A Mokoro team led by Stephen Lister undertook an independent organisational evaluation of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN’s global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises (EiEPC). The evaluation covered the period since ECW’s inception in 2017, and focused on the strategic plan period from April 2018 to the end of 2022. The evaluation was intended to help shape ECW’s next strategic plan, for 2023–2026.
The evaluation’s task was to assess ECW’s achievements and lessons learned so far, and to provide recommendations on how ECW can further strengthen its systems, strategies, and programme modalities. The evaluation was expected to build on recent evaluations of ECW’s First Emergency Response (FER) and Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) modalities, to incorporate an evaluation of its Acceleration Facility (AF), and to examine how well ECW’s organisation has supported the AF’s performance. The evaluation paid special attention to gender and equity dimensions.
A mixed-method, theory-based approach was used. Along with an inferred theory of change that helped to refine the evaluation questions and shape a full evaluation framework. This was supported by an analytical framework for organisational fitness, which linked three levels of analysis: ECW’s role in the global system for EiEPC; the configuration of ECW at organisational and institutional level; and, at operational level, the deployment of ECW’s modalities and instruments. Data was collected against the evaluation framework by methods that included: a synthesis of findings from the earlier evaluations; an evaluation of the AF; extensive review of documents and analysis of data; observation of High Level Steering Groups and Executive Committee meetings; and over 120 interviews and discussions within ECW and the wider EiEPC community. The evaluation also drew on the consultations being conducted in parallel as part of the preparation of ECW’s next strategic plan.
The evaluation drew on performance data collected by the ECW Secretariat. It did not conduct country-level studies, since it drew on the earlier FER and MYRP evaluations. Interviews were largely remote, on account of Covid-19 restrictions, but there were face-to-face interviews with almost all the Secretariat’s staff in New York and Geneva. The evaluation was prepared under exceptional time pressure in order to be useful to the ongoing ECW strategic plan preparation. The extensive work conducted by the evaluation team resulted in a final evaluation report, which includes findings, conclusions and recommendations.
