DARA was founded in 2003 as an independent non-profit organisation in response to a simple idea: impact matters.

Kofi Annan launches the Humanitarian Response Index in London, 2007.

Establishment
DARA was established by a group of international professionals with the intention of filling a gap in the evaluation of humanitarian and development aid. Until then, evaluations had traditionally been conducted by individual consultants or internal staff of the organisation whose performance was being evaluated.

Our role
In its role of providing quality evaluations of humanitarian interventions for clients, an important milestone was DARA’s participation in the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC) in 2005. DARA was commissioned to evaluate the international funding response to the disaster of multiple agencies including the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the European Commission, the Spanish, Swedish and UK governments, NGOs and the corporate sector. In 2006 DARA became a full member of the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP).  A year later, DARA evaluated the European Commission’s Disaster Preparedness Programme in Central America (DIPECHO Plans). The study analysed the extent to which the ten–year programme had helped the population at risk and institutions respond to disasters.

DARA field mission for DIPECHO evaluation in Honduras, 2007.

Humanitarian Response Index (HRI)
The launch of Humanitarian Response Index in 2007 has perhaps marked the most significant development in DARA’s work to date. The HRI was the first instrument in the world to