In 2012, an estimated 18.7 million people in the Sahel region of West Africa were in need of humanitarian assistance. In a context of chronic food and nutrition insecurity, the overarching driver of the 2012 Sahel crisis was not drought, but greatly eroded resilience. In this context, CARE seeks to determine how its future work can contribute to innovative and sustainable approaches to improve resilience capacity of chronically food insecure communities and CARE impact groups.
This independent evaluation complies with CARE's accountability framework and learning policy for humanitarian action. In 2012, CARE had already undertaken its own After Action Reviews (AAR) of its emergency interventions. The focus of this external evaluation is more on CARE's performance and effectiveness relative to its stated strategies, and to identify high level strategic lessons and recommendations which apply at a regional and global level, expanding on (or validating) the conclusions of the national level AARs.