Understanding risk and resilience

The number and intensity of natural hazards have increased exponentially in recent decades. While headlines highlight the impact on people and infrastructure, animals are also affected by these events and subsequent disasters. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction represented a significant evolution in risk management, including understanding the need to expand the focus beyond […]

Globally, as of March 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has directly claimed nearly three million lives and continues to put lives, health, education, livelihoods, peace and almost every aspect of the society at risk. Over 14 months since the pandemic was declared, governments, health systems, humanitarian organizations and communities are still struggling to save lives and […]

IRMA led the first fully remote evaluation by design: WFP/Algeria’s Country Strategic Programme Evaluation under Particip (January to October 2021), Anchored in World Food Programme’s Evaluation standards and processes, we managed a team of evaluators from more than 11,100 km away. As all standard methods (Systematic Literature Review, Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussion, photo […]

In September of 2017, Hurricane Irma impacted several Caribbean islands, Sint Maarten being one of the worst-affected with damages estimated to be $2.5 billion. The Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) launched a response called “The Netherlands helps St. Maarten” and, following the delivery of emergency aid, shifted to Recovery in the areas of roof repair, (re)construction […]

Between 2016 and November 2019, more than 4.6 million men, women, and children have left Venezuela. The humanitarian and economic and crisis into which the country continues to sink has driven them to seek a better life in neighbouring countries and beyond. UNICEF Ecuador responded to the needs of children, young people and their families […]

IRMA undertook a learning review for CAMEALEON, an NGO-led network that conducts independent monitoring, research and analysis of WFP’s multi-purpose cash intervention in Lebanon. The review also contributed to wider sectoral learning on third party monitoring of cash programmes by identifying the replicable aspects of the CAMEALEON model. IRMA’s team was Floor Grootenhuis, Marilise Turnbull […]

NORCAP is the Norwegian Refugee Council’s global provider of expertise to the humanitarian, development and peace-building sectors. One of NORCAP’s flagship programs is CashCap. Established in 2015/2016, CashCap aims to support humanitarian and development actors in achieving Grand Bargain commitments to radically increase the scale and quality of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) as a modality. How […]

Since its establishment in 2005, CaLP has been at the forefront of promoting and improving cash transfer programming (CTP) across the humanitarian sector. CaLP helps humanitarian agencies deliver on their major commitments to improve cash transfer programming, which are consolidated in the Global Framework for Action. The work of CaLP’s secretariat is summarised in four […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

In March 2021, UNDP launched the project “Supporting rapid recovery from floods and intercommunal conflict through building resilience and stability in crisis-affected communities” to support disaster response and recovery efforts of crisis-affected communities following massive flooding in South Kivu province. The project undertakes activities such as the development of an early warning system, public awareness, […]

Photo credit:  WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud IRMA partners Marilise Turnbull (Team Leader) and Lezlie Moriniere (Senior Evaluator) conducted a strategic evaluation the 2011 WFP policy on disaster risk reduction and management and the 2017 climate change policy. The evaluation assessed the quality and results of both policies, along with the factors that enabled and hindered those […]

Photo credit : Glen Pakoa/Oxfam in Vanuatu Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the most vulnerable countries in the world to natural-hazard related disasters and climate change. The UN World Risk Index, which measures exposure to natural hazards and the capacity to cope with these events across 171 countries, places SIDS at the top […]

Climate change has become an increasingly important driver of human mobility. Those displaced due to environmental or climate factors were not legally represented in the Refugee Convention, and no internationally agreed terminology captured their status. This project mapped how the European Union and partners addressed environment-displacement linkages to establish a more insightful organizational position as […]

Commissioned by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), IRMA has led (under Particip GmbH) an independent strategic and global evaluation of EU contributions to disaster preparedness in humanitarian action from 2015 to 2020.  The evaluation was guided by nine research questions aligned to a retrofitted Preparedness Theory of Change […]

GOAL uses an approach called ‘Resilience for Systems’ or R4S to understand why systems that poor communities depend on, such as local fishing industries and urban markets for agricultural produce, are vulnerable to shocks and stresses. This knowledge enables GOAL and its partners to work with those communities and relevant actors to strengthen the systems […]

Climate change poses huge challenges for Dominican Republic, an island that regularly experiences hurricanes, already suffers from stress on water resources, and whose main industry is tourism. IRMA was approached by DAI to guide a climate risk assessment focusing on the island’s coastal areas. For this, IRMA used the participatory GIZ methodology and worked closely […]

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), a Specialized Agency of the African Union, enables African governments to access rapid financing to protect the food security and livelihoods of their vulnerable populations in extreme weather events. ARC engaged IRMA to guide and support the roll-out of its gender mainstreaming strategy. This multi-faceted assignment includes: Designing and delivering […]

IRMA researched and documented the evolution of an inter-agency endeavour to improve cooperation in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.  This story of the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies in Bolivia (CAHB), which was founded in 2008 and is still operational 10 years later, is one of adaptation and resilience, with lessons […]

Lezlie led a team (for Particip GmbH) on an Independent Evaluation of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)’s Performance in Disaster Risk Reduction (and Climate Change) between 2010-2017 globally. The evaluation was conducted between November 2018 and May 2019 with a team of seven, visiting seven countries (Tajikistan, Morocco, Bolivia, Peru, Thailand, Myanmar, […]

In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core areas of expertise. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected people by providing legal aid, including information, counselling, and direct legal assistance. ICLA also focuses on building local capacity and advocating for […]

