UNICEF has contracted two HERE members of staff as part of the team that has carried out this assignment.

This evaluation looks at the four UNICEF (co-)led clusters (namely, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene and the child protection area of responsibility) to investigate how UNICEF carries out its Cluster Lead (Co-Lead) Agency (CLA) role at the global, regional and country levels.

A description of UNICEF’s role as CLA appears in the organisation’s Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs): “Support the leadership and coordination of humanitarian response, along with national and local stakeholders, and in compliance with humanitarian principles.” In line with this definition, the evaluation team separated CLA responsibilities into two broad but interlinked categories: coordination and leadership. The evaluation concludes that while UNICEF has generally delivered on the coordination responsibilities of its CLA role, the organisation has not equally performed on the leadership responsibilities.

The evaluation recommends, among other things, that to strengthen accountability and learning, UNICEF should use the knowledge and experience it has gained as CLA, and from evaluations such as this one, to push for a reflection on how clusters can be adapted to the changing context in which humanitarian response takes place and lead changes in the IASC to clarify the underlying tenets of the cluster approach.

You might also be interested in the Review of the Education Cluster Co-Leadership.