Evaluation and Research
Policy Development and Evaluation
UNHCR's Policy Development and Evaluation Service, or PDES, is committed to the systematic analysis and assessment of UNHCR projects, programmes, practices and policies. PDES also promotes research on refugee, humanitarian and migration issues and encourages an active exchange of ideas and information between humanitarian practitioners, policymakers and the academic community. PDES welcomes your comments and questions on all aspects of its work and is also pleased to receive expressions of interest from suitably qualified consultants and interns. The unit can be reached at: E-mail PDES.
Evaluations of food aid and self-reliance in protracted refugee situations
The Policy Development and Evaluation Service would like to draw your attention to an important series of joint evaluations undertaken over the past two years by WFP and UNHCR, on the impact of food aid in protracted refugee situations.
Four country-level evaluations were commissioned, in Chad, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Rwanda. A synthesis report of the four evaluations was then prepared, together with a joint Management Response, which was crafted at a recent High Level Meeting between WFP and UNHCR.
The results of these evaluations are sobering, revealing that "unacceptably high numbers of refugee households remain food insecure… rates of chronic malnutrition reached or exceeded the high severity threshold in all four contexts… livelihoods options for refugees were very limited… and women's livelihoods activities were especially precarious and often exposed them to risk." The Management Response sets out a joint strategy whereby WFP and UNHCR will strive to address these findings.
All of the documents resulting from this initiative can be accessed as follows:
UNHCR Evaluation Reports
- The Implementation of UNHCR's Policy on Refugee Protection and Solutions in Urban Areas. Global Survey – 2012. MaryBeth Morand, Katherine Mahoney with Shaula Bellour and Janice Rabkin
- Leaving Libya. A review of UNHCR's emergency operation in Tunisia and Egypt, 2011-2012. Guido Ambroso, Mike Collyer, Angela Li Rosi
- The world turned upside down. A review of protection risks and UNHCR's role in natural disasters. Hannah Entwisle
- UNHCR's Engagement with Displaced Youth. Dr Rosalind Evans & Claudia Lo Forte with Dr Erika McAslan Fraser
- Still minding the gap? A review of efforts to link relief and development in situations of human displacement, 2001-2012. Bryan Deschamp and Sebastian Lohse
New Issues in Refugee Research
- Refugees and the Rashaida: human smuggling and trafficking from Eritrea to Sudan and Egypt. Rachel Humphris
- Refugee resettlement: 2012 and beyond. Margaret Piper, Paul Power, Dr Graham Thom
- Seeing migrants, selecting refugees: a historical study of Chinese settlement in Canada and New Zealand. Laura Madokoro
- Feeling like an outsider: a case study of refugee identity in the Czech Republic. Kari Burnett
- A responsibility to protect: UNHCR and statelessness in Egypt. Eirwen-Jane Pierrot
Key UNHCR policies
A collection of UNHCR policy statements on key global and thematic issues.
- UNHCR Age, Gender and Diversity Policy: Working with people and communities for equality and protection
- UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness - A Strategy Note
- UNHCR policy on refugee protection and solutions in urban areas
- UNHCR Policy Paper: Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective
- UNHCR's Role in Support of the Return and Reintegration of Displaced Populations: Policy Framework and Implementation Strategy
Protracted Refugee Situations
A wide-ranging collection of UNHCR documents on the issue of protracted refugee situations.
