[CRS] joint emergency operation (JEOP 1.0) : final performance evaluation report

JEOP programmatic activities are centered around the provision of emergency food assistance. The evaluation covered the implementation period from August 2012 to April-2022 and aimed to assess two Strategic Objectives (SO): • SO1: Transitory food insecure populations have met their emergency food needs, and • SO2: Targeted households protect their assets. Additionally, the evaluation assessed how management, implementation and external factors affected results. A mixed research approach was employed combining qualitative and quantitative methods. JEOP implementation areas included Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR), Sidama, Tigray and Dire Dawa City Administration. Sampling involved grouping the target woredas (127) into 35 clusters based on geographic proximity, historical administrative structure, and livelihood systems. The target sample size was 12,600 participant households, with 11,727 achieved due to inaccessibility of some woredas in Oromia and Tigray. The evaluation found that JEOP was instrumental in supporting transitory food insecure households and had a limited impact in reducing stress sale of productive assets. Agriculture is the main means of livelihood in all regions, although reliance on agriculture decreased, while reliance on relief assistance and remittance/family support grew in Tigray following the conflict. Moderate levels of food insecurity were found in all regions. Causes of vulnerability varied across regions, with the most common factors being environmental shocks (primarily recurrent drought/ shortage of rain, flooding, low soil fertility), compounded by conflicts. Challenges that affected program implementation included partial family targeting, distribution delays, targeting errors and bias. An important lesson from the decade-long implementation period is the need for JEOP to form and/or strengthen linkages with development initiatives as an ongoing exit strategy, which has the potential to strengthen community resilience and possibly reduce the need for aid. This sentiment was repeatedly expressed by multiple participants, non-participants, and GoE representatives.