Are Disasters Any Different? Challenges and Opportunities for Post-Disaster Impact Evaluation Alison Buttenheim, Princeton University Howard White, 3ie

Are Disasters Any Different?

Challenges and Opportunities

for Post-Disaster Impact Evaluation

Alison Buttenheim, Princeton UniversityHoward White, 3ie

Rizwana Siddiqui, PIDEKatie Hsih, Princeton University

April 1, 2009Cairo

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3ie post-disaster impact evaluation (PDIE) study

Motivation:

• Frequency and severity of natural disasters

• Quantity of assistance provided in post-disaster

settings

• Recent interest from humanitarian and development

sectors in more and better impact evaluation

• Opportunity to use Pakistan ERRA experience as

case study

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3ie post-disaster impact evaluation (PDIE) study

Goals:

• Review existing approaches to PDIE

• Develop a framework for rigorous PDIE

• Apply framework to the 2005 Pakistan

earthquake case

• Identify a set of principles to guide PDIE

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Disasters

Natural events:414 reported in 2007

(CRED criteria)

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Disasters


(CRED criteria)

Human consequences:211 million affected

16,847 lives lostUSD 100+ billion damages

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Disasters


(CRED criteria)

Human consequences:211 million affected

16,847 lives lostUSD 100+ billion damages

Institutional responses

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Post-disaster relief and recovery efforts

• USD 5.9 billion (pledged) for 2005 Pakistan

earthquake

• USD 13.5 billion (pledged) for 2004 Indian

Ocean tsunami

• Actors: Diverse mix of governments,

funders, IFIs, aid agencies, humanitarian

agencies, int’l/local NGOs.

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How does PD assistance get evaluated?

• Extensive process evaluations

• Multiple levels of analysis (project, agency,

sector, disaster)

• Some joint evaluations (e.g. TEC)

• Review of ALNAP database, etc. suggests

few examples of “rigorous” impact evaluation

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Why so little focus on IE in PD settings?

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Why so little focus on IE in PD settings?

“Disasters are

different”

“Disasters are

different”

“Disasters are

different”

“Disasters are

different”“Disasters

are different”

“Disasters are

different”

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Are disasters any different?

1. Unpredictable, rapid-onset event

2. Proven life-saving measures cannot be

randomized or withheld

3. Mismatch between resources and need

(sometimes)

4. Absence of baseline data (usually)

5. Which counterfactual is the right one?

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Are disasters any different? Maybe not…

1. Nonrandom exposure to disaster event and

consequences

2. Nonrandom assignment of interventions

3. Fragile states/vulnerable populations

4. Multiple concurrent interventions

5. Which counterfactual is the right one?

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• Bangladesh floods, 1998

• Hurricane Mitch, 1998

• Indian Ocean tsunami, 2004

• Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Lessons learned from other PDIE experiences

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Disaster-related time periods

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Pre-disaster Immediate post-disaster

Post-intervention (1)

Post-intervention (2)

Emergency

Relief

Recovery/Reconstruction

t-1 t0 t1 t2D

ISA

ST

ER

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Disaster-related populations

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A Disaster-affected households* that

receive assistance or interventions

B Disaster-affected households that do

not receive assistance or

interventions‡

C Non-affected households† that were

similar to A before the disaster

* or communities (or other unit of analysis)‡ or receive them later, or receive different ones† or less-affected households/communities

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Time Description Disaster-affected households, treated

t0-t-1

t1-t-1

Disaster-related losses

Restoration to baseline

A0-A-1

A1-A-1

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1

Recovery from disaster

Sustained restoration to baseline

Sustained recovery from disaster

Persistence of recovery

A1-A0

A2-A-1

A2-A0

A2-A1

Within treatment group, single-difference over time

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t0-t-1

t1-t-1



A0-A-1

A1-A-1

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1





A1-A0

A2-A-1

A2-A0

A2-A1


ERRA: “Build Back Better”

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t0-t-1

t1-t-1



A0-A-1

A1-A-1

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1





A1-A0

A2-A-1

A2-A0

A2-A1


Problems: Recall bias if no baseline; attribution?

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Time Description Affected treated-Non-affected

t-1 Baseline (pre-disaster) A-1-C-1

t0 Emergency (immediate post-disaster) A0-C0

t1 Relief/Reconstruction (post-intervention #1) A1-C1

t2 Recovery (post-intervention #2) A2-C2

Cross-sectional, single-difference over treatment groups (A vs. C)

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Implied counterfactual: What would “A” households look like if there had been no disaster?

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Problems: Is there an appropriate “C” group? If so, were they observed? Attribution?

