Evaluation of the UNICEF Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in South Sudan Part 1: Child survival – WASH, health, nutrition and related issues

This evaluation, commissioned by the UNICEF Evaluation Office in New York, covers UNICEF’s response to the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan between January 2016 and May 2018. It was designed to fulfil two functions: 1) an accountability function designed to account (internally and externally) for one of UNICEF’s largest and most life-critical country programmes, and an emergency designated a corporate Level 3 priority and now in its fifth year; and 2) a learning function, reflecting the need to capture lessons from a programme of this duration and significance to inform the country programme and UNICEF’s global programming and practice.

This constitutes the first part of a two-part evaluation. The scope of this first part is largely restricted to the child survival components of the programme – specifically WASH, health and nutrition – as well as cross-cutting themes that emerged during the evaluation. These include attempts to reduce risk and foster resilience in the medium term, and the synergy between humanitarian and development approaches. Some of the related process issues, including partnerships and other operational modalities, including the Integrated Rapid Response Mechanism (IRRM), are considered in terms of programme coverage, quality, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability.