Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance South Sudan MYE Impact Evaluation

Driven by curiosity, Lila Kumar Khatiwada (PI) and Madhav Joshi (Co-PI) of the University of Notre Dame worked closely with development practitioners from ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) and the Gender Equality and Women’s Leadership Program (GEWLP) of South Sudan to carry out an evaluation of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance’s (BHA) pilot multi-year emergency (MYE) project. This work was executed in partnership with LASER PULSE, who guided the early stages of selection and collaboration between all parties interested in this project as well as led the communication between the project team and the USAID/BHA team.

The BHA-MYE project provides targeted longer-term emergency interventions that help communities move beyond relief assistance towards longer-term recovery. The Multi-Year Emergency Program Impact Evaluation in South Sudan project measures the impact that BHA’s interventions have on South Sudanese communities, and whether BHA’s work improves community resiliency in the face of man-made and natural disasters. Additionally, the team of researchers and practitioners aim to learn what the impact of the activities of the BHA-MYE has been on communities and households both separate from and in conjunction with other USAID emergency, non-emergency, and resilience activities. The findings and results from this project will create the evidence base for effectively designing and implementing multi-year emergency activities, the evaluation carried out by this research team can make similar programs, a more impactful means by which to bolster sustainable humanitarian work. Evidence-based recommendations from this project are not only relevant to the future activities of BHA, but also to any similar humanitarian organization.

The impact evaluation is done by a multi-dimensionally diverse team of researchers and practitioners. Through this work, practitioners and researchers are strengthening their own continuing education through the exchange of rigorous methodological, theory-driven, and applied knowledge. By working together—and beyond the halls of an institutional silo—this team is challenged and able to ensure that the work they do will more directly impact the procedures behind this type of BHA programming as well as the communities they are collaborating on behalf of. More information on the project can be found on LASER PULSE BHA-MYE South Sudan.