Evaluation of GIZ’s portfolio on displacement and migration

Displacement and migration are of growing relevance for development cooperation. Internal migration and international migratory movements have steadily increased over the past 15 years and have increased in prominence among the public and in politics in light of current crises and conflicts. These developments are also reflected in a strongly and quickly growing portfolio of programmes and projects at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Different donor modalities, dynamic and fragile contexts, and complex problems represent particular challenges.

Against this background, the GIZ’s need for knowledge about setting objectives and implementing projects has grown, as has interest in in-house learning for impact orientation in the fields of displacement and migration. The GIZ administrative department for evaluation therefore commissioned adelphi and GPPi to conduct a corporate strategy evaluation for the areas of displacement and migration on behalf of the Executive Board of GIZ. The evaluation was intended to contribute to the strengthening of impact orientation and impact monitoring in the fields of displacement and migration. It aimed in the course of the process promote learning at GIZ in a needs and application-oriented way.

For this purpose, the existing portfolios of the GIZ were examined in order to develop a goal typology of programmes and projects in the areas of displacement and migration, which facilitated the identification of existing priorities and impact models. In a second step, the insights gained about the effectiveness of prevailing types of projects were systematically assessed and analysed for their usefulness for the conception of future projects. Three case studies were used to review previous findings using concrete projects in the respective countries or regional contexts and to process practical experience. Finally, recommendations were developed to make GIZ’s work on displacement and migration more impact oriented.