Concern was amongst the first agencies to provide
WASH services in the spontaneous camps.
While lack of space and the rapid onset of the crisis meant that in the first months only a minimum
standard of services could be provided, these did meet people’s most basic needs and doubtless
made an important contribution to ensuring there wasn’t a secondary public health disease
outbreak after the earthquake. The challenges of responding to the urban nature of the disaster
have exposed many areas for learning in the organization and sector as a whole and there has been
an ongoing debate between donor agencies and humanitarian organizations about the constraints to
achieving Sphere minimum standards in a context where there is a critical lack of space. Concern has
taken both a pragmatic and (in the view of the evaluator) a responsible approach to meeting basic
needs and seeking to increase water availability as resources and capacity has permitted.
While there was a critical gap in capacity for much of June, during which time the programme lost
momentum, this has now been addressed and the size of the team now numbers 20-staff (including
3 international albeit one of these short-term). Efforts are now focused on increasing service
provision across all areas of Concern’s work and in support of this an excellent assessment of
strengths and weaknesses was undertaken between June and July which has laid strong foundations
for a strategy to address gaps.
The WASH programme is currently meeting the water needs of an estimated 90,000 people;
providing sanitation services to a similar population and seeking to provide hygiene education
through the work of a mobile team. The team has a large environmental sanitation programme
providing solid waste collection and disposal services. With the onset of the hurricane season
priority was given to ensuring adequate drainage in the camps under Concern’s management (with
the focus of attention being placed on 6 of the more problematic sites). While this has been a
difficult task it is an essential one and it will be important that efforts continue to support it.
Reports show that the programme now benefits from excellent monitoring information and the
team has a solid understanding of what needs to be achieved in the months ahead.
4.3 Camp Management21
21
Issues of accountability and cross-cutting issues of camps accountability are dealt with more fully earlier in
the report.
19
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Once the extent of the displacement had became clear and spontaneous camps started to appear in
vacant spaces on private land and public buildings there was an urgent need for agencies to take on
camp management roles. Concern responded well to these requests and the commitments it made
were both timely and covered a large number of camps. The management burden was initially
shouldered by dipping into Concern’s existing pool of Peace Building Facilitators which provided a
very relevant cadre of Camp Liaison Officers who were deployed throughout the camps. While this
team suffered from an initial lack of leadership and limitations in their understanding about what
the role required of them, the deployment of a staff member from Pakistan with significant camp
management experience provided an important foundation for the work of the team.
Protection was flagged as a weakness early on in the response but from June greater efforts have
been made to more systematically address protection issues. The more recent establishment of a 3person team (including an accountability post) has meant that Concern’s work in camp management
has been considerably strengthened and is able to deal far more proactively with the accountability,
protection and coordination challenges which occur daily.
It is important to note that the services that Concern is providing are extremely valuable particularly
since camp management remains a sector that is under-resourced within the broader humanitarian
response. It is also worthy of mention the complexity of the task that faces agencies tasked with
camp management responsibilities; the history of violence across Haitian society and the pressures
of over-crowding due to the lack of space make it extremely difficult to provide effective
management, but Concern is now well-resourced to deliver these services effectively and is held in
high regard by senior members of the cluster.
4.4 Cash for Work & Cash Transfer (CFW)
The Cash Transfer and CFW programmes commenced in February were funded jointly by UNDP and
OFDA and targeted at vulnerable people in La Gonave, Saut D’eau, Martissant and St. Martin. While
the programme initially targeted manual work such as rubble collection and canal cleaning it also
targeted women and vulnerable members to who lighter tasks were offered such as bin-cleaning22.
The targeting of project participants benefitted from Concern’s pre-existing network of peace
building committees and organizations and provided a degree of connectedness with Concern’s
longer-term programme activities.
The programme has provided a plethora of lessons which, given the early stage at which the
programme commenced have been of significant relevance to other agencies interested in
embarking on CFW programmes. The foundation of the programme within communities and the
participation of peace agents to support distributions were regarded as highly relevant, particularly
given concerns about the risk of violence. Programme monitoring data has highlighted some
important achievements including a significant number of the beneficiaries (estimated to be
approximately 20%) who used the cash to establish businesses which is encouraging. While there
were reports of harassment, the fact that violence was avoided is testament to the benefits of
community involvement in the targeting and delivery of the programme.