As part the ongoing support for Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), during 2024 IRMA worked closely with the MIHR resilience team to develop and refine a project planning tool. The tool was developed to accompany staff working in fragile and conflict-affected settings through key steps to build a context-appropriate health resilience strategy. Aligning with context […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

The number and intensity of natural hazards have increased exponentially in recent decades. While headlines highlight the impact on people and infrastructure, animals are also affected by these events and subsequent disasters. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction represented a significant evolution in risk management, including understanding the need to expand the focus beyond […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

During 2022, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) commissioned IRMA consultants to provide support in Understanding Health and Fragility from a Systems Perspective. Building on this work, in 2023 MIHR further engaged IRMA in a series of projects including: Mapping MIHR assessment tools in relation to how they support programming in relation to fragility, risk and […]

To bolster Disaster Risk Management (DRM) efforts, the Government of The Bahamas enacted the Disaster Risk Management Act in 2022 (DRM Act). This legislative move signifies a significant shift towards focusing on disaster risk over post-event responses. The objective is to streamline functions and eliminate redundancy among key entities—the Disaster Management Unit under the Office […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

Led by Harvard’s Data Pop Alliance (DPA), this study in 7 countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal) is commissioned by UNDP through the Sahel Resilience Project and carried out under the leadership of ECOWAS. Research started in February 2021 with final deliverables served by end October. IRMA’s role is focused on […]

In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core areas of expertise. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected people by providing legal aid, including information, counselling, and direct legal assistance. ICLA also focuses on building local capacity and advocating for […]

After major humanitarian disaster spanning numerous countries, many key actors come together to promote a system-wide evaluation of the collective, international response. This was the case to examine the response to the Rwanda genocide in 1996, and the 2005 Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC, in).  Again, in 2024, the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition (GEC) was created […]

As part the ongoing support for Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), during 2024 IRMA worked closely with the MIHR resilience team to develop and refine a project planning tool. The tool was developed to accompany staff working in fragile and conflict-affected settings through key steps to build a context-appropriate health resilience strategy. Aligning with context […]

IRMA has started a partnership with St. Germain Institut d’études politiques (IEP) in France since 2021. IRMA co-founders and associates have been teaching cohorts of 5th Year Master’s students, as part of their Master Politiques de coopération internationale. This 20-hour course provides students with a comprehensive introduction to integrated disaster risk management (RM) spanning both […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

The number and intensity of natural hazards have increased exponentially in recent decades. While headlines highlight the impact on people and infrastructure, animals are also affected by these events and subsequent disasters. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction represented a significant evolution in risk management, including understanding the need to expand the focus beyond […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core areas of expertise. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected people by providing legal aid, including information, counselling, and direct legal assistance. ICLA also focuses on building local capacity and advocating for […]

Climate change has become an increasingly important driver of human mobility. Those displaced due to environmental or climate factors were not legally represented in the Refugee Convention, and no internationally agreed terminology captured their status. This project mapped how the European Union and partners addressed environment-displacement linkages to establish a more insightful organizational position as […]

Photo credit: NRC The measurement and evaluation of the prevention of violence in Protection Programmes are challenging for many reasons. A relationship of trust is needed for communities to be willing to share information about issues affecting their safety, and even when trust existed, establishing a causal relationship between interventions and a reduction in violence […]

Between 2016 and November 2019, more than 4.6 million men, women, and children have left Venezuela. The humanitarian and economic and crisis into which the country continues to sink has driven them to seek a better life in neighbouring countries and beyond. UNICEF Ecuador responded to the needs of children, young people and their families […]

IRMA undertook a learning review for CAMEALEON, an NGO-led network that conducts independent monitoring, research and analysis of WFP’s multi-purpose cash intervention in Lebanon. The review also contributed to wider sectoral learning on third party monitoring of cash programmes by identifying the replicable aspects of the CAMEALEON model. IRMA’s team was Floor Grootenhuis, Marilise Turnbull […]

Norwegian Refugee Council asked IRMA to conduct a global review of its camp management programming. The portfolio includes traditional camp management, interventions in urban displacement contexts, and in mobile sites, and spans seventeen countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Brazil, Greece and others. IRMA’s review enabled NRC to rethink its approach and develop a new camp […]

As part of our continuous technical support to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Guatemala, IRMA designed and conducted the first round of a “Training of Trainers” on the incorporation of environmental considerations in humanitarian response to population displacement in Guatemala. Following a positive evaluation of the first round, IRMA conducted a second round […]

Aiming to bridging the humanitarian-peace-development nexus, WFP has launched the four-year program “Innovative approaches to building Resilience for Refugees and Host Populations in Ethiopia (2018-2022): From Humanitarian Assistance to Self-Reliance” funded jointly by SIDA and DANIDA. WFP is committed to conduct a formal pre/post mixed methods evaluation using panel households to measure the performance of […]

NRC is implementing an OFDA-funded project known internally as “Protection and Access through Negotiation” Capacity or PAN-Cap. Overall, NRC projects on access and related issues aim to ensure that the most vulnerable people are protected and able to access humanitarian assistance. With this vision in mind, PAN-Cap aims to: Increase the confidence of field teams […]

NRC aims to track the impact of its programs by assessing contribution to change and internal learning processes.  Among its Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA) objectives, one of NRC ‘sub core competency’ area is Housing, Land & Property (HLP). Selected by NRC as one of the global thematic reviews for 2019, IRMA was commissioned […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

IRMA carried out the first evaluation of Start Network’s Anticipation Fund, an innovative Forecast-based Financing mechanism for local and national NGOs to access funds for early action. The evaluation sought to establishing the effectiveness and efficiency of the mechanism, with a focus on ‘Value for Money’. Our team included three national researchers in Somalia, Nigeria […]

