Tropical cyclone Vania: DREF evaluation and lessons learned workshop Vanuatu

The evaluation, over three days, consisted of desk based review of secondary data, followed
by semi structured interviews with a range of internal and external stakeholders including;
• Jacqueline de Gaillande, CEO of VRCS
• Augustine Garae, DM officer of VRCS
• Branch and sub branch managers from three islands
• Herve Gazeau, Head of Delegation, French Red Cross
• Natasha Freeman, Country Team Representative (Phase I)
• Peter Korisa, Research and Planning officer, National Disaster Management Office
(NDMO)
• May Pascual, UNICEF
• Salonge Leingkone, Marie Ng and Noel Manwoi, Finance and logistics, VRCS
• Ronnie Bong and Roger Shem, VRCS volunteers
• Aurelia Balpe, Head of Regional Office, Suva
Unfortunately, the evaluators were not able to meet with beneficiaries from any of the
affected areas due to the time and financial resources required. Instead beneficiary
satisfaction surveys were undertaken by staff and volunteers using standard survey
templates in two of the affected areas; Tanna and Aniwa.
A total of 235 responses were received from Tanna South East/White Sands (73%), Tanna
South (24%) and Tanna South West (3%). Unfortunately the responses from Aniwa were
discounted because of concerns over the validity of the data. Rather disappointingly no
responses were received from Erromango North or Erromango South.
Surveys were then entered into survey monkey and the data analyzed and the findings
presented at the lessons learned workshop. For further detail on the beneficiary satisfaction
surveys, see annex III.
Following the evaluation, a two day lessons learned workshop was held with key VRCS staff
and volunteers. The workshop aimed to be participatory, in order maximize the knowledge
and expertise of those present, and allow for a shared understanding of how the operation
unfolded. The key objective of the workshop was to examine what went well, what didn’t go
well and identify areas that could be improved. The key output of the workshop were two
plans, one prepared by VRCS headquarter staff and one prepared by branch, sub branch
managers and volunteers, of concrete steps that could be taken over the next six months;
before the next cyclone season. See page 17 for the plans. Lessons learned are also drawn
out under each of the relevant sections of this report. See annex VII for the evaluation of the
lessons learned workshop.