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Staying one step ahead: how to learn from evaluations of anticipatory action
What if evaluations didn’t make your eyes glaze over? What if they sparked curiosity, insight and real change? These ambitions were behind the approach taken during the recent evaluation of the Welthungerhilfe Anticipatory Humanitarian Action Facility (WAHAFA).
This evaluation wasn’t just an exercise in crunching numbers and writing conventional summaries; instead, it was designed to be an interactive learning process that would visualize pathways to change. Rather than (just) record what happened in some of WAHAFA’s project countries – Madagascar, Mozambique, Somalia/Somaliland1 and Zimbabwe – it was an opportunity to understand better how and why anticipatory action works, so that the broader humanitarian community can learn and improve.
Specifically, the evaluation sought to:
- understand the relevance and appropriateness of WAHAFA’s approach
- understand its effectiveness across the programme’s core components
- produce contextual insights that can inform future anticipatory action initiatives.
WAHAFA: a way to facilitate anticipatory action
WAHAFA was launched in May 2023 with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office. Its goal is to broaden and deepen anticipatory action as a proactive, forecast-based and risk-informed approach in which actions are taken before hazards strike.
WAHAFA functions as a facilitative mechanism that supports both local and international non-governmental organizations – currently across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa – in building systems that can predict, prepare for, and act ahead of anticipated shocks.
Lessons from the evaluation
One consistent pattern emerged across the evaluation. Anticipatory action was most effective when it was integrated into existing government systems and organizational processes, rather than implemented as a stand-alone project. For example, in Somalia/Somaliland and Zimbabwe, it is now referenced within national coordination mechanisms and policy frameworks.
In other contexts, progress was seen through strengthened planning, coordination and technical capacity, while longer-term institutional integration is still evolving. Overall, the evaluation points to the importance of embedding anticipatory action into existing local systems and decision-making structures to support its continued use over time.
Exploring the WAHAFA evaluation
Another feature of the evaluation is that its outputs allow readers to choose their own depth of engagement. If you are short on time, the 3-page summary offers a sharp, accessible snapshot; for a deeper understanding, the 20-page report unpacks the evidence, context and nuance behind the findings. And those who prefer to explore learning in a more visual way, the virtual interactive overview lets you move through the evaluation’s different zones at your own pace, connecting ideas, people and progress in a format designed for discovery. However you engage, the lessons are there for you to explore.
This article was written by Julia Burakowski, Welthungerhilfe.
1 This article uses the convention of the United Nations and international frameworks for development cooperation, in which Somaliland is a constituent part of Somalia. The author notes that this position is disputed within the Somaliland region.