Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 38 - Discussing inequalities in evaluation of humanitarian action

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024.
This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 38 - Discussing inequalities in evaluation of humanitarian action - contributed by Bonaventure Gbétoho Sokpoh and Tobias Denskus.

From the introduction 
This chapter is based on an interview with Bonaventure Gbétoho Sokpoh (BGS) that was conducted by Tobias Denskus (TD) in May 2022 via Zoom. The chapter presents excerpts from the interview, which were edited for length, clarity, and reading flow. 
In the spirit of the Handbook we inserted academic references to the text afterwards to frame the different sections of the interview. These references point the reader to further academic references, policy guides, practical resources, and evaluation reports. However, the critical reflections from an expert with unique insights into the ‘engine room’ of humanitarian evaluations – as local expert, global evaluator, and transnational advisor on Quality and Accountability represent the centre and heart of this chapter. 
We start the interview by discussing the role of evaluation for humanitarian organisations in the ‘post-1994’ realities after the genocide in Rwanda and the international community’s struggles to learn from this humanitarian catastrophe. We then look at the differences between major types of evaluations and persisting inequalities in the humanitarian sector. We discuss the role of language, traditional evaluation dissemination formats, gender, and emerging technologies in the second half of the interview before we wrap up with final reflections on decolonising humanitarian evaluations and the sector more generally.

Note on contributors 
Bonaventure Gbétoho Sokpoh is Policy and Outreach Senior Advisor at CHS Alliance. 
He advocates for change in policy based on experience with the application of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS). 
He has been working in the humanitarian and development sectors for more than 20 years, conducting humanitarian programme evaluation and operational research, building monitoring systems, and designing and facilitating training sessions. He was born and studied agro-economy in Togo as well as sociology and economics in France.

Tobias Denskus is an associate professor in development studies at Malmö University in Sweden co-directing the blended learning online MA program in Communication for Development which was established in 2000. He has an interdisciplinary profile in peace and conflict, development and media and communication studies. His research focuses on digital development and humanitarian communication topics, and he is also interested in aid worker (auto)biographies as an emerging literary genre.

Overviews are already available for the following chapters: 
Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality – a re-orientation

Humanitarianism and colonialism

Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991

Humanitarianism and the new wars: humanitarianism, security, and securitisation

Humanitarianism, development and peace: a southern perspective

Localisation and the humanitarian sector

Human rights and humanitarianism

Humanitarian organisations: behemoths and butterflies

Faith actors in humanitarianism: dynamics and inequalities

Diaspora assistance

Political solidarity movements and humanitarianism: lessons from Catalonia, Spain (1975–2020)

Subversive humanitarianism

Citizen’s groups and grassroots humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and the military

Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector

Humanitarian organisations as gendered organisations

Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’

Class matters in humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and disability

Media representations of humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and pandemics

Humanitarian technologies

Linguistic inequality in the humanitarian sector: unravelling English-centric multilingualism

Climate change, disasters and humanitarian action

Refugee protection and assistance

Trafficking in persons, long-term vulnerabilities, and humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and Native America

Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Regions

International humanitarianism in East Asia

West Asia and North Africa

Africa’s long fight for humanitarian self-sufficiency

The Latin American experience: inequality's role in shaping humanitarianism

Varieties of European humanitarianism

Humanitarian research ethics and the ethics of research in humanitarian settings

Archives and historical perspectives in researching humanitarianism

Quantitative Methods

Power dynamics in the use of qualitative methods in humanitarianism

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