As humanitarian needs intensified amid increasingly complex crises and shrinking resources, the demand for credible, timely, and useful evidence became even more important. At the same time, conducting evaluations in resource-constrained, fragile and conflict-affected settings continued to present distinct operational, ethical, and methodological challenges.
Evaluators and commissioners faced limited access, security risks, data scarcity, political sensitivities, and constrained budgets. Through a facilitated discussion, speakers reflected on the key challenges they had encountered and the strategies they had used to address them. These included designing evaluations under severe resource and time limitations; adapting methodologies to contexts with restricted access or unreliable data; managing risks related to staff safety and ethical considerations; and navigating power dynamics between international and local actors. Particular attention was given to how organizations worked to ensure that evaluations remained useful and actionable despite these constraints.
By the end of the webinar, participants had gained a clearer understanding of practical strategies for commissioning and conducting evaluations in constrained environments, as well as a deeper appreciation of the contextual factors that influenced evaluation quality and use. They also had the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences, learn from others, and exchange ideas on what worked, what did not, and why.
SPEAKERS
Sarah Gharbi: Sarah joined ALNAP in 2023. She has over fifteen years’ experience from the humanitarian and development sectors. Sarah joined ALNAP after several years at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) where she worked as a Senior Evaluation Advisor. She has also worked for several humanitarian NGOs and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, as a researcher and evaluator, as well as with community-based programming. Sarah specialises in evaluation of humanitarian action.
Diane ABI KHALIL | Senior Evaluation Officer, Independent Office of Evaluation - IFAD: Senior Evaluation Officer at IOE, responsible for conducting Country Strategy and Programme Evaluations. Previously, she worked at FAO's Office of Evaluation as an Evaluation Specialist where she led evaluations of the emergency and resilience portfolio. Prior to this she worked as an evaluation consultant. Diane has also worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross in different contexts.
Anupam Anand | Program Manager - Biodiversity & Methods, Independent Evaluation Office - Global Environment Facility (GEF): Senior Evaluation Officer at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Independent Evaluation Office. He has nearly two decades of experience evaluating environmental and climate interventions across diverse country contexts, including fragile and conflict-affected settings, and has led the GEF evaluation of support in such contexts. His work combines geospatial analysis, AI-assisted methods, quasi-experimental designs, and field-based approaches to generate evidence for policy and practice. He publishes widely on evaluation methods and environmental governance and teaches regularly at IPDET.
Adeyinka Timothy | M&E Officer/Evaluation Manager, World Food Programme (WFP): An Agric Economist and monitoring, evaluation, research, and assessment professional with over 10 years of experience in food security, impact evaluation, agricultural economics, market systems development, and humanitarian programming. He currently serves as Deputy Head of Research, Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation (RAM) and Evaluation Manager with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Nigeria, where he provides strategic leadership on evidence generation, monitoring systems, evaluations, and data-driven decision-making. Adeyinka has led and managed decentralized and joint evaluations, Country Strategic Plan reviews, and large-scale monitoring systems, while providing technical support to governments, donors, and development partners. He previously covered for 3 months as WFP Regional Monitoring Advisor for West and Central Africa, supporting 19 country offices on monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance. He holds an MSc in Agricultural Economics, is pursuing a PhD in the field, and is passionate about strengthening evidence-based decision-making, accountability, and learning.
Mohammed Ziaulhaq Lamea | CEO, Malan Ideal Impact: MEAL and research specialist with more than 13 years of experience in the humanitarian and development sectors. He has been an organizational leader and has managed large-scale assignments for multilateral and bilateral organizations, as well as their implementing partners, including the former USAID, FCDO, and the United Nations, among others. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Malan Ideal Impact, an evaluation and research consulting firm based in Kabul, Afghanistan, that provides services to humanitarian and development organizations.
Domagoj Vrbos, He joined IAES in April 2024 as the Senior Manager for Operations and Events. His role is to manage operational and event-related tasks of the Independent Science for Development Council (ISDC) and provide guidance to IAES on administrative policies and procedures. Domagoj holds a Graduate Degree in Business Administration from the University of Zagreb (Croatia) and a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy).
Following 15 years of work with international organizations in the agrifood space, Domagoj brings experience from humanitarian, science-based and cooperation standpoints. Prior to this assignment, he was a team leader in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma, where he was providing advice on the design, planning and monitoring of EFSA’s communication of scientific advice from farm to fork. His recent publications focus on research in areas within the remit of the EU food safety system and the science of risk communication. Before EFSA, Domagoj spent 10 years with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), working as a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and performance and risk management officer in Rome and Bangkok.
Domagoj is a Croatian national and speaks fluent English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.