In providing a timely cash injection the programme doubtless provided important resources at the
time they were most needed and the targeting of both urban and rural communities suggests that a
mature approach was taken towards coverage.
The Cash Transfer programme focused its efforts on supporting women’s economic empowerment
and sought to target 7,500 beneficiaries through a one-off grant of $105. The problem which the
22
Overall 6% of the project participants were considered to be ‘vulnerable’ and were provided with tasks that
were considered relevant for them rather than engage in manual activities.
20
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
programme sought to address was the loss of credit since the earthquake and its impact on stock
levels. Similar to the CFW programme, both rural and urban communities were targeted and a
criteria was applied which saw displaced women and those who had been significantly affected by
the earthquake prioritized. Where necessary, this group was provided with business skills training.
Monitoring of the programme revealed a significant proportion of the beneficiaries carried stock
through to the end of the intervention which suggests income generating activities had been
successful, with the majority of women having used the money to set up petty trading and street
restaurants. An unanticipated impact of the programme was that some women did report an
increase in harassment as a result of the cash grant which some felt was heightened as a result of
the programme being targeted solely at women. This aside, there has been widespread praise for
the timeliness of the programme and monitoring results suggest the programme was effective in
supporting women’s economic activities, with the impact of the grant lasting beyond the lifespan of
the programme for the majority of those who participated.
4.5 Rural Livelihoods
While there have been livelihoods components to several of Concern’s programmes the main thrust
of their support is through an ECHO-funded rural intervention aimed at providing a basket of
livelihoods support to targeted displaced populations and host communities in Saut D’eau and La
Gonave. While the concept was first discussed with ECHO soon after the earthquake, an initial lack
of capacity in the Concern team delayed the final articulation of the proposal until May and then
delays and protracted budget discussions with ECHO meant that the contract was only signed in July.
While some of the preparations have already been completed, programme delivery has only just
begun.
Given the importance attached to providing support to people displaced to the rural areas to
combat aid ‘pull’ factors which are drawing them back into Port-au-Prince, the delays in
commencing the programme have been unfortunate, but given the relatively limited assistance that
has been provided to areas outside the city to date the project remains highly relevant and with
funds now secured and with a Concern team established to deliver and oversee the work it will be
important that swift progress is made.
4.6 Non-food Distribution
The sensible decision taken by Concern at an early stage in the response to centralize the
management of distributions permitted a competence to be developed in this sector over time. The
first distributions began in early February and the initial focus was on provision of a shelter-cluster
endorsed basket of goods. While a strong-military presence was the only way to distribute items to
desperate Haitians in the first days, the methodology has since been adapted such that a reduced
MINUSTAH presence is now required and while some agencies have been quicker to distance
themselves from the military, the majority consider it a necessity. While the first round of
distributions were incomplete considerable efforts have been made to ensure that those targeted
have since received their full entitlement through a second cycle of distributions and although this
was less timely (May – August), the process was much improved and it ensured that commitments
were honoured.
The challenges presented by distributing in such a potentially volatile environment are numerous;
camps often exist side-by-side making distribution to a single camp complex, some camps can be
extremely hostile, and external factors such as the lengthy customs clearance process can cause
delays requiring changes of plan. However Concern has managed to successfully navigate around
many of these problems and the team has worked hard to ensure that distributions have run as
21
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
smoothly as possible. The lack of post-distribution monitoring data23 means that it is difficult to
generalize about the relevance and overall effectiveness of the distributions but interviews with
camp residents suggest a level of satisfaction with the items distributed which have made an
important contribution to meeting some of the most pressing basic needs.
4.7 Baby Tents (PCNB)
The PCNB programme seeks to decrease malnutrition in children particularly those less than one
year through the creation of safe places for breastfeeding within the camps (baby tents) where
education and psychosocial support was available and from where children could be screened and
malnourished children could be referred to the facilities established for Community Management of
Acute Malnutrition (CMAM). The rationale for establishing the facilities was sound; that in a context
where women had suffered significant trauma and where the use of formula was often prioritised
over breastfeeding practices, a space which offered privacy, care and counselling and which could
advocate for and educate women on breastfeeding (and where this wasn’t taken up, could monitor
the use of infant formula) could provide potentially life-saving services in addition to strengthening
uptake of breastfeeding.