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), a Specialized Agency of the African Union, enables African governments to access rapid financing to protect the food security and livelihoods of their vulnerable populations in extreme weather events. ARC engaged IRMA to guide and support the roll-out of its gender mainstreaming strategy. This multi-faceted assignment includes: Designing and delivering […]

Plan International commissioned IRMA to conduct a Strategic Review to appraise their DRM achievements and to contribute to defining the future focus and approach for Plan International as a gender transformative DRM actor. The Review process involved 108 interviews with internal and external informants, an e-survey in which 599 staff members participated, visits to three […]

IRMA produced a new guide on how to facilitate community-led DRM for Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Australia and CAFOD. The project involved capturing the lessons learned by experienced DRM field staff, as well as combining traditional tools with new thinking in the humanitarian and development sectors, to ensure that the guidance promotes a community-led, inclusive, […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

Commissioned by IFRC, IRMA explored how best to link two key mechanisms thoroughly embedded in Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) practice: community early warning and forecast-based financing (FbF).  We started by establishing a global foundation of documented Early Warning System (EWS) actions and learning (at all levels) and overlaid the existing approximately 25 countries with […]

Have you ever wondered what happened after a project was implemented? Were you able to return to project areas several years after a project ended? Are the changes brought about by a project sustained after the project ends? If so, why? What do people in the communities think about the project? Such questions are all […]

To bolster Disaster Risk Management (DRM) efforts, the Government of The Bahamas enacted the Disaster Risk Management Act in 2022 (DRM Act). This legislative move signifies a significant shift towards focusing on disaster risk over post-event responses. The objective is to streamline functions and eliminate redundancy among key entities—the Disaster Management Unit under the Office […]

In March 2021, UNDP launched the project “Supporting rapid recovery from floods and intercommunal conflict through building resilience and stability in crisis-affected communities” to support disaster response and recovery efforts of crisis-affected communities following massive flooding in South Kivu province. The project undertakes activities such as the development of an early warning system, public awareness, […]

Climate change has become an increasingly important driver of human mobility. Those displaced due to environmental or climate factors were not legally represented in the Refugee Convention, and no internationally agreed terminology captured their status. This project mapped how the European Union and partners addressed environment-displacement linkages to establish a more insightful organizational position as […]

Climate change poses huge challenges for Dominican Republic, an island that regularly experiences hurricanes, already suffers from stress on water resources, and whose main industry is tourism. IRMA was approached by DAI to guide a climate risk assessment focusing on the island’s coastal areas. For this, IRMA used the participatory GIZ methodology and worked closely […]

In Quibdo, in the Pacific region of Colombia, informal extraction of gold using mercury, and the chemical processes carried out in the associated jewellery industry, create serious environmental and health risks. UNEP contracted IRMA to produce a case study highlighting the risks of the current practices and potential risk reduction measures that could be applied […]

As part of our continuous technical support to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Guatemala, IRMA designed and conducted the first round of a “Training of Trainers” on the incorporation of environmental considerations in humanitarian response to population displacement in Guatemala. Following a positive evaluation of the first round, IRMA conducted a second round […]

APELL (Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at the Local Level) is a process designed by UN Environment to identify and raise awareness of risks and dangers, to initiate measures to reduce risks and prevent and mitigate accidents and to establish a coordinated preparation between the local industry, the authorities and the population. The Environmental Research […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

Anticipatory action (AA) is a set of normally pre-financed tools designed to act on early warning and mitigate crises before they escalate, protecting lives and livelihoods. While highly effective for rapid-onset disasters like floods and hurricanes, AA has struggled to demonstrate value for prolonged emergencies, such as drought. With climate-related events becoming more frequent, aid […]

Globally, as of March 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has directly claimed nearly three million lives and continues to put lives, health, education, livelihoods, peace and almost every aspect of the society at risk. Over 14 months since the pandemic was declared, governments, health systems, humanitarian organizations and communities are still struggling to save lives and […]

IRMA led the first fully remote evaluation by design: WFP/Algeria’s Country Strategic Programme Evaluation under Particip (January to October 2021), Anchored in World Food Programme’s Evaluation standards and processes, we managed a team of evaluators from more than 11,100 km away. As all standard methods (Systematic Literature Review, Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussion, photo […]

In September of 2017, Hurricane Irma impacted several Caribbean islands, Sint Maarten being one of the worst-affected with damages estimated to be $2.5 billion. The Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) launched a response called “The Netherlands helps St. Maarten” and, following the delivery of emergency aid, shifted to Recovery in the areas of roof repair, (re)construction […]

IRMA undertook a learning review for CAMEALEON, an NGO-led network that conducts independent monitoring, research and analysis of WFP’s multi-purpose cash intervention in Lebanon. The review also contributed to wider sectoral learning on third party monitoring of cash programmes by identifying the replicable aspects of the CAMEALEON model. IRMA’s team was Floor Grootenhuis, Marilise Turnbull […]

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), a Specialized Agency of the African Union, enables African governments to access rapid financing to protect the food security and livelihoods of their vulnerable populations in extreme weather events. ARC engaged IRMA to guide and support the roll-out of its gender mainstreaming strategy. This multi-faceted assignment includes: Designing and delivering […]

Have you ever wondered what happened after a project was implemented? Were you able to return to project areas several years after a project ended? Are the changes brought about by a project sustained after the project ends? If so, why? What do people in the communities think about the project? Such questions are all […]

Aiming to bridging the humanitarian-peace-development nexus, WFP has launched the four-year program “Innovative approaches to building Resilience for Refugees and Host Populations in Ethiopia (2018-2022): From Humanitarian Assistance to Self-Reliance” funded jointly by SIDA and DANIDA. WFP is committed to conduct a formal pre/post mixed methods evaluation using panel households to measure the performance of […]

In preparation for an imminent Call for Proposals for USAID’s longest lived global project, FEWSNET, Tetra Tech commissioned research from IRMA on the links between food security, DRR and resilience.

