Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), which often takes place through Third-Party Monitoring (TPM), is increasingly being run in volatile contexts. TPM is used by aid agencies such as USAID, NGOs like People in Need, and implementing partners to verify projects were implemented, measure the outcomes and outputs. Situations become volatile due to political changes, conflict, environmental disasters, or a mixture of the three. In the past 18 months, these have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. These situations are difficult to work in due to the unstable infrastructure, lack of access to beneficiaries
Alongside volatile contexts, the addition of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many countries facing increasing instability from conflict. Some of the current conflicts that have emerged from the combination of instability and COVID-19 are the coup in Guinea, the civil war in Myanmar/Burma, the collapse of Afghanistan, and the continued conflict in Syria. Before 2021, the international community was increasingly discussing the ability to conduct M&E in fragile contexts, and the events of this year will push these conversations further.
As M&E has become a requirement for many donors, TPM organizations follow aid initiatives to areas of conflict and crisis. In addition to the general challenges of monitoring and evaluation practices, such as limited participation, the urbanization of emergencies, and underlying power dynamics, TPM in unstable states face additional challenges. For example, they must adapt to rapidly changing contexts, and face difficulties in accessing participants, and have capacity limitations. These obstacles and others are present in the situations listed above as the political context and conflicts create unstable situations that create insecure funding and increased risks for aid workers.
Country Case Study: M&E in the Context of Afghanistan
In the past few weeks, Afghanistan has become an extreme case study for conducting and evaluating humanitarian work in unstable conditions. Before the collapse of the government, the country had already faced years of protracted conflict, natural disasters, poverty, and drought. Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, OCHA reported there were 18 million people in need of humanitarian aid. Aid groups working in this context face further difficulty from the restrictions on women’s ability to work and the lack of access to certain regions outside of Kabul. Additionally, due to sanctions against the Taliban, international aid from many states and institutions is no longer being directed to Afghanistan. As a result, the economy is collapsing and there is a rise in food insecurity. While the country enters a humanitarian crisis, aid organizations find it more difficult to meet the needs of their beneficiaries.
The instability will further complicate future M&E projects in direct and indirect manners. Instability directly and immediately increases the risks of data collection. Enumerators and data collectors must travel and visit the beneficiaries, so their physical security is put at risk. They also face restricted access and limited infrastructure that enable them to carry out their tasks. As the instability continues and humanitarian agencies are unable to deliver aid, the economy of the humanitarian sector is indirectly affected. As there are fewer aid projects, there is less demand for monitoring and evaluation services. The humanitarian sector is beginning to return to normal as more countries receive vaccinations and there is less risk from the pandemic. Situations such as Afghanistan challenge these activities as projects not only are paused due to security risks but donor states and agencies freeze aid.
Country Case Study: Syria
The conflict in Syria has reached its 10th year, and civilians are still greatly in need of humanitarian aid. At the beginning of 2021, UN bodies estimated that over 6 million people are internally displaced and more than 13 million are in need of humanitarian aid. The continuing conflict challenges the delivery of humanitarian aid and, by extension, their monitoring and evaluation projects. While the country is currently less volatile than Afghanistan, it is in an unstable condition and a shift in the balance of power can drastically change the access that humanitarian groups have to their beneficiaries. As seen in Afghanistan, a change in the status quo immediately disrupts the provision of humanitarian aid and has residual effects on the rest of the humanitarian sector.
TPM in Syria has other similarities to Afghanistan. In both countries, local aid organizations and staff are at greater risk than their international counterparts. Additionally, other states and international lenders placed sanctions on Syria, however, some have included exceptions for humanitarian aid. Both challenge TPM organizations as their local enumerators face greater risks. While Syria is currently more stable than Afghanistan, a change in the balance of power can push the country into a similar crisis and put humanitarian workers in greater danger.
The Challenges of Instability
Monitoring and evaluation, as well as third-party monitoring, are tightly connected to the political and social climates of recipient countries. When there is instability, humanitarian aid is interrupted, and by extension M&E activities are halted. Additionally, TPM consultancies are unable to carry out their M&E projects, which is often a requirement of aid agencies. Instability in countries such as Afghanistan and Syria raises questions in the humanitarian sector as donor countries pause funding, aid agencies are unable to implement their projects, and TPM enumerators are put in insecure and risky situations.
Resources
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/7/un-ramps-up-afghan-aid-appeal-as-catastrophe-looms
- csis.org/analysis/lessons-learned-decade-humanitarian-operations-syria
- http://gsdrc.org/docs/open/hd482.pdf
- https://www.npr.org/2021/08/26/1031412042/the-future-is-unclear-for-foreign-aid-work-in-afghanistan-under-the-taliban
- https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/2021-humanitarian-needs-overview-syrian-arab-republic-march-2021
- https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/unicef-whole-syria-humanitarian-situation-report-end-year-2020
- https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/M%20and%20E%20during%20COVID-19%20series%20%E2%80%94%20Evolving%20evaluation%20practice%20%E2%80%94%20Past%2C%20present%20and%20future%20challenges.pdf
- https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2021/9/17/Afghanistan-aid-groups-seek-Taliban-guarantees-for-female-humanitarian-staff
- https://www.unocha.org/afghanistan
About the Author
Emily is a Junior Officer in the Proposal Writing Department. She holds a MA in Post-war Recovery Studies from the University of York. Emily has experience working with non-profits in the United States and Nepal, and she is interested in militarization and displacement in South/Southeast Asia.
Read more about Emily on LinkedIn.
