11th of April: Our CEO at the EU cycle of conferences on “Hard to Reach”

Friday April 5th, 2019

By Editeur

Introduction

Around 2 billion people live in countries affected by fragility, conflict and high levels of violence, and around half of the world’s poor live in fragile or conflict-affected states (FCAS) . The percentage of the poorest living in FCAS increased from 20% in 2005 to 43% in 20152 , and the World Bank estimates that, by 2030 ,their number will rise to nearly 50%3 while OECD considers that – without action – this number will be higher than 80%4 . The EU and its Member States have committed to pay particular attention to fragile and conflict-affected states and to support the most vulnerable5 ; this has been one of the key priorities of both EU development and foreign policy over the last decades. In 2016 the EU’s development cooperation with countries in situations of conflict and fragility represented EUR 4.970 billion in commitments, or 52.8% of total commitments of DG DEVCO. In terms of commitments, the yearly engagement in 2016 was 76% higher than in 2015 and 249% higher than in 2014. To limit the analysis to just five fragile countries (Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen), the EU disbursed over the period 2010 to 2018 EUR 4.195 billion; with 73% financed by DG DEVCO and 27% by DG ECHO6 . A traditional approach to evaluation in fragile or conflict-affected states and, more generally, in hardto-reach areas is destined to fail: the number of professional evaluators available to travel to these countries is limited and the security risks during in-country travel make conventional field missions unrealistic, particularly in the most remote areas. In response to this, various development partners have started encouraging the use of methods and techniques that are innovative in an evaluation context. These include use of geo-spatial data, surveys administered by non-specialised local enumerators, phone/tablet voice or data surveys, location tracking, communication through online platforms, etc.

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