Office-specific evaluations
Evaluation of the WHO Community Engagement Research Initiative
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed inequities and service delivery gaps in national and global health systems. These weaknesses reveal the need to reimagine systemic approaches to community engagement, relationship development and trust building in health. The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific led a multi-country Community Engagement Research Initiative to fill critical research gaps and accelerate action in mitigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable populations.
This report offers an evaluation of evaluative action-based research carried out by four country research teams in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Malaysia.
Independent review of WHO’s response to COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
This review was commissioned by the Incident Management Support Team in the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, with the overall purpose of providing an independent, objective and systematic assessment of WHO’s response to COVID-19 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. It covered WHO’s strategy, interventions, operations, performance, results to date and engagement and coordination with partners, and aimed to provide pragmatic suggestions to improve WHO’s prevention of, preparedness for, detection of, response to and recovery from health emergencies.
Independent evaluation of WHO’s response to COVID-19 in Ukraine
The evaluation, commissioned by the WHO Country Office in Ukraine and managed by the WHO Evaluation Office, provided an independent, objective, and systematic assessment of WHO’s preparedness for, and response to, COVID-19 in Ukraine. It addressed WCO Ukraine’s strategy, interventions, operations, performance and results to date, as well as its engagement and coordination with partners towards these same ends. The evaluation's primary timeframe was from early 2020 to December 2021. It also examined key pre-COVID-19 preparedness measures that were in place in early 2020 in terms of supporting/inhibiting WHO’s mobilisation and support efforts. There are 12 recommendations: six directed to the Country Office, and six to regional/global levels. Those directed to the Country Office reflect the country context, findings and conclusions at the time of the evaluation. Moreover, the findings and recommendations provide useful lessons and insights for other WHO Country Offices, Regional Offices and HQ in their COVID-19 responses, noting the need to tailor to respective contexts.
18 October 2022
Independent evaluation of WHO’s response to COVID-19 in Ukraine - Volume 1: Report
18 October 2022
Independent evaluation of WHO’s response to COVID-19 in Ukraine - Volume 2: Annexes
18 October 2022
Independent evaluation of WHO’s response to COVID-19 in Ukraine: Evaluation Brief
Independent Evaluation of WHO’s Whole of Syria (WoS) Response (2021)
The evaluation, commissioned by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), with support from the WHO Evaluation Office, assessed WHO’s emergency response in Syria due to the conflict from 2016-2020, including its strategy, interventions, operations, performance and results, as well as its engagement and coordination with partners toward these same ends. It included operations conducted through the main office in Damascus and sub-offices within Syria, cross border operations from Gaziantep, previous cross-border work from Erbil and Amman, Whole of Syria Health Cluster coordination from Amman, and support and coordination with EMRO, the Regional Office for Europe and headquarters. It generated comprehensive learning on WHO’s operations and performance in Syria, whilst informing WHO’s humanitarian work in emergency contexts elsewhere, the policy and practice of WHO Health Emergencies Programme, and the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13).
Report of the mid-term evaluation of the Transformation Agenda of the WHO Secretariat in the African Region (2017)
The Transformation Agenda of the World Health Organization Secretariat in the African Region 2015-2020 was launched by the Regional Director for Africa in February 2015. Its objective is to ensure that the WHO Secretariat in the African Region evolves into the primary leader in health development in Africa and is a reliable and effective protector of Africa’s health stock. The purpose of this mid-term evaluation was to: review progress in the implementation of the Transformation Agenda; document achievements and best practices; identify challenges and areas for improvement; and provide recommendations on the way forward.
Evaluation of the contribution of the Regional Office for South-East Asia to the implementation of the national immunization programme in Bangladesh, with special emphasis on the surveillance medical officer programme (2016)
The overall objective of this evaluation was to determine the contribution of WHO, in coordination with other agencies, to the success of the NIP/EPI in Bangladesh, and to evaluate the necessity of, and options for, the continuation of current WHO support.
Evaluation of WHO’s contribution to maternal health in the South-East Asia Region (2016)
The purpose of this decentralized evaluation was to evaluate the contribution of WHO to the improvement of maternal health in the South-East Asia Region from 2010 to 2015. It reviewed progress in five countries at different stages of development, namely Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The evaluation had the following objectives:
- understand the scope and diversity in maternal health responses by WHO;
- study the contribution of WHO to the policies, projects and practices in maternal health;
- ascertain strategies that yield good uptake by governments and local partners; and
- identify learning that can be applied to strengthen WHO’s programme in the Region.
African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (2015)
A final evaluation of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control was carried out with the following objectives:
- to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Programme;
- to analyse the Programme’s wider impact and application of lessons learnt;
- to identify best practice and lessons learnt; and
- to make available to all its stakeholders appropriate and relevant data, conclusions and recommendations in order to provide a basis for the next project and/or programme focusing on neglected tropical diseases as there has been a fundamental change in approach from control to elimination of onchocerciasis.
Keeping countries at the centre: assessment of WHO’s performance of its roles and functions in the Pacific, and strengthening country support in the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (2014)
These two external evaluations were commissioned by the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific as part of a series of assessments to gather evidence on its initiatives in the context of the WHO reform since 2009, which included building on a culture of evaluation. The first evaluation analysed the delivery of WHO’s work in the Pacific, as the sub-region’s 21 island States and areas are scattered over the world’s largest ocean, thus requiring a unique response. The second evaluation was done in response to a specific recommendation in a 2012 review to "assess whether the Regional Office is really country-focused".