Because Haiti is the first humanitarian response where the concept of baby tents has been delivered
to scale, there was an important focus on learning-while-doing with important coordination
occurring at cluster level. With different organisations having established baby tents, different
practices were adopted, but importantly basic guidelines were agreed at cluster level and standard
tools were developed in the early months of the response (February and March). In total, 16 baby
tents have been established with decision-making based on need, location, size, prior involvement in
the camp and access to similar facilities in the vicinity.
While a technical evaluation is beyond the scope of this exercise, mothers who were interviewed
placed a high value on the programme citing the important lessons they learnt about breastfeeding
and appreciating the space it gave them to be with their children and to mix with other women in a
safe environment. Interviews with women participating in the programme also suggested that there
were significant changes in knowledge and practice.
“Before we came here we were in the dark [about breastfeeding] and were following the
practices of our grandparents. We are stronger now.” Woman participating in the baby tents
programme in Place Boyer Camp.
The baby tent had the feel of an extended family and was clearly valued by those that used it. The
mothers also made reference to some of the activities that they participated in which provided them
with skills which could be used to support livelihoods. The availability of psychosocial support,
although difficult to recruit into the programme, was considered to be a very useful service by those
who had used it although the evaluation has insufficient data to link the counseling with greater
uptake of breastfeeding. It is of note also that the role of the Concern baby tent staff goes far
beyond that of providing advice in situ; they also provide an outreach service and consequently are
extremely well known within the camps. Their knowledge of the camp community and their link into
Concern allows them to play an important linking role, providing people with information about
assistance that is being provided in addition to ensuring that babies and young children and their
mothers are being provided with adequate care. Given the challenge of life in the camps it is
impossible to place too high a value on the importance of this role.
23
A belated post-distribution monitoring exercise was being conducted at the time the evaluation took place
and it had been anticipated that the results would be shared with the evaluator but this wasn’t the case.
22
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
The baby tent programme is new to Concern and the broader humanitarian community and the
tools, criteria, and exit strategy have been developed with the programme. A technical evaluation is
in the pipeline and it will be important that Concern participates in this to afford the greatest
possibility of learning for the future.
There is little doubt that the programme has been effective in providing a level of support and care
to a highly vulnerable population. The tenacity of Concern’s team in making progress in a very new
area of work is commendable. Concern’s role in the Nutrition cluster (and CMAM and PCNB subcluster) is also recognized as having been extremely strong and has built on the organisation’s
historical leadership role in the sector.
4.8 Education
Education is a sector that Concern were supporting prior to the earthquake and one the organization
has sought to continue to prioritise post-earthquake despite emergency education not being
considered a distinctive competence of the organisation globally.
While Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) came about somewhat unexpectedly as a result of collaboration
between Concern and PiN in March, it has provided important services to children whose schools
were destroyed or occupied following the earthquake and has doubtless permitted parent’s muchneeded time to begin rebuilding their lives. There was some criticism of the lack of structure in the
early months with the CFS’ being described as ‘more of a holding space than a place for structured
activities’ but in the last 2-months important progress has been made in organizing the CFS’ ensuring
a level of supervision (1 animator to 25 children) and in seeking to incorporate cross-cutting issues
such as child protection and hygiene promotion into the schedule.
Support to formal education has been more labored due to protracted negotiations between
Concern, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and also as a result of protracted gaps in Concern’s
staffing. Despite a timely start being made through Concern’s participation in a survey to establish
numbers and locations of children whose participation in school had ceased as a result of the
earthquake, significant delays were experienced due to a lack of capacity within UNICEF; at this time
the objectives of the programme were to establish temporary learning spaces for children and to
offer accelerated learning for students to catch up with an ambition to work to internationallyrecognised INEE Standards. However a second set of delays due to protracted negotiations with the
Ministry of Education has necessitated a change in these and a new strategy has recently been
developed to establish temporary schools that will deliver the national curriculum.
