Evaluation context
Over the past three decades, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has expanded its engagement across diverse migration-related fields, addressing challenges through initiatives in humanitarian assistance, migration health, protection, and migration governance. Aligned with IOM’s commitment to humane and orderly migration, IOM Egypt works closely with the Government of Egypt and key stakeholders to support national responses to mixed migration flows and displacement crises, while strengthening migration governance and social cohesion.
The project “Protection and Resilience in Vulnerable Migrant Populations Affected by the Sudan Conflict” was designed as an emergency response to the large-scale displacement resulting from the conflict in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023. As of December 2024, according to data reported by the Government of Egypt through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), more than 1.2 million individuals fleeing Sudan have entered Egypt, including Sudanese nationals and third-country nationals (TCNs), many of whom arrived in highly vulnerable conditions. These populations face compounded risks related to protection, food insecurity, housing instability, limited access to health care, psychosocial distress, and exposure to gender-based violence (GBV), trafficking, and exploitation, against a backdrop of economic pressures and strained public services in Egypt.
The project aims to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience among conflict-affected migrant populations through the provision of integrated protection and health assistance. Interventions include access to protection services, legal counselling, multi-purpose cash assistance, medical care, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), and capacity building for national institutions, healthcare providers, and community actors. The project is implemented by IOM Egypt with the support of the Government of Japan, in close coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Egyptian Healthcare Authority (EHA) and other partners. Activities are primarily implemented in Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan, and other governorates hosting high numbers of Sudanese arrivals.
The intervention aligns with Egypt’s national priorities, IOM’s strategic objectives, and global frameworks including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Humanitarian–Development–Peace Nexus (HDPN).
Project Objective:
To contribute to enhanced self-reliance and reduced vulnerabilities in vulnerable migrant communities fleeing the conflict in Sudan.
This objective is pursued through the following interdependent outcomes:
- Outcome 1: Vulnerable Sudanese migrants fleeing the conflict in Sudan, including women and girls, experience reduced vulnerability and increased resilience through the provision of protection assistance including mental health and psychosocial support.
Output 1.1: Increased and improved access to individual assistance and legal counselling services through streamlined needs assessment and registration processes.
Output 1.2: Vulnerable migrants have increased access to tailored assistance through case-by-case needs assessments based on vulnerability criteria.
- Outcome 2: Vulnerable migrants experience improved access to and utilization of medical services, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS).
Output 2.1: MoHP healthcare providers are equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify and address mental health and psychosocial concerns among migrants, with a focus on women and girls.
Output 2.2: Vulnerable migrants, including women and girls, have improved access to specialized MHPSS services, direct medical assistance, and health care packages, resulting in increased awareness of mental health issues and strengthened peer support within their communities.
As of the mid-point of implementation, the project has provided comprehensive assistance to 10,626 individuals, progressing toward an overall target of 29,950 direct beneficiaries. Achievements to date include the establishment of accessible protection and intake mechanisms, with 5,213 hotline calls handled to facilitate registration, referrals, and follow-up support, and 3,780 individuals registered and screened for assistance across Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan. Protection interventions have included multi-purpose cash assistance to 912 vulnerable migrants, prioritizing households facing acute risks such as eviction, chronic illness, disability, or high dependency ratios.
In the health and psychosocial sectors, 283 migrants accessed direct medical assistance covering consultations, diagnostics, specialist referrals, and treatment for acute, chronic, maternal, and disability-related conditions. Community-based mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) activities reached 201 participants, including women, children, and high-risk individuals, through awareness sessions, support groups, and family-focused activities. In parallel, 144 community leaders, volunteers, and frontline actors were trained to strengthen community-level psychosocial support, early identification of needs, and referral pathways. Collectively, these achievements reflect steady progress toward the project’s intended outcomes and provide a solid basis for assessing relevance, effectiveness, coordination, and implementation performance across sectors and geographic areas.
Evaluation purpose and objective
The final evaluation of the project “Protection and Resilience in Vulnerable Migrant Populations Affected by the Sudan Conflict” will assess the extent to which the project has achieved its stated objective and intended outcomes, with a focus on progress toward the results outlined in the project results framework. The evaluation will examine the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, and sustainability of the intervention in responding to the protection and health needs of vulnerable migrants affected by the Sudan conflict in Egypt. It will analyze what worked well, what did not, under what conditions, and why, while identifying key enabling and constraining factors that influenced implementation. The evaluation will also document lessons learned, highlight good practices, and identify operational and contextual challenges to inform future programming.
The evaluation is conducted at this stage to capture evidence from the full implementation period, building on interim monitoring data and documented results, and to ensure that findings can be used to strengthen accountability, learning, and strategic decision-making at both country and regional levels.
The evaluation findings will inform the following audiences and uses:
Project and Programme Management, to support evidence-based decision-making, assess implementation performance, and inform the design and delivery of future protection and migration health interventions;
IOM Senior Management and the Regional Office, to assess alignment with institutional priorities, strategic approaches to crisis response, and organizational effectiveness in responding to large-scale displacement;
Government counterparts and implementing partners (including MoFA and MoHP), to support reflection on partnership modalities, coordination mechanisms, and service delivery approaches;
The donor, particularly the Government of Japan, to assess results, value for money, and the contribution of the project to addressing humanitarian needs arising from the Sudan crisis, and to inform decisions on future support;
Humanitarian and coordination partners (UN agencies, NGOs, and CBOs), to share learning, promote complementarity, and enhance coordination in migration and displacement responses.
