Impact Evaluation of the WFP Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters and the Effects of Climate Change Programme with a Specific Focus on the Resilience Dimension

The Enhancing Resilience to Natural Disasters and the Effects of Climate Change (ER) programme is a joint initiative by the Government of Bangladesh and the World Food Programme (WFP) that aims at addressing the vulnerability of the rural population (especially the ultra-poor) exposed to natural disasters and to the effects of climate change. It was started in 2011 in two distinct parts of the country: the river erosion prone areas of the northwest and the cyclone and salinity affected coastal belt in the south. Through a 3 year cycle of support and training activities one of its main expected outcomes is to strengthen the resilience of the targeted communities.

Although several components of the ER programme have already been internally and externally assessed, the specific objective of building the resilience of the targeted population has not. In this context, the WFP office in Bangladesh commissioned an evaluation of the ER programme in 2015, with the particular objective of assessing the programme’s effectiveness in terms of improving beneficiaries’ resilience. This is the Executive Summary of the report presenting the key findings of this evaluation.