The scale and gravity of the ongoing crisis in Syria remains deeply troubling for the humanitarian community. The provision of humanitarian assistance and protection to millions of highly vulnerable people in Syria and the need for basic services to host communities in neighbouring countries has presented the humanitarian community with one of its greatest ever challenges.

It is critical that all the experience from agencies is recorded as systematically as possible and acted upon so that improvements can be made both in real time and for future emergencies. Lack of access has undermined the ability of teams to conduct evaluations and other learning exercises and it is a very welcome sign that the DEC has now completed a review of DEC agencies response to the crisis.  

The report covers some of the crucial areas of humanitarian action including agency strategy, needs assessment and approach, implementation and monitoring, coordination and accountability. It is one of only a few evaluations that have been completed and it presents an important opportunity to review what has happened and discuss what can be done to improve the situation, now and in the future.

Evaluation reports such as this will help form a more complete evidential basis which is currently being captured on the Syria Evaluation Portal managed by ALNAP. This will provide the basis for a more complete analysis in the future.

The lead author of the Syria Response Review will present key findings and challenges and there will be a response from two Humanitarian Directors of DEC agencies as well as an independent specialist.