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Time Description Affected — Unaffected

t0-t-1

t1-t-1



(A0-A-1)

(A1-A-1)

— (C0-C-1)

— (C1-C-1)

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1





(A1-A0)

(A2-A-1)

(A2-A0)

(A2-A1)

— (C1-C0)

— (C2-C-1)

— (C2-C0)

— (C2-C1)

Difference-in-difference (A vs. C)

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Time Description Affected — Unaffected

t0-t-1

t1-t-1



(A0-A-1)

(A1-A-1)

— (C0-C-1)

— (C1-C-1)

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1





(A1-A0)

(A2-A-1)

(A2-A0)

(A2-A1)

— (C1-C0)

— (C2-C-1)

— (C2-C0)

— (C2-C1)

Difference-in-difference (A vs. C)

Controls time-variant factors that are the same between A & C

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Time Description Affected treated-Affected control

t-1 Baseline (pre-disaster) A-1-B-1

t0 Emergency (immediate post-disaster) A0-B0

t1 Relief/Reconstruction (post-intervention #1) A1-B1

t2 Recovery (post-intervention #2) A2-B2

Cross-sectional, single-difference over treatment groups (A vs. B)

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Implied counterfactual: What would “A” households look like if there had been no intervention?

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Problems: How were interventions assigned to A but not to B?

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Time Description Disaster-affected households

“Treated” — “Control”

t0-t-1

t1-t-1



(A0-A-1)

(A1-A-1)

— (B0-B-1)

— (B1-B-1)

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1





(A1-A0)

(A2-A-1)

(A2-A0)

(A2-A1)

— (B1-B0)

— (B2-B-1)

— (B2-B0)

— (B2-B1)

Difference-in-difference (A vs. B)

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Time Description Disaster-affected households

“Treated” — “Control”

t0-t-1

t1-t-1



(A0-A-1)

(A1-A-1)

— (B0-B-1)

— (B1-B-1)

t1-t0

t2-t-1

t2-t0

t2-t1





(A1-A0)

(A2-A-1)

(A2-A0)

(A2-A1)

— (B1-B0)

— (B2-B-1)

— (B2-B0)

— (B2-B1)

Difference-in-difference (A vs. B)

Controls time-variant factors that are the same between A & B

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World Bank impact evaluation of housing and livelihood grants

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• Instrumental variable approach to disaster impact:

– Villages at same distance from epicenter, at same elevation and slope had comparable pre-disaster SES

– Villages at different distance from fault line experienced different earthquake severity.


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A1-C1

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• Variation in receipt of relief and recovery funds:

– Between-district variation in implementing agency for housing grant

– Threshold eligibility for livelihoods grant of 5 dependents/households: regression continuity design.


A1-C1

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• Variation in receipt of relief and recovery funds:

– Between-district variation in implementing agency for housing grant

– Threshold eligibility for livelihoods grant of 5 dependents/households: regression continuity design.


A1-C1

A1-B1

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ERRA impact evaluation case study

1. Evaluation opportunities using existing data & HH sample

– Household data collection at t2

– Retrospective household reports of t0

– Use of ongoing government household surveys (e.g., HIES)

as baseline

– Randomization of some interventions from 2009

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ERRA impact evaluation case study

2. Evaluation opportunities in a future disaster– Maintain surveillance sample in disaster-prone regions

– Household-level data collection at t0

– Randomized interventions, e.g,

• Timing of interventions:

– Group 1: Housing grant first, followed by livelihood cash grant

– Group 2: Livelihood cash grant first, followed by housing grant

• Conditionality of grants

• Types of interventions, e.g, different formats or recipients of livelihoods cash

grant

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PDIE Guiding Principles

1. PDIE is necessary to ensure that relief and recovery

funds are appropriately targeted, effective, and efficient.

2. Each phase of a disaster (emergency, relief,

recovery/reconstruction) presents distinct evaluation

challenges and therefore may require a different

evaluation approach or methodology.

3. “Evaluation preparedness” is an important part of

disaster preparedness.

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5. PDIE should incorporate evaluation of (pre-disaster)

investments in disaster mitigation, prevention, and

resilience.

6. Rigorous PDIE requires the tools and perspectives of

multiple disciplines and sectors.

7. Quantitative PDIE can benefit from the qualitative and

mixed-methods approaches.

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7. Proportionate changes in outcomes over time and

over groups can be as instructive as changes in

levels.

8. Change-over-time impact evaluations should

recognize two distinct baselines: pre-disaster, and

immediately post-disaster.

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PDIE Guiding Principles (ct’d)

9. PDIE will be most successful when the goals of the

intervention are clearly defined through a logical

framework or similar model; when the interventions

are appropriately targeted, and when the purpose/use

of the evaluation is clear.

10. Experimental and quasi-experimental approaches are

feasible in PDIE if ethical, logistical and “fit” issues are

adequately addressed.

Documents

Are Disasters Any Different? Challenges and Opportunities for Post-Disaster Impact Evaluation Alison Buttenheim, Princeton University Howard White, 3ie