Evaluation of Emergency Relief for Earthquake Response in Afghanistan 2025-2026

Background

On 31 August 2025, a powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern region of Afghanistan, causing extensive destruction and loss of life. In total, up to 84,000 people have been directly affected, with thousands displaced from their homes. The humanitarian impact is severe, and during the onset of the disaster more than 498,000 people urgently required health assistance.

Afghanistan Red Crescent Society, together with its movement partners, responded immediately following the onset of the emergency. Danish Red Cross were one of the partners supporting ARCS’ emergency response - guided by the ARCS Response Plan. DRC’s support is primarily directed toward the ARCS-led response, implemented through a bilateral modality coordinated by the DRC Country Office.

The overall objective of the emergency intervention is: To provide life-saving, gender-sensitive, and inclusive emergency assistance to earthquake-affected households by meeting urgent needs in shelter, cash, health, and MHPSS, while strengthening community resilience and protection during the critical early recovery period.

Main activities included

• Hot meal support in ARCS managed temporarily camps.
• Provision of solar systems sets for increased access to light, electricity and protection.
• Health services in camps, including continued deployment of mobile health teams and the operation of one health camp.
• Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services including setting up child friendly facilities.
• Multi-purpose cash to cover basic food and non-food needs.
• Provision of winterization items to keep families warm in the winter.
• Livelihood support to affected families.
• Sanitation services in camps, ensuring access to safe water, hygiene promotion, and maintenance of sanitation facilities.

The initial response plan was formulated on the first week of the response following the onset of disaster on 31st August, and the funding was confirmed on September 5th 2025. The first round of implementation activities started immediately. The Emergency response has been funded through several funding streams.

Against this backdrop, DRC together with ARCS have decided to carry out an external evaluation of the emergency intervention.

Purpose
The overall purpose of this evaluation is to assess the emergency response and relief activities addressing critical needs of the population affected by the earthquake in Afghanistan and to identify key learnings at operational and programmatic level for ARCS, DRC partnership as well as more broadly for the Movement partners in the multilateral response.

Objectives

In particular, the evaluation will follow the four objectives:

1. Assess the timeliness and relevance of the emergency response supported by DRC and ARCS with a focus on DRC’s added value to the emergency response.
2. Explore and document the key operational and programmatic decisions and assess them through the lens of appropriateness, coverage, connectedness, and coordination.
3. Explore the perceptions, benefits and outcomes for the affected communities focusing on the targeted population supported under the emergency intervention.
4. Identify lessons learned and recommendations to strengthen future emergency responses for ARCS and for the ARCS-DRC partnership.

Scope
The scope of the evaluation is expected to cover the entire emergency response by DRC through ARCS. Main funding contribution is Novo Nordisk. The intervention has been carried out over the course of approx. 8 months. The evaluation is expected to take place in Kabul with travel to the affected areas as well as online interviews with DRC HQ.

Research questions
The research questions below are intended to provide an introduction into the analytical framework for the evaluation to succeed in delivering on the four objectives above.

TIMELINESS APPROPRIATENESS

• To what extent has the emergency intervention responded to the needs of the population and how has it been evidenced?
• How do affected people perceive the timeliness, relevance, and quality of assistance?
• To what extent has the emergency been timely and relevant to the affected population?

COVERAGE

• How appropriate and sufficient was the coverage of the humanitarian response in relation to identified needs?
• How well is the response addressing protection, gender and inclusion, including for girls, boys, women and men in vulnerable circumstances?
• Did the action reach its target population?
• Do people feel that their priorities are understood and addressed?

COORDINATION

• How effective were coordination mechanisms in ensuring that crisis-affected populations received timely, complementary, and non-duplicative assistance?
• To what extent did coordination among humanitarian actors/Movement partners contribute to coherent, complementary, and gap-free assistance for crisis-affected communities?
• What has been DRC’s added value in the emergency response?
• What have been good practices, challenges and lessons learned in coordination: Within the Movement, both between National Societies (were relevant) and between the NS, PNSs, IFRC and ICRC?

EFFECTIVENESS

• To what extent did the action achieve its intended outcomes for the targeted population?
• What changes can be observed for individuals or households who received assistance?
• Which outcomes were achieved as planned, and which were not?
• What factors influenced the achievement or non-achievement of outcomes (design, timeliness, modality, context)?

CONNECTEDNESS AND BROADER IMPACTS

• To what extent have the emergency project been sufficiently documented?
• To what extent has sustainability been considered from the outset of the emergency? And what needs persist for the affected communities after the intervention ends?
• Have there been any positive or negative unintended consequences of the
• intervention? How have any negative impacts been addressed?

Evaluation Design, Methodology and Approach

The evaluation is expected to include a mixed method approach focusing on desk review of existing documentation, Key Informant Interviews (KII), semi-structured interviews, group discussions, and/or focus group discussion. Stakeholders, partners, staff (ARCS and DRC) and communities are expected to be included in the evaluation. Traveling to response sites is a must.

The evaluation is generally expected to have a utilization-focused approach to ensure that the findings are relevant for ARCS and DRC’s learning and future collaboration. The evaluation should be guided by professional and ethical standards in line with the IFRC’s Evaluation Framework which sets out eight standards on: utility, feasibility, ethics and legality, impartiality and independence, transparency, accuracy, participation and accountability.

While a number of evaluation criteria and candidate research questions are proposed in this ToR, the inception phase offers the consultants and the partners an opportunity to adjust and refine the overall scope of this evaluation.

Deliverables and expected timeline

Selection and meeting with the consultancy team: March 2
Inception report including desk study of background documents and data collection tools: March 16
Feedback from DRC to inception report and tools: March 18
Data collection incl. travel to response site : March. 20
Analysis of findings and draft report: April 17
QA and internal comments from DRC: April 19
Final report to DRC : April 22
Presentation of key learnings for wider organisation : April 29

Total Days (approximately): 30

Deliverables

• Inception report including methodology and interview guides
• Kick-off meeting with DRC and ARCS
• Debriefing and validation of findings after fieldwork
• Evaluation report maximum 25 pages exclusive of a two-page executive summary
• Presentation of findings (1,5 hours)

Qualifications

The consultancy team is expected to have the following qualifications:

• A consultancy team (2-4 people) that is composed of technical experts with at least 10+ years of experience working with evaluations of humanitarian interventions
• Ability to carry out data collection, develop tools, analysis and report writing.
• Ability to travel to Afghanistan or be based in country and able to travel to affected areas
• Experience with facilitation and stakeholder engagement/consultation
• Prior experience of evaluating Red Cross Red Crescent movement emergency responses or similar
• Knowledge of ARCS or the context in Afghanistan is an advantage
• Ability to deliver on the scope of the evaluation exercise within the timeline provided
• 2-3 references from previous evaluations

Due date: February 22, 2026.

How to apply

How to apply

Interested consultant or consultancy teams are requested to submit their CVs highlighting relevant experience and an expression of interest using the format indicated below, not exceeding five pages:

• Brief understanding of the task including methodology (maximum 3 pages)
• Names, roles, responsibilities, and key relevant experience of the team members
• Overview of proposed budget in USD (all-inclusive and clearly separating consultancy fees and other admin and logistics costs)
• Work plan

Based on these submissions, shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview before final selection is made. DRC and ARCS will support in setting up the logistics that is required to carry out the evaluation. The consultancy team is expected to carry out all data collection themselves.

Please submit expression of interest and team description (CVs) to: perkr@rodekors.dk

Due date: February 22, 2026.