As part the ongoing support for Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), during 2024 IRMA worked closely with the MIHR resilience team to develop and refine a project planning tool. The tool was developed to accompany staff working in fragile and conflict-affected settings through key steps to build a context-appropriate health resilience strategy. Aligning with context […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

During 2022, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) commissioned IRMA consultants to provide support in Understanding Health and Fragility from a Systems Perspective. Building on this work, in 2023 MIHR further engaged IRMA in a series of projects including: Mapping MIHR assessment tools in relation to how they support programming in relation to fragility, risk and […]

Fragile, conflict affected situations or ‘fragile settings’ have among the weakest health systems and worst health indicators in the world. Despite this recognition, however, notable gaps in research and tools linking health and fragility remain. For actors working to improve health conditions in fragile settings, the absence of an appropriate conceptualization of fragility cast through a health […]

Since 2022, IRMA has been supporting Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR)—a USAID-funded health development project focused on fragile and conflict-affected contexts—to strengthen its understanding of fragility, the implications for health and how to operationalize this knowledge in their health resilience programming. IRMA developed the Context and Fragility Assessment (CFA) Guidance for MIHR in 2023, In […]

Photo credit: NRC The measurement and evaluation of the prevention of violence in Protection Programmes are challenging for many reasons. A relationship of trust is needed for communities to be willing to share information about issues affecting their safety, and even when trust existed, establishing a causal relationship between interventions and a reduction in violence […]

In 2020, the IFRC commissioned IRMA to develop the BPI Training Programme in collaboration with the Swedish Red Cross. The purpose of the training is to support participants to navigate many evolving dynamics while carefully promoting conflict sensitive program management (CSPM). The core elements of BPI are: Community Engagement The original Do No Harm principle, […]

The Local Capacities for Peace (LCPP) Project was formed in the 1990s in order to help aid workers find ways to address human needs in conflict contexts without aggravating conflicts. Within this project, the Do No Harm (DNH) principle was born. Building on DNH, in the early 2000’s, the International Federation of Red Cross and […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

Anticipatory action (AA) is a set of normally pre-financed tools designed to act on early warning and mitigate crises before they escalate, protecting lives and livelihoods. While highly effective for rapid-onset disasters like floods and hurricanes, AA has struggled to demonstrate value for prolonged emergencies, such as drought. With climate-related events becoming more frequent, aid […]

In 2016, the European Commission (EC) committed themselves to integrating the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development into their policy across all sectors. As such, the EC has aimed to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deeply into their external action efforts and policy making. The SDGs are a set of 17 goals aimed […]

In 2016, the European Commission (EC) committed themselves to integrating the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development into their policy across all sectors. As such, the EC has aimed to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deeply into their external action efforts and policy making. The SDGs are a set of 17 goals aimed […]

Since 2018, a growing number of evaluations have explored how organizations have adopted humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) or double nexus approaches. These evaluations delve into progress, barriers and ways to improve connectedness and complementarity of humanitarian, development and Peace sectors. Commissioned by ALNAP, Lezlie Moriniere (IRMA co-founding partner) worked with a wide team to conduct a meta-evaluation […]

Aiming to bridging the humanitarian-peace-development nexus, WFP has launched the four-year program “Innovative approaches to building Resilience for Refugees and Host Populations in Ethiopia (2018-2022): From Humanitarian Assistance to Self-Reliance” funded jointly by SIDA and DANIDA. WFP is committed to conduct a formal pre/post mixed methods evaluation using panel households to measure the performance of […]

IRMA produced a new guide on how to facilitate community-led DRM for Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Australia and CAFOD. The project involved capturing the lessons learned by experienced DRM field staff, as well as combining traditional tools with new thinking in the humanitarian and development sectors, to ensure that the guidance promotes a community-led, inclusive, […]

In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, […]

After major humanitarian disaster spanning numerous countries, many key actors come together to promote a system-wide evaluation of the collective, international response. This was the case to examine the response to the Rwanda genocide in 1996, and the 2005 Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC, in).  Again, in 2024, the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition (GEC) was created […]

As part the ongoing support for Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), during 2024 IRMA worked closely with the MIHR resilience team to develop and refine a project planning tool. The tool was developed to accompany staff working in fragile and conflict-affected settings through key steps to build a context-appropriate health resilience strategy. Aligning with context […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

During 2022, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) commissioned IRMA consultants to provide support in Understanding Health and Fragility from a Systems Perspective. Building on this work, in 2023 MIHR further engaged IRMA in a series of projects including: Mapping MIHR assessment tools in relation to how they support programming in relation to fragility, risk and […]

Fragile, conflict affected situations or ‘fragile settings’ have among the weakest health systems and worst health indicators in the world. Despite this recognition, however, notable gaps in research and tools linking health and fragility remain. For actors working to improve health conditions in fragile settings, the absence of an appropriate conceptualization of fragility cast through a health […]

Since 2022, IRMA has been supporting Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR)—a USAID-funded health development project focused on fragile and conflict-affected contexts—to strengthen its understanding of fragility, the implications for health and how to operationalize this knowledge in their health resilience programming. IRMA developed the Context and Fragility Assessment (CFA) Guidance for MIHR in 2023, In […]

