Evaluation and Research
Policy Development and Evaluation
Based in Geneva, UNHCR's small Policy Development and Evaluation Service is committed to the systematic examination and assessment of UNHCR policies, programmes, projects and practices. PDES also promotes rigorous research on issues related to the work of UNHCR and encourages an active exchange of ideas and information between humanitarian practitioners, policymakers and the research community.
All of these activities are undertaken with the purpose of strengthening UNHCR's operational effectiveness, thereby enhancing the organization's capacity to fulfil its mandate on behalf of refugees and other persons of concern to the Office. The work of the unit is guided by the principles of transparency, independence, consultation, relevance and integrity.
Areas covered by PDES since mid-2012 include: Emergency response; protection and solutions; urban refugees; protracted refugee situations; refugee youth; sexual and gender-based violence; external relations and advisory functions.
UNHCR Evaluation Reports
- Building Communities of Practice for Urban Refugees - Americas Regional Workshop Report
- Building Communities of Practice for Urban Refugees - Brazil Roundtable Report.
- A review of UNHCR's engagement with the 'Delivering as One' (DaO) Initiative
- Protection from Xenophobia: An Evaluation of UNHCR's Regional Office for Southern Africa's Xenophobia Related Programmes.
- Formative Evaluation of the Refugee Status Determination (RSD). Transition Process in Kenya.
New Issues in Refugee Research
- A Socio-Economic Review of Japan's Resettlement Pilot Project. Barbara Treviranus, Sayaka Osanami Törngren
- Shouting towards the Sky: the role of religious individuals, communities, organisations and institutions in support for refugees and asylum seekers. Christine Goodall
- Forced Migration and the Myanmar Peace Process. Ashley South & Kim Jolliffe
- Asylum in the Republic of Croatia one year after accession to the European Union. Jasna Barberić
- Tested at the Margins: the Contingent Rights of Displaced Iraqi Children in Jordan. Jason Hart and Anna Kvittingen
Key UNHCR policies
A collection of UNHCR policy statements on key global and thematic issues.
- UNHCR Policy on Alternatives to Camps
- UNHCR Age, Gender and Diversity Policy: Working with people and communities for equality and protection
- UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness - A Strategy Note
- UNHCR policy on refugee protection and solutions in urban areas
- UNHCR Policy Paper: Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective
Protracted Refugee Situations
A wide-ranging collection of UNHCR documents on the issue of protracted refugee situations.