February 2007
TEC Update 12
Dear Colleagues
It has now been two years since the founding of the TEC in
February 2005, and the work of the TEC Secretariat, based at ALNAP
in London, is almost complete. This short Update brings you news of
two things: first, important ongoing TEC work; second, recently
completed work with links to key documents.
Ongoing TEC Work
There are some outstanding pieces of work associated with the TEC.
These will now be managed by the ALNAP Secretariat in ongoing
collaboration with TEC member agencies. This work constitutes:
- Tracking the take-up of the TEC recommendations over the longer
term: This will be led by the ALNAP Secretariat.
- Follow-up workshops: TEC member agencies intend to organise a
number of follow-up workshops associated with tracking the take-up
of the TEC recommendations. These have been proposed for Geneva in
July 2007 (around the time of ECOSOC) and Kobe, Japan, in January
2008 at the time of the annual Asian Disaster Reduction Centre
annual meeting (no consultation has yet happened with ADRC about
this). The intention of this meeting is to increase ownership of
the TEC recommendations by the affected countries.
- Phase II of the linking relief, rehabilitation and development
(LRRD) thematic evaluation: This will be led by Sida, in
collaboration with other TEC member agencies. Anyone who is
interested in this should contact Stefan Dahlgren on
stefan.dahlgren@sida.se
- Completion of a journal article on joint evaluation: Also
managed by the ALNAP Secretariat, this piece of work will pull
together all learning from the TEC and put it in the wider context
of joint evaluation in the humanitarian sector.
- Ongoing dissemination and communication of TEC findings and
recommendations in the affected region: this is being led by TEC
member agency AIDMI. Contact: Mihir Bhatt on
dmi@icenet.co.in
For more information about the overall progress on this work
please contact Maurice Herson at the ALNAP Secretariat:
m.herson@odi.org.uk Also,
the TEC website will remain live and updates will still be posted
there: www.tsunami-evaluation.org
Recently Completed TEC Work
Expanded Summary of the Synthesis
Report
Many of you have asked for a shortened version of the TEC Synthesis
Report. We are pleased to announce that this has now been completed
and can be found at:
http://www.tsunami-evaluation.org/NR/rdonlyres/32424F75-2C95-41BB-8D22-FA6867C67A96/0/Syn_Report_Sum.pdf
This 'Expanded Summary' has been written with the busy
humanitarian professional in mind. It represents the TEC's
commitment to making its findings and recommendations as widely
available as possible. As with the full Synthesis Report, this
summary clearly describes the tsunami context and the disaster
response. Its main focus, however, is on the four key
recommendations of the Synthesis Report and some of the practical
implications of taking these forward. In comparison with the full
175-page Synthesis, the language and contents of this report have
been simplified, and the figures and photographs increase its
accessibility as well as create a useful reference guide. We
anticipate that this Summary will be translated into the affected
country local languages.
To order copies of this publication, please contact Sarah Skeels
on:
s.skeels@odi.org.uk
TEC Recommendation Matrices
The TEC has also consolidated all the
recommendations from the Synthesis Report and the five thematic
evaluations into one document for ease of reference. This can also
be found on the TEC website at:
http://www.tsunami-evaluation.org/NR/rdonlyres/60B4A417-43CA-4B2A-A4EE-E208F10760E7/0/SynthReport_Tables.pdf
Results of the TEC Survey
Questionnaire
As you know, learning from the TEC joint evaluation process has
been one of the three core aims of the TEC. Does the model we
adopted for this joint evaluation work? What are its pros and cons?
What might the humanitarian sector do differently next time? To
this end the TEC has facilitated three After Action Reviews: two
with the Core Management Group (CMG) of the TEC and one with the
evaluation team leaders and team members. These are all available
on the TEC website.
In order to augment this learning the TEC also conducted a
survey questionnaire with colleagues in agencies that have
participated in the TEC in a number of other ways (ie, not as part
of the CMG or in one of the evaluation teams): either through
funding the Secretariat or the thematic studies; participating in
one or more of the evaluation steering committees or working
groups; providing comments and feedback on the communications
strategy and plan; or those who simply wanted to be kept informed
about developments in the Coalition. Questions in the short survey
covered five areas: 'getting started'; purpose and scope; TEC
communications; costs and benefits; and going forward.
These responses have now been consolidated into a summary
document and this can be found on the website at:
http://www.tsunami-evaluation.org/NR/rdonlyres/BC705D46-41B3-4521-B856-1D6D2EC2A38C/0/TECSurvey.pdf
Members Section on the Website
Finally, and just to remind those of you who are continuing to
share TEC lessons and recommendations, including about the joint
evaluation process itself: various off-the-shelf presentations are
also available from the Members Section of the TEC website. For a
log-in please contact Sarah Skeels on:
s.skeels@odi.org.uk
It remains for me to say that it has been a privilege to have
been involved in this exciting and innovative project since its
founding two years ago in February 2005. It has been a real
professional and personal journey, and a pleasure to have met, and
/ or to have worked virtually with, many of you.
With warm wishes
Rachel Houghton
Coordinator, Tsunami Evaluation Coalition
(at the ALNAP Secretariat)
Tel: +44 (0)207 922 0372
www.tsunami-evaluation.org