Globally, as of March 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has directly claimed nearly three million lives and continues to put lives, health, education, livelihoods, peace and almost every aspect of the society at risk. Over 14 months since the pandemic was declared, governments, health systems, humanitarian organizations and communities are still struggling to save lives and […]

Led by Harvard’s Data Pop Alliance (DPA), this study in 7 countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal) is commissioned by UNDP through the Sahel Resilience Project and carried out under the leadership of ECOWAS. Research started in February 2021 with final deliverables served by end October. IRMA’s role is focused on […]

In Quibdo, in the Pacific region of Colombia, informal extraction of gold using mercury, and the chemical processes carried out in the associated jewellery industry, create serious environmental and health risks. UNEP contracted IRMA to produce a case study highlighting the risks of the current practices and potential risk reduction measures that could be applied […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

Photo credit : Glen Pakoa/Oxfam in Vanuatu Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the most vulnerable countries in the world to natural-hazard related disasters and climate change. The UN World Risk Index, which measures exposure to natural hazards and the capacity to cope with these events across 171 countries, places SIDS at the top […]

In 2020, the IFRC commissioned IRMA to develop the BPI Training Programme in collaboration with the Swedish Red Cross. The purpose of the training is to support participants to navigate many evolving dynamics while carefully promoting conflict sensitive program management (CSPM). The core elements of BPI are: Community Engagement The original Do No Harm principle, […]

In 2016, IFRC commissioned IRMA to produce operational guidance on how to strengthen the resilience of the communities where it works. The guidance – called Road Map to Community Resilience (available in multiple languages)– takes National Societies through a step by step process to engage with communities and support them to carry out their own risk assessments and produce […]

GOAL uses an approach called ‘Resilience for Systems’ or R4S to understand why systems that poor communities depend on, such as local fishing industries and urban markets for agricultural produce, are vulnerable to shocks and stresses. This knowledge enables GOAL and its partners to work with those communities and relevant actors to strengthen the systems […]

IRMA carried out the first evaluation of Start Network’s Anticipation Fund, an innovative Forecast-based Financing mechanism for local and national NGOs to access funds for early action. The evaluation sought to establishing the effectiveness and efficiency of the mechanism, with a focus on ‘Value for Money’. Our team included three national researchers in Somalia, Nigeria […]

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), a Specialized Agency of the African Union, enables African governments to access rapid financing to protect the food security and livelihoods of their vulnerable populations in extreme weather events. ARC engaged IRMA to guide and support the roll-out of its gender mainstreaming strategy. This multi-faceted assignment includes: Designing and delivering […]

IRMA researched and documented the evolution of an inter-agency endeavour to improve cooperation in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.  This story of the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies in Bolivia (CAHB), which was founded in 2008 and is still operational 10 years later, is one of adaptation and resilience, with lessons […]

Recommendations for operational practices that strengthen the leadership of national and local actors in partnership-based humanitarian action globally Transforming aid relationships between local, national and international NGOs starts with examining the quality of existing partnerships. IRMA recently conducted a significant multi-country research effort on this topic, that resulted in a set of recommendations for operational […]

IRMA produced a new guide on how to facilitate community-led DRM for Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Australia and CAFOD. The project involved capturing the lessons learned by experienced DRM field staff, as well as combining traditional tools with new thinking in the humanitarian and development sectors, to ensure that the guidance promotes a community-led, inclusive, […]

IRMA undertook a comprehensive review of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s main risk assessment methodology – the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA). Through an extensive literature review and a global consultation process, IRMA produced a new strategy to relaunch VCA as a multi-sectorial community-led approach to risk assessment, adaptable to any context. The […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

Norwegian Refugee Council asked IRMA to conduct a global review of its camp management programming. The portfolio includes traditional camp management, interventions in urban displacement contexts, and in mobile sites, and spans seventeen countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Brazil, Greece and others. IRMA’s review enabled NRC to rethink its approach and develop a new camp […]

Disaster risk in the Caribbean is among the highest in the world. Each year, an average of six tropical storms become hurricanes in the Caribbean (NOAA 2019). With climate change, more frequent and stronger hurricanes are expected. Floods, earthquakes and landslides are also common occurrences. These rapid-onset hazards in the Caribbean are highly destructive and […]

Have you ever wondered what happened after a project was implemented? Were you able to return to project areas several years after a project ended? Are the changes brought about by a project sustained after the project ends? If so, why? What do people in the communities think about the project? Such questions are all […]

NRC aims to track the impact of its programs by assessing contribution to change and internal learning processes.  Among its Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA) objectives, one of NRC ‘sub core competency’ area is Housing, Land & Property (HLP). Selected by NRC as one of the global thematic reviews for 2019, IRMA was commissioned […]

The number and intensity of natural hazards have increased exponentially in recent decades. While headlines highlight the impact on people and infrastructure, animals are also affected by these events and subsequent disasters. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction represented a significant evolution in risk management, including understanding the need to expand the focus beyond […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

Anticipatory action (AA) is a set of normally pre-financed tools designed to act on early warning and mitigate crises before they escalate, protecting lives and livelihoods. While highly effective for rapid-onset disasters like floods and hurricanes, AA has struggled to demonstrate value for prolonged emergencies, such as drought. With climate-related events becoming more frequent, aid […]

The EU-funded project ‘Technical Assistance to Sint Maarten for Disaster Response and Preparedness’ was implemented by a multi-disciplinary team from SOFRECO and led by IRMA Partner Marilise Turnbull. Through effective collaboration with the government of Sint Maarten and thanks to the strong volunteering spirit of the people of Sint Maarten, the project achieved its objectives […]

Photo credit:  WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud IRMA partners Marilise Turnbull (Team Leader) and Lezlie Moriniere (Senior Evaluator) conducted a strategic evaluation the 2011 WFP policy on disaster risk reduction and management and the 2017 climate change policy. The evaluation assessed the quality and results of both policies, along with the factors that enabled and hindered those […]

Photo credit : Glen Pakoa/Oxfam in Vanuatu Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the most vulnerable countries in the world to natural-hazard related disasters and climate change. The UN World Risk Index, which measures exposure to natural hazards and the capacity to cope with these events across 171 countries, places SIDS at the top […]

In 2023, IRMA LLC, commissioned by Particip, conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the World Food Programme’s strategy in Madagascar. This large-scale evaluation of the 2019-2023 Country Strategic Plan (CSP) aimed to gather evidence for accountability and learning, and has already been used to inform the next CSP. Thanks to direct observations of […]

Commissioned by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), IRMA has led (under Particip GmbH) an independent strategic and global evaluation of EU contributions to disaster preparedness in humanitarian action from 2015 to 2020.  The evaluation was guided by nine research questions aligned to a retrofitted Preparedness Theory of Change […]

Commissioned by IFRC, IRMA explored how best to link two key mechanisms thoroughly embedded in Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) practice: community early warning and forecast-based financing (FbF).  We started by establishing a global foundation of documented Early Warning System (EWS) actions and learning (at all levels) and overlaid the existing approximately 25 countries with […]

In 2020, the IFRC commissioned IRMA to develop the BPI Training Programme in collaboration with the Swedish Red Cross. The purpose of the training is to support participants to navigate many evolving dynamics while carefully promoting conflict sensitive program management (CSPM). The core elements of BPI are: Community Engagement The original Do No Harm principle, […]

IRMA was asked by UNDP’s Disaster and Climate Risk Governance team (in the Global Policy Network/BPPS and Crisis Bureau) to contribute to proposals required to enhance their global DRR service delivery. Under this contract, IRMA provided critical inputs to DG ECHO for the Intra-ACP Action Fiche for resource mobilization under the 11th EDF (involving actions […]

In 2016, IFRC commissioned IRMA to produce operational guidance on how to strengthen the resilience of the communities where it works. The guidance – called Road Map to Community Resilience (available in multiple languages)– takes National Societies through a step by step process to engage with communities and support them to carry out their own risk assessments and produce […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

In March 2021, UNDP launched the project “Supporting rapid recovery from floods and intercommunal conflict through building resilience and stability in crisis-affected communities” to support disaster response and recovery efforts of crisis-affected communities following massive flooding in South Kivu province. The project undertakes activities such as the development of an early warning system, public awareness, […]

GOAL uses an approach called ‘Resilience for Systems’ or R4S to understand why systems that poor communities depend on, such as local fishing industries and urban markets for agricultural produce, are vulnerable to shocks and stresses. This knowledge enables GOAL and its partners to work with those communities and relevant actors to strengthen the systems […]

Climate change poses huge challenges for Dominican Republic, an island that regularly experiences hurricanes, already suffers from stress on water resources, and whose main industry is tourism. IRMA was approached by DAI to guide a climate risk assessment focusing on the island’s coastal areas. For this, IRMA used the participatory GIZ methodology and worked closely […]

In Quibdo, in the Pacific region of Colombia, informal extraction of gold using mercury, and the chemical processes carried out in the associated jewellery industry, create serious environmental and health risks. UNEP contracted IRMA to produce a case study highlighting the risks of the current practices and potential risk reduction measures that could be applied […]

As part of our continuous technical support to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Guatemala, IRMA designed and conducted the first round of a “Training of Trainers” on the incorporation of environmental considerations in humanitarian response to population displacement in Guatemala. Following a positive evaluation of the first round, IRMA conducted a second round […]

Have you ever wondered what happened after a project was implemented? Were you able to return to project areas several years after a project ended? Are the changes brought about by a project sustained after the project ends? If so, why? What do people in the communities think about the project? Such questions are all […]

APELL (Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at the Local Level) is a process designed by UN Environment to identify and raise awareness of risks and dangers, to initiate measures to reduce risks and prevent and mitigate accidents and to establish a coordinated preparation between the local industry, the authorities and the population. The Environmental Research […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core areas of expertise. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected people by providing legal aid, including information, counselling, and direct legal assistance. ICLA also focuses on building local capacity and advocating for […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

Photo credit: NRC The measurement and evaluation of the prevention of violence in Protection Programmes are challenging for many reasons. A relationship of trust is needed for communities to be willing to share information about issues affecting their safety, and even when trust existed, establishing a causal relationship between interventions and a reduction in violence […]

In 2020, the IFRC commissioned IRMA to develop the BPI Training Programme in collaboration with the Swedish Red Cross. The purpose of the training is to support participants to navigate many evolving dynamics while carefully promoting conflict sensitive program management (CSPM). The core elements of BPI are: Community Engagement The original Do No Harm principle, […]

Between 2016 and November 2019, more than 4.6 million men, women, and children have left Venezuela. The humanitarian and economic and crisis into which the country continues to sink has driven them to seek a better life in neighbouring countries and beyond. UNICEF Ecuador responded to the needs of children, young people and their families […]

NRC is implementing an OFDA-funded project known internally as “Protection and Access through Negotiation” Capacity or PAN-Cap. Overall, NRC projects on access and related issues aim to ensure that the most vulnerable people are protected and able to access humanitarian assistance. With this vision in mind, PAN-Cap aims to: Increase the confidence of field teams […]

NRC aims to track the impact of its programs by assessing contribution to change and internal learning processes.  Among its Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA) objectives, one of NRC ‘sub core competency’ area is Housing, Land & Property (HLP). Selected by NRC as one of the global thematic reviews for 2019, IRMA was commissioned […]

IRMA evaluated NRC’s longstanding ICLA programme in Colombia that provides legal advisory services to IDPs to facilitate their access to humanitarian aid and housing, land and property rights. The evaluation was carried out on the cusp of the Peace Process and included recommendations for ICLA in new scenarios in Colombia.

