Evaluation of the UNHCR Regional Refugee Response to the Venezuela Situation

The external evaluation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional response to the Venezuela Situation (VenSit) follows the declaration of the L2 emergency, effective 2018, and covers the first two years of the response. It is undertaken in accord with UNHCR’s revised Evaluation Policy approved by the High Commissioner on 16 October 2016. The purpose of the external evaluation is to analyse the extent to which UNHCR is providing a timely and effective response to the needs of refugees and migrants affected by VenSit, including to better understand the enabling and constraining factors in this context. The evaluation will also draw lessons that could be used to reinforce the organization’s global approaches to emergency responses.

The evaluation focuses on UNHCR’s response in four selected countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and includes an inception phase, two phases of data collection, and a validation phase. Due to challenges and restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the second round of data collection was more limited than originally planned. The evaluation is focused exclusively on UNHCR’s response, and in agreement with terms established with the Evaluation Service, it does not assess the UNHCR–IOM-led Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform.