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What we do

Evaluate & design

Our evaluations, reviews and design of programs and initiatives rely on our independence and draw on our expertise in sector best practice.

Jordan, Photography by Greta Carroll

Our Approach

We bring expertise in evaluation and design across multiple crisis contexts, and agencies.

We have been involved in a wide range of initiatives including evaluating the effectiveness of humanitarian response operations, examining policy frameworks, reviewing organisational practice and evaluating advocacy initiatives. We are also experienced in the design of multi-year humanitarian programs for donors.

Recent work 

We are involved in a range of public and internal evaluations and reviews. For example, we have been commissioned to review the Australian Medical Assistance Team deployment to Samoa for the measles outbreak, the Australian response to Tropical Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu and how remote deployment during COVID-19 has allowed aid agencies to support partners. We have also recently led the design of the Myanmar-Bangladesh multi-year humanitarian package for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Principled pragmatism

Our expert knowledge of the international humanitarian system, its benchmarks, and core humanitarian standards and principles, allow us to work from a foundation of best practice. We bring a practitioner lens to assessing responses and programs, and a focus on exploring what works, what doesn’t and where opportunities lie for growth. We understand the complexity of humanitarian action and the need for a principled way forward that delivers practical results.

Recommending a way forward

Our team are members of the Australian Evaluation Society and bring expertise in rigorous evaluation design and implementation, in accordance with sector frameworks and initiatives such as the OECD Development Assistance Criteria, Sphere Standards and Core Humanitarian Standard. In crafting our recommendations we look to behavioural science to understand roadblocks and to create an enabling environment for change.

A local approach

We support national and local actors to work with us as co-leads in our international evaluations and reviews and rely on their expertise and contextual knowledge to inform recommendations. In our evaluation of the Australian responses to Tropical Cyclone Pam we worked with Linda Kenni, an independent Ni-Vanuatu consultant and one of our regional advisors.

Profiled project

Transforming Surge Capacity Project Evaluation

Name: Evaluation of the Transforming Surge Capacity Project

Organisation: START Network, funded by DFID through the Disaster and Emergencies Preparedness Programme.

During the period January 2015 – December 2017, the TSC Project piloted and built evidence for new approaches to surge capacity. The Project included development of collaborative and localised rosters at the national (in Pakistan and the Philippines) and regional (Asia) levels; a series of pilot projects exploring different ways for more effective surge practices; and developing training and embedding learning aimed improving surge capacity within and beyond Project agencies.

HAG conducted an independent evaluation focusing on the extent to which the TSC Project was successful in achieving the goals set at the start of the project and captured in its logical framework. It took into consideration the delivery of the project through all four platforms. The evaluation team’s research approach employed innovative tools, including a resource review, structured group exercises in-country, semi-structured interviews, profiled activities and story capturing to gather data.