In September of 2017, Hurricane Irma impacted several Caribbean islands, Sint Maarten being one of the worst-affected with damages estimated to be $2.5 billion. The Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) launched a response called “The Netherlands helps St. Maarten” and, following the delivery of emergency aid, shifted to Recovery in the areas of roof repair, (re)construction […]

In 2007, the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) was born with a mission to support CSOs around the world make the world a safer place in the face of disasters. Today, GNDR comprises 1,734 organizations from 130 countries. GNDR was granted USAID BHA funding for the project “Locally-led humanitarian solutions: […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

Photo credit:  WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud IRMA partners Marilise Turnbull (Team Leader) and Lezlie Moriniere (Senior Evaluator) conducted a strategic evaluation the 2011 WFP policy on disaster risk reduction and management and the 2017 climate change policy. The evaluation assessed the quality and results of both policies, along with the factors that enabled and hindered those […]

Fragile, conflict affected situations or ‘fragile settings’ have among the weakest health systems and worst health indicators in the world. Despite this recognition, however, notable gaps in research and tools linking health and fragility remain. For actors working to improve health conditions in fragile settings, the absence of an appropriate conceptualization of fragility cast through a health […]

Since 2022, IRMA has been supporting Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR)—a USAID-funded health development project focused on fragile and conflict-affected contexts—to strengthen its understanding of fragility, the implications for health and how to operationalize this knowledge in their health resilience programming. IRMA developed the Context and Fragility Assessment (CFA) Guidance for MIHR in 2023, In […]

In 2023, IRMA LLC, commissioned by Particip, conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the World Food Programme’s strategy in Madagascar. This large-scale evaluation of the 2019-2023 Country Strategic Plan (CSP) aimed to gather evidence for accountability and learning, and has already been used to inform the next CSP. Thanks to direct observations of […]

IRMA led the first fully remote evaluation by design: WFP/Algeria’s Country Strategic Programme Evaluation under Particip (January to October 2021), Anchored in World Food Programme’s Evaluation standards and processes, we managed a team of evaluators from more than 11,100 km away. As all standard methods (Systematic Literature Review, Key Informant Interviews, Focus Group Discussion, photo […]

In September of 2017, Hurricane Irma impacted several Caribbean islands, Sint Maarten being one of the worst-affected with damages estimated to be $2.5 billion. The Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) launched a response called “The Netherlands helps St. Maarten” and, following the delivery of emergency aid, shifted to Recovery in the areas of roof repair, (re)construction […]

In 2016, IFRC commissioned IRMA to produce operational guidance on how to strengthen the resilience of the communities where it works. The guidance – called Road Map to Community Resilience (available in multiple languages)– takes National Societies through a step by step process to engage with communities and support them to carry out their own risk assessments and produce […]

GOAL uses an approach called ‘Resilience for Systems’ or R4S to understand why systems that poor communities depend on, such as local fishing industries and urban markets for agricultural produce, are vulnerable to shocks and stresses. This knowledge enables GOAL and its partners to work with those communities and relevant actors to strengthen the systems […]

IRMA researched and documented the evolution of an inter-agency endeavour to improve cooperation in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.  This story of the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies in Bolivia (CAHB), which was founded in 2008 and is still operational 10 years later, is one of adaptation and resilience, with lessons […]

In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core areas of expertise. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected people by providing legal aid, including information, counselling, and direct legal assistance. ICLA also focuses on building local capacity and advocating for […]

After major humanitarian disaster spanning numerous countries, many key actors come together to promote a system-wide evaluation of the collective, international response. This was the case to examine the response to the Rwanda genocide in 1996, and the 2005 Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC, in).  Again, in 2024, the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition (GEC) was created […]

As part the ongoing support for Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), during 2024 IRMA worked closely with the MIHR resilience team to develop and refine a project planning tool. The tool was developed to accompany staff working in fragile and conflict-affected settings through key steps to build a context-appropriate health resilience strategy. Aligning with context […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

During 2022, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) commissioned IRMA consultants to provide support in Understanding Health and Fragility from a Systems Perspective. Building on this work, in 2023 MIHR further engaged IRMA in a series of projects including: Mapping MIHR assessment tools in relation to how they support programming in relation to fragility, risk and […]

The heart of humanitarian action is to relieve suffering by providing aid when and where it is needed. The concept of Principled Humanitarian Aid (PHA) was created to ensure that aid is provided through unbiased means and with dignity, upholding four key principles that guide humanitarian action: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, and Independence. In Sweden, these […]

Photo credit:  WFP/Sayed Asif Mahmud IRMA partners Marilise Turnbull (Team Leader) and Lezlie Moriniere (Senior Evaluator) conducted a strategic evaluation the 2011 WFP policy on disaster risk reduction and management and the 2017 climate change policy. The evaluation assessed the quality and results of both policies, along with the factors that enabled and hindered those […]

Fragile, conflict affected situations or ‘fragile settings’ have among the weakest health systems and worst health indicators in the world. Despite this recognition, however, notable gaps in research and tools linking health and fragility remain. For actors working to improve health conditions in fragile settings, the absence of an appropriate conceptualization of fragility cast through a health […]

