Evaluation of UNICEF's Work to Link Humanitarian and Development Programming

This evaluation will assess how well UNICEF is linking humanitarian and development programming. 

Efforts to link humanitarian action and development programming span decades, though the approach and terminology have evolved over time. Most recently, the term ‘nexus’, which is shorthand for ‘development, humanitarian and peace nexus’ has gained traction and emerged from a series of inter-linked policy processes, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Humanitarian Summit, the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-Development Assistance Committee recommendation, the 2020 Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review and Pathways to Peace, a joint United Nations and World Bank humanitarian, development and peace initiative.

Similarly, UNICEF’s work in this area has evolved over the decades and, in recent years, the organization has sought to deepen the links between its humanitarian and development programming. In 2019, UNICEF published the Procedure on Linking Humanitarian and Development (LHD) Programming, which brings together many of the existing work and guidance on nexus issues. In 2020, the UNICEF Evaluation Office commissioned and conducted this forward-looking evaluation to provide insights and recommendations for practical improvements in UNICEF’s work in this area. In addition to serving both learning and account- ability purposes, the evaluation also aimed to serve as a baseline to inform a global evaluation of LHD programming that will take place in the next five years, and to contribute to the organization’s learning under the new and unprecedented circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The evaluation examined UNICEF’s overall approach to the nexus; its policy commitments in coordination processes; and its commitments in planning and programming, including for accountability to affected populations, gender and disability responsiveness, linking humanitarian cash and social protection, conflict sensitivity, peacebuilding and social cohesion. The evaluation also assessed how the organization’s planning, reporting, monitoring, financial and human resources systems and management structures support nexus programming. Finally, it assessed the COVID-19 response through the lens of the nexus. The evaluation contains several practical recommendations for how to advance the nexus in UNICEF programming.