Early 2021, IWORDS Consulting was commissioned by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) to carry out a real-time evaluation of the adaptation processes employed in the areas of NRC-NCA’s programmes and support areas to respond to the COVID-19 emergency. Moreover, the evaluation assessed the state of NRC-NCA operations around three evaluation criteria, five evaluation questions, and 16 second-level questions.

Since the arrival of COVID-19 in the region, NRC-NCA and its implementing partners in Honduras and El Salvador have made significant efforts to adapt their assistance, aiming to reach the populations most affected by the emergency. NRC-NCA’s programmes introduced different adaptations such as changing the approach and modalities of assistance, establishing new synergies, and redirecting funds to meet the most urgent needs.

In order to assess the adaptations and the state of NRC-NCA operations, our team designed a remote participatory methodology which comprised a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods designed to analyse the operations according to the criteria of relevance, timeliness, and effectiveness. Evidence was gathered through the review of documents on programmes and support areas; semi-structured interviews with key informants among staff members, implementing partners, and beneficiaries; and a survey involving staff members. 

IWORDS Consulting’s approach to evaluations is outcome-oriented, pragmatic, adapted to the local circumstances, and focused on collecting and analysing critical data that will be fundamental to synthesise practical and useful lessons.

Therefore, as a result of the exercise our team provided recommendations on specific actions to improve the humanitarian response in real time while maintaining minimum quality standards, as well as identified good practices and lessons learned to inform the design of future actions in the context of the pandemic or in other similar emergencies.