In 2016, the European Commission (EC) committed themselves to integrating the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development into their policy across all sectors. As such, the EC has aimed to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deeply into their external action efforts and policy making. The SDGs are a set of 17 goals aimed […]

In 2024, the global forced displacement crisis reached record levels. According to UNHCR, by June 2024, 122.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This marks a 5% increase from the end of 2023. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that by the end of 2023, […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core competencies. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected individuals by providing legal aid. ICLA also emphasizes building local capacity and advocating for systemic change, enabling individuals to claim their rights and seek […]

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance (ICLA) program is a flagship initiative and one of its core areas of expertise. This specialized legal protection program supports displaced and conflict-affected people by providing legal aid, including information, counselling, and direct legal assistance. ICLA also focuses on building local capacity and advocating for […]

After major humanitarian disaster spanning numerous countries, many key actors come together to promote a system-wide evaluation of the collective, international response. This was the case to examine the response to the Rwanda genocide in 1996, and the 2005 Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC, in).  Again, in 2024, the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition (GEC) was created […]

As part the ongoing support for Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), during 2024 IRMA worked closely with the MIHR resilience team to develop and refine a project planning tool. The tool was developed to accompany staff working in fragile and conflict-affected settings through key steps to build a context-appropriate health resilience strategy. Aligning with context […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR), funded by USAID, works in fragile settings on voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). A critical aspect of MIHR’s work is focused on strengthening health resilience. Though the concept that has gained increased attention in the recent years, there is still a […]

Funded by USAID, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) is engaged in strengthening Health Resilience in fragile settings to support “people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). As the lead technical specialist […]

During 2022, Momentum Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) commissioned IRMA consultants to provide support in Understanding Health and Fragility from a Systems Perspective. Building on this work, in 2023 MIHR further engaged IRMA in a series of projects including: Mapping MIHR assessment tools in relation to how they support programming in relation to fragility, risk and […]

Anticipatory action (AA) is a set of normally pre-financed tools designed to act on early warning and mitigate crises before they escalate, protecting lives and livelihoods. While highly effective for rapid-onset disasters like floods and hurricanes, AA has struggled to demonstrate value for prolonged emergencies, such as drought. With climate-related events becoming more frequent, aid […]

Fragile, conflict affected situations or ‘fragile settings’ have among the weakest health systems and worst health indicators in the world. Despite this recognition, however, notable gaps in research and tools linking health and fragility remain. For actors working to improve health conditions in fragile settings, the absence of an appropriate conceptualization of fragility cast through a health […]

In 2016, the European Commission (EC) committed themselves to integrating the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development into their policy across all sectors. As such, the EC has aimed to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deeply into their external action efforts and policy making. The SDGs are a set of 17 goals aimed […]

In 2016, the European Commission (EC) committed themselves to integrating the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development into their policy across all sectors. As such, the EC has aimed to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deeply into their external action efforts and policy making. The SDGs are a set of 17 goals aimed […]

Climate change poses huge challenges for Dominican Republic, an island that regularly experiences hurricanes, already suffers from stress on water resources, and whose main industry is tourism. IRMA was approached by DAI to guide a climate risk assessment focusing on the island’s coastal areas. For this, IRMA used the participatory GIZ methodology and worked closely […]

While climate change continues to wreak havoc on children and their communities at an accelerating pace, there is a lack of robust evidence on the most promising climate risk solutions tailored to children. Save the Children’s Generation Hope report (2022) stressed that the climate crisis affects children most due to their physical and emotional development, […]

Save the Children is a leading humanitarian and development child rights organization that strove to ensure all children are protected, educated, and healthy. Save the Children implements child-sensitive food security and livelihoods (FSL) programs to support these goals through discrete projects in many of the most food insecure places in the world. In pursuit of […]

With humanitarian operating environments becoming progressively more complex and challenging, UNICEF has been expanding their use of third-party monitoring (TPM) in order to ensure and maintain systematic field monitoring. Outsourcing monitoring to third-parties, however, has come with some recognized challenges and in 2019/2020 UNICEF commissioned IRMA to explore the organization’s approach to and the quality and effectiveness of its […]

Increasingly complex operating environments and diminishing resources present an array of challenges for humanitarian agencies in the delivery of timely, predictable and quality humanitarian assistance to crisis-affected populations; not least among these is how to ensure direct and systematic programme monitoring for both compliance and learning. This has led many agencies to increasingly rely on […]

Between 2016 and November 2019, more than 4.6 million men, women, and children have left Venezuela. The humanitarian and economic and crisis into which the country continues to sink has driven them to seek a better life in neighbouring countries and beyond. UNICEF Ecuador responded to the needs of children, young people and their families […]

IRMA was commissioned by Save the Children to conduct research to address a critical gap in Child Centred DRR and to strengthen the capacity of effectively scaling up CCDRR initiatives, including Comprehensive School Safety (CSS). Led by Marilise and Lezlie, this research was guided by Dr. Hannah Vaughn-Lee and Isabelle Bremaud as IRMA Associates, as […]

Plan International commissioned IRMA to conduct a Strategic Review to appraise their DRM achievements and to contribute to defining the future focus and approach for Plan International as a gender transformative DRM actor. The Review process involved 108 interviews with internal and external informants, an e-survey in which 599 staff members participated, visits to three […]

IRMA carried out an in-depth study of Save’s DRR and CCA approach to disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CAA) programming. This included producing a global map of their recent and current projects, evaluating the relevance and effectiveness of their work to date, and identifying good practices and learning across the portfolio and […]