Ethiopia drought - midterm evaluation report

An IFRC Mid-Term Review (MTR) was conducted from 28 September 2016 to 7 October 2016 to assess the on-going IFRC and Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) MDRET016 Drought Emergency Appeal operation launched on 28 December 2015. The MTR of the IFRC Drought Emergency Appeal operation was commissioned by the IFRC EAIOI Cluster Office and ERCS appeal management as an internal quality assurance and lessons learning exercise and not a complete evaluation. The specific objectives of the mid-term review were to assess the effectiveness of the MDRET016 operation in meeting the planned objectives and outputs in the EPoA, establish successes, challenges, and lessons learned from the MDRET016 operation, and provide action points for improvement of the operation.

Overall, the review has found that the selection of Bidu Woreda in Afar region for the appeal drought response is extremely relevant based on Ethiopian government mandate and as the Red Cross is the only organization operating in this community affected by the 2015/16 drought conditions. The Red Cross has good acceptance and recognition in Bidu, and commitment to work in this more remote and challenging environment. Furthermore, learning from previous operations and the 2011 drought was seen and this operation aligns with ERCS longer-term plans for programming in this region. However, the field visit and lessons learned workshops also highlighted some challenges which have hindered the effective implementation of this operation, particularly in operational set up, HR, and logistics and areas which could be further enhanced in the operation, such as field support, PMER, communication and community engagement.