The change in priority has implications for the work that has already taken place to identify teachers
from within the camps. The slow decision-making process also means that Concern and other
organizations supporting education now need to move quickly in order to have the schools in a state
of readiness in time for the term to start. Given the delays in programme delivery, a final evaluation
will be best placed to make a judgment on the effectiveness of the response.
5. Evaluation of the Headquarters Response & Organisational Support Systems
Interviews in Dublin suggested that the Haiti response had galvanized considerable support across
the organisation and that as a result coordination had been strong. From the outset there were
regular coordination meetings with the participation of Concern US, Concern UK and when
communication allowed the Haiti team also. While the situation was obviously changing daily there
was generally sufficient information for the organization to take key decisions and there was a
general confidence in the team’s plans to scale-up and respond to the crisis.
23
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
Key departments in the Dublin office took decisions to scale-up their teams with important
consensus being reached on lighten the workload and strengthening support to the Regional
Director by removing one of the countries from under her management (Pakistan was handed over
in August 2010) and through the recruitment of a dedicated Desk Officer for Haiti. Given the heavy
workload in HR and fundraising and the need for real-time support to be offered this decision was a
sound one. There was also additional capacity drafted into the HR team with a dedicated Haiti staff
member recruited in to Dublin to provide support. Despite experiencing a significant increase in
their workload the logistics team didn’t expand; the implications of this are that plans to support
non-priority countries were either dropped or delayed. The impact of this decision on other
countries requiring logistics support is beyond the reach of the evaluation. The Dublin-based finance
team remained unchanged although Regional resources were offered to the team and have played
an important role in gap-filling throughout the response.
The successful fundraising effort in Ireland and globally and the development of the significant
response that followed is considered to have cemented Concern’s position as a leading humanitarian
organization and has opened up new opportunities to the organization as a result of new funding
partnerships and the wide media interest which the Haiti response generated. Innovative
approaches to giving were trialed and it is noteworthy that over half the 55,000 public donations
made were done so over the internet. In total, Euro 8.756m was raised in Ireland and £1.237m was
raised by Concern UK.
Internal coordination was considered to have been strong, particularly around the development of
key messages and with the field teams support the significant media interest was met through
providing interviews both in Ireland and in the US. While these required a significant amount of staff
time and some opportunities were missed due to poor communications infrastructure in Haiti and
the need for the team to juggle multiple priorities, the organization received considerable profile
and important messages were given about the huge humanitarian needs in Haiti.
Concern US provided targeted support in several key areas. The support offered to resourcing key
posts was particularly welcome and the swift deployment of the Operations Manager for a sustained
period of time was instrumental in facilitating the initial scale-up. That he knew Concern and was
able to represent the organization in coordination forums in addition to supporting operations and
playing an important communications role made him an invaluable resource. Concern US staff also
supported the communications role in Haiti and facilitated a significant number of media interviews
which helped build Concern’s profile. In the first 5-months of the response fundraising efforts by
Concern US saw them contribute over $6.5m to the Haiti fundraising effort through support from
individual, foundations and US donors.
5.1 HR Systems & Surge Capacity
The work carried out by the HR team in support of the Haiti programme was extraordinary. Over
4000 CV’s were received and screened for Haiti vacancies on its online recruitment system alone;
125 first round interviews and 21 follow-up interviews were conducted between 20 January and 15
March; and 60 people were sent to Haiti in the first 4 months from 14 January to 13 May. The
Dublin-based HR-Officer, Mascha was sent to Haiti in the first month to support the work of the
team and extra capacity was bought into support headquarters recruitment efforts.
While there were successes, there were also areas which were less successful; the Haiti Wash-up
provides a good summary of these which were reiterated frequently during interviews in Haiti.
“Initial confusion over what the staffing needs would be, led to a delay in developing and
advertising job descriptions. Finding French speakers also proved difficult and, while there
24
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
was some flexibility (and some disagreement over whether it is an essential requirement),
most staff debriefs showed that some language skills were needed. In an effort to speed up
recruitment, many staff missed out on induction and the opportunity to understand
Concern’s ethos. Once staff arrived in country, there were difficulties in integrating a large
new emergency team into the existing management structure.”
