Marking ALNAP's 25th anniversary

28 January 2022

This is a special year for the ALNAP network as we mark our 25th anniversary and the launch our fifth State of the Humanitarian System report. We plan to make the most of these opportunities by convening our diverse network at key events during the year and shining a spotlight on the critical role of collective learning in improving the performance of the sector. We would like to visit our members, in person or virtually to share our new analysis on how and when learning happens (and when it doesn’t), as well as the knowledge and evidence we have amassed over 25 years.

The ALNAP network was created by the sector following the Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda (JEEAR) to enable its members to learn from evidence, improve its performance and ultimately, deliver better outcomes for crisis-affected communities.

Since it was established in 1997, ALNAP has played and continues to play a key role in facilitating evidence-based learning across the sector and has supported humanitarian organisations to produce, access, and use high-quality evidence from crises. For example:

  • We have shaped and influenced the sector’s approach to M&E by developing guidance, providing tools, and linking M&E practitioners to share skills and approaches.
  • We have alerted humanitarian practitioners to the critical learning emerging from different types of emergency response through our Lessons Papers.
  • We have shaped the humanitarian policy agenda through our influential and ground-breaking research on new topics – innovation, leadership and systemic change, amongst others.
  • We have made a significant contribution to the sector’s understanding of its own performance – where it is progressing and where it is not – through the production of four editions of The State of the Humanitarian System (SOHS) report.
  • We have created many unique opportunities for collective learning over the years, bringing together people from across the sector at over 30 annual meetings to share experiences and explore approaches and opportunities to improve humanitarian performance.
  • We have been a leading light on the development of learning and best practice for evaluations and using them to shape the future of humanitarian action, such as through the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC).

Learning will also be at the heart of our plans to mark our 25th anniversary:

1. We will launch new research on how learning has contributed to change processes in the humanitarian system

This year we will develop our understanding of how different types of learning have contributed to changes and improvements in the humanitarian system over the past 25 years, identifying the accelerators and blockages to that learning. We are developing a Humanitarian Systemic Learning Framework to better understand the relationship between different kinds of learning process and change, both from a retrospective point of view and for planning in real-time projects. The framework will look at multi-level perspectives within the humanitarian system, and will present insightful stories about learning and change.

We will share this framework to support humanitarian organisations in understanding how learning leads to change, and to find new and innovative ways to improve performance.

If you would like to contribute to the development of these ideas, or are interested in being involved in pilot studies, please don’t hesitate to contact John Mitchell, Special Adviser at ALNAP. Email us at alnap [at] alnap [dot] org and we will put you in touch with John.

2. We will share a hand-picked selection of ALNAP’s best products

Since 1997 we have conducted original research to address gaps in evidence and provide analysis on the performance of the humanitarian sector, as well as developing guidance and skills-building opportunities for humanitarian monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practitioners.

Our vast catalogue of high-quality reports, guides, tools and syntheses – all publicly available –remains relevant to challenges humanitarians face today.

We understand the many pressures on your time, so we will hand-pick and share the best of this learning in new, easy-to-read formats and across new channels to ensure you have the information you need at your fingertips.

3. We will reconnect with our membership

For the past 25 years we have brought humanitarians together from different parts of the sector to share their experiences and learn from one another. We have witnessed first-hand how that increases our collective understanding of the challenges the sector faces and how it has enabled us to work together to identify ways forward. Yet, as a consequence of COVID-19, it has been a while since ALNAP could convene a meeting in person.

This year we aim to meet as many humanitarians from our member organisations as we can – to share our purpose with you and explain how we can support you and your organisation to improve outcomes for the communities you serve.

We also aim to make the most of new opportunities to convene the sector in the coming year, for example, to discuss new research and evidence and the launch of our new State of the Humanitarian System report in the autumn.

At ALNAP we believe people affected by crisis have the right to quality, accountable humanitarian assistance and protection; and we strive to support all our members and the wider sector in achieving better outcomes for crisis-affected communities.

We hope you’ll get involved with our research, events and visits throughout the year.

If you’d like us to visit your organisation either in person or virtually, please email us at alnap [at] alnap [dot] org and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible to arrange it.