Evaluating Humanitarian Action Funded by the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission

In 1996, ECHO produced its first evaluation manual to provide the methodological basis for
its own evaluation practice. The manual was widely distributed in the humanitarian world,
including the Member States of the European Union and ECHO’s partners. It gave rise to
debate and exchanges of information and ideas.
In 1999, ECHO presented a new version of its evaluation manual. It reflected the knowledge
and experience the Office had acquired since 1996 and took account of the ideas that had been
developed both in the field of humanitarian aid and of its evaluation.
Now, in 2002, ECHO publishes a second revision. While maintaining all that is still valid, it
takes account of a number of important recent developments and decisions that touch upon
ECHO’s work.
To mark the distinction between this booklet and the detailed instruction books abounding in
the humanitarian field, it is no longer presented as a manual. As its predecessors, this booklet
is meant to provide a succinct overview of the working practices of the Humanitarian Aid
Office of the European Commission, and particularly of its evaluation practice. Rather than
trying to provide the answer to all the questions that might arise during an evaluation, it
sketches the role of evaluation in the current legal and institutional context.
Evaluators and humanitarian organisations that took part in ECHO’s
evaluations have greatly benefited from the insights they gained from the previous editions of
this booklet. Besides, several organisations found inspiration in this overview to redefine their
own evaluation practices. ECHO hopes that this revised and updated edition will continue to
play this clarifying and inspirational role.