Real-Time Evaluation of Humanitarian Assistance Revisited: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward

Abstract

Background: The real-time evaluation (RTE) approach has been applied in humanitarian assistance for two decades. Its spread seems to be as much a result of entrepreneurial evaluators who aim to demonstrate expertise to potential clients as it is a response to actual demand for immediate feedback of results to decision makers. Purpose: As RTE has come under scrutiny recently, this study demystifies the concept of RTE and looks beyond textbook descriptions of its advantages in order to understand its practical application in humanitarian action. Setting: NA Intervention: NA Research Design: NA Data Collection and Analysis: NA Findings: It then suggests lessons for how to improve the application of real-time evaluations and related concepts in practice.

Keywords

• real-time evaluation
• humanitarian assistance
• organizational learning