Ultimately, the evaluation will support IOM and its partners in demonstrating accountability, strengthening institutional learning, refining programmatic strategies, and informing future interventions aimed at reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing resilience among conflict-affected migrant populations in Egypt.
Evaluation scope
The evaluation will cover the full implementation period of the project “Protection and Resilience in Vulnerable Migrant Populations Affected by the Sudan Conflict”, from March 2025 to March 2026. It will assess the entire project cycle, including project design, planning, and implementation phases.
The evaluation will focus on activities implemented primarily across Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan with the need to travel to these locations.
The evaluation will assess the following key project components:
Protection Assistance and Direct Support:
Including registration and intake mechanisms, legal information and counselling, multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA), non-food items (NFIs), and protection-oriented case management delivered to vulnerable migrants.
Health and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS):
Assessing access to and utilization of direct medical assistance, community-based MHPSS services, awareness-raising activities, and referral pathways for specialized care.
Capacity Building and Institutional Support:
Reviewing support provided to national and community-level actors, including healthcare providers, community leaders, volunteers, and partner organizations, to strengthen protection and health responses.
Community-Based Engagement and Resilience:
Assessing activities aimed at strengthening community-level support systems, peer support mechanisms, and engagement of migrant communities in protection and MHPSS interventions.
Expected Outputs
The evaluation is expected to generate:
Good practices and operational lessons learned;
Practical and actionable recommendations for future programming;
Identification of implementation challenges and bottlenecks;
Analysis to inform the design of similar humanitarian and migration response interventions.
Cross-Cutting Themes
The evaluation will integrate analysis across IOM’s cross-cutting themes, including:
Gender Equality, assessing the extent to which gender considerations, particularly the needs of women and girls, were mainstreamed across project components;
Human Rights, examining the application of a rights-based approach in protection, health, and assistance delivery;
Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP), reviewing beneficiary engagement, feedback mechanisms, and responsiveness to community needs;
Disability Inclusion, assessing accessibility of services and consideration of specific needs of persons with disabilities;
Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), reviewing risk mitigation measures, staff capacity, and beneficiary awareness.
Limitations
No project components or geographic areas are expected to be excluded from the evaluation. However, potential limitations may include restricted field access due to security, administrative, or logistical constraints in certain locations. In such cases, the evaluation may rely on alternative data collection methods, including remote interviews, secondary data review, and documentation provided by implementing partners. Any limitations, exclusions, or mitigation measures applied will be clearly documented in the final evaluation report.
Additional limitations may include delays in access to documentation, limited availability of key informants, or lower-than-expected response rates from beneficiaries, all of which will be transparently acknowledged.
Evaluation criteria
The evaluation will assess the performance of the project “Protection and Resilience in Vulnerable Migrant Populations Affected by the Sudan Conflict” against the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria. These include relevance, assessing the alignment of the project’s objectives and activities with the needs, priorities, and vulnerabilities of conflict-affected migrants in Egypt; effectiveness, measuring the extent to which the project’s intended objective and outcomes were achieved or are on track to be achieved; efficiency, examining how economically resources and inputs were converted into outputs and results; coherence, assessing the consistency of the intervention with IOM strategies, national priorities, and other humanitarian responses; coordination, examining the effectiveness of collaboration and complementarity with government counterparts, UN agencies, and implementing partners; impact, assessing the project’s contribution to observable changes in the wellbeing and resilience of targeted populations; and sustainability, appraising the likelihood that project benefits will continue beyond the project’s completion.
The evaluation will also assess the extent to which cross-cutting issues were integrated throughout the project, including gender equality, human rights, accountability to affected populations (AAP), disability inclusion, and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA
Evaluation questions
The following questions are indicative and will guide the evaluation under each criterion. The evaluator may further refine or adapt these questions in consultation with the Evaluation Manager during the inception phase.
Relevance
To what extent were the project’s objectives and activities relevant to the humanitarian, protection, health, and psychosocial needs of vulnerable migrants affected by the Sudan conflict in Egypt?
How well did the project design respond to the evolving context and emerging needs during implementation?
To what extent were the project’s objectives and activities aligned with Egypt’s national priorities and IOM’s strategic frameworks?
To what extent were beneficiaries and key stakeholders involved in needs identification, design, implementation, and feedback mechanisms?
Effectiveness
To what extent were the project’s intended objective, outcomes, and outputs achieved or likely to be achieved by the end of the project?
What key factors facilitated or constrained the achievement of results across protection, health, and MHPSS components?
To what extent did the project improve access to protection services, medical assistance, and mental health and psychosocial support for vulnerable migrants?
How effective were the capacity-building activities in strengthening the ability of healthcare providers, community leaders, and partners to respond to migrant needs?
How effective was the project’s monitoring system in tracking progress and informing adaptive management and decision-making?
Efficiency