Combined evaluation of the EU's humanitarian interventions in Central Africa and of DG ECHO's partnership with UNICEF 2019-2023

This evaluation of the European Union's (EU) humanitarian interventions in central Africa (CA) 2019-2023 aims to serve learning and accountability purposes. It focuses on four countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, and Nigeria, and the main components of EU humanitarian interventions: people in need of assistance; DG ECHO responses managed through the annual Humanitarian Implementation Plan (HIP) process; a portfolio of funded actions implemented by DG ECHO partners; and intended humanitarian outcomes. According to the intervention logic, the ultimate goal of EU humanitarian interventions in CA during 2019-2023 was to work through the interagency responses in each country to deliver a prioritized needs-based EU response across seven key sectors that helped save lives, reduce suffering, and safeguard human dignity. EU humanitarian interventions in CA involved DG ECHO allocating EUR 666m and supporting 299 projects across the four countries during 2019-2023, with the largest share (25%) going to food security and livelihoods. But DG ECHO responses evolved significantly during this period. In 2019, the HIP addressed acute and protracted needs in Cameroon, CAR, and Chad with funding worth EUR 63.8m. By 2023, the HIP addressed rapidly growing needs in the wider West and Central Africa (WCA) region including Nigeria, with funding worth EUR 279m. During this time the region faced deteriorating crises and increasing needs, mostly in the Lake Chad Basin, CAR and its refugee outflows, the Northwest/Southwest provinces of Cameroon, and North Central and Northwest Nigeria. DG ECHO was confronted with a constellation of worsening crises, new crises, and external shocks (including COVID-19 and its effects); competing priorities across the countries; growing funding gaps; access constraints; and a lack of concrete Nexus opportunities.