It is important to note that many of these problems were specific to the early weeks of the response
and the HR team, Desk Officer and Haiti management staff worked hard to resolve them. Looking to
the future, the use of more streamlined systems, particularly generic ToRs would facilitate swifter
recruitment of personnel. Given the response was so large, the team did extremely well to manage
to ensure recruit for many of the programme sectors. While the field team highlighted some
important continuity gaps (notably finance, education and WASH), in the context of an international
team which has increased in size from 5 to 40 international staff, the organization has done well to
cope.
In Haiti the change in the size of the team was likened by one member of staff to the arrival of a
hurricane and the HR team has done well to cope with the pressures placed on it. Early recruitments
in Port-au-Prince were extremely difficult due to the limited availability of skilled staff which was
exacerbated by the exodus of Haitians from the country following the earthquake and made it
difficult to guarantee quality control. At the same time rolling out of performance management
systems was problematic as there was so much change and uncertainty about roles and
responsibilities. The fact that Concern pays high salaries to its national staff and its good reputation
in the country was considered to have been helpful as it meant that skilled staff has tended to
gravitate towards the organization. The influx of staff also complicated the process of integrating
new members into team and it has taken time to address this. The HR team has worked hard to
ensure that staff recruitment processes are being used throughout the organization; that new staff
have contracts that are appropriate for their role; that they are included on the payroll; that they
have a good understanding of the 4Ps; and that they have a physical space to work in. This is no
small accomplishment under the circumstances.
There has been some disquiet within the organization about the effectiveness and utlisiation of
existing surge capacity mechanisms. While the programme benefitted from the rapid deployment of
the WASH ERT member who stayed for 5-months and provided the backbone of the response, and
the Haiti team later on also used the services of a second ERT member, views differed about
whether Haiti should have received greater prioritization. It will be important in the future that there
is clarity within the organization about the role of the ERT and how deployments are managed in the
event of a crisis. One way of achieving this may be by categorizing crises to allow for an objective
approach to ERT deployment with the stated ambition that team members will gravitate to the
highest category of crisis with a commitment to backfill their posts. Irrespective of the strategy
adopted it is important that agreement is reached.
There is also much to be gained from further developing the RDU. The deployment of a Pakistani
camp manager was considered a great success given the difficulty in recruiting this skill set from
elsewhere. It is recommended that the development and management of this network receives
greater organisational support to ensure that it can deliver humanitarian staff, particularly for skills
that are difficult to recruit. Interviews across the organization highlighted a general recognition that
the Haiti team has at times lacked Concern experience and this would go some way to addressing
this.
5.2 Finance & Funding
The rapid scale-up of the programme raised a complex dilemma for the finance team who were
faced with a balancing act of accommodating a significant increase in spend rates and budget size at
25
Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
the same time as the team were changing and there were initial challenges in adapting systems to
meet the needs of a much-expanded programme. The finance team talked of needing to amend
financial procedures on an almost weekly basis until May which was considered to be necessary but
time-consuming. That said, given the exponential increase in the programme’s budget maintaining
overall control of spend and budgets is no small achievement.
The generosity of the public and the response by donors to the needs in Haiti has been
overwhelming and Concern has been extremely successful at raising funds for its response with
current estimates of funds secured to date having reached an estimated $34 million (Euro 28
million). The fundraising effort has included all parts of the organization including a considerable
effort from the team in country. A review of donor proposals show that they are well written and
speak to many of the key humanitarian needs, cross-cutting issues and organizational nonnegotiables on quality and accountability standards.
While the team has been successful in managing the funds, it has exposed weaknesses in the finance
systems, particularly in the area of matching income against outputs, the system for which would
benefit from review and it will be important to ensure that capacity within the team is maintained
while the donor portfolio remains so large.
5.3 Logistics
Logistics systems were considered to have worked effectively throughout the response and provided
important support to the field teams. In particular the commitment and capacity of the Dublin-based
Supplies and Logistics Unit played an essential part in ensuring the timely procurement and dispatch
of relief items.
