Humanitarian response to natural disasters: a synthesis of evaluation findings

This synthesis report on the lessons learned in the field of humanitarian response to natural disasters is intended to provide input to ongoing processes, including the preventive efforts of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to provide basic information for interested actors in the humanitarian sector.

The report states that despite the rising number of evaluations of humanitarian operations and meta-analyses of the international humanitarian system, the evaluations and lessons learned have a tendency to remain fragmented and case-specific.

The main findings of this report are:

• the divide between humanitarian disaster response and development cooperation continues to prevail despite increased emphasis on the need to link relief, recovery and development

• there is strong focus on needs assessment as a prerequisite for effective, equitable humanitarian response, but it is also commonly observed that actual assessment practice shows substantial deviations from this norm
  

• it is a common experience that international humanitarian response undermines rather than bolsters local capacity, despite growing emphasis on the importance of local capacity in humanitarian response and long-term vulnerability reduction
  

• it is a recurrent theme in evaluation reports that there is a great and persistent need to find effective mechanisms for coordinating the multitude of actors in the humanitarian system
  

• the evaluation reports show that there is growing awareness of the need for disaster preparedness and vulnerability reduction, but there are relatively few examples of good practices.
  

In conclusion, the findings show a clear need to reform the international humanitarian system to promote both synergies between international actors as coordinating facilitators and local vulnerability reduction and response capacity.