From the perspective of procurement there was an initial reliance on sourcing goods internationally
and a menu of approaches were used to ensure items arrived in a timely fashion. An important
lesson has come from trialing the UNs Humanitarian Response Depot (HRD) which is available for
both pre-positioning of stock items but also for procurement (which is undertaken by WFP).
Experience from the earthquake response strongly suggests the need for Concern to retain an
independent procurement capacity as WFP quotes were found to be uncompetitive and lead times
were considered to be lengthy. While the initial reliance on air freight has a significant cost attached
to it, it did ensure that the programme could scale-up swiftly and ensured that minimum quality
standards for procured items were met.
In Haiti, logistics capacity was initially very reliant on Dublin but over time a strong international and
national team has been built up which is working efficiently to ensure programmes are adequately
supported. Concern has worked well with the logistics cluster and while it took time for it to
establish itself after the earthquake it has been an important ally and has provided support to the
Concern logistics team.
5.4 Learning & Knowledge Management
Globally, Concern’s humanitarian work is underpinned by a sound knowledge of its strengths and
weaknesses and there has been a commitment to learning and evaluation. The initial response was
also crafted by a team who has a sound knowledge of Concern’s work due to the rapid deployment
of staff from Dublin and the US.
However, many of those who have been deployed since to manage aspects of the programme don’t
have the same level of knowledge and are much newer to the organization. While efforts were taken
by the HR team to provide an induction to new staff members, this has exposed a tension between
the need for swift deployment and the need to provide new staff with a basic knowledge of the
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Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
organization, how it responds to emergencies and its basic systems and procedures. This suggests
that there may be a need to find ways to capture organizational knowledge and communicate
lessons in a succinct and practice-orientated way. Presenting these in a medium that is easily
transferable and quickly digestible will be important if busy humanitarian staff is to benefit from
them.
The ToR for the evaluation made reference to whether lessons from previous responses in Myanmar
or Aceh had been applied in Haiti. Interviews with staff across the programme failed to identify any
specific examples of this and there don’t appear to have been attempts to circulate the evaluations
or relevant lessons to the team. A review of the excellent meta-evaluation, conducted in 2009 and
the PEER document which is also built on organizational knowledge suggests that summarizing these
into a set of succinct (1-2 page) documents highlighting key lessons for programme design and
delivery and organisational systems and ways of working would be a wise investment for the future.
6. Conclusion
The earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12 2010 did so with devastating consequences; more
than 200,000 people were killed, 300,000 were injured and over a million were left homeless. It left
hundreds of thousands of people traumatized and without the means necessary to sustain life and
livelihood and it was this that precipitated the tremendous generosity that has seen Concern raise
Euro 28 million and embark on its largest single-country humanitarian programme since it was
established in 1968.
In working in some of the most challenging sectors, coordinating with humanitarian partners
(including government) and in seeking to make strong links between programme and policy work
Concern have made a very sound start to responding to urgent needs of earthquake-affected people
and in building resilience to disasters in the future. The evaluation has found that Concern’s
programme has provided timely and effective support to some of those most affected by the
January earthquake. It has also documented the breadth of the programme, both geographically and
sectorally.
Box 8: A Tale of Two Camps - Tabarre Issa Camp (left) and Place de la Paix Camp (right)
The evaluation revealed the diversity in the way that communities in Haiti are experiencing crisis; for
some there is hope for the future as evidenced in Tabarre Issa camp (above, left) where the strong
camp management offered by Concern and access to basic services offers a life that many failed to
achieve prior to the earthquake. For many other people like those living in Place de la Paix (above,
right) their experience is significantly worse and the poor and over-crowded conditions in the camp
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Evaluation of Concern’s Response to the Haiti Earthquake
will require urgent and sustained support. It will only be through the humanitarian community
retaining an important focus on supporting the most challenging environments that humanitarian
programming in Haiti stands the best possible chance of being built on sustainable foundations.
Concern has made a very sound start to its earthquake response work. Maintaining the important
linkages that have been established and continuing to focus on the delivery of quality programmes
based on sound strategic planning will be essential if the organization is to navigate the challenges
ahead and contribute to longer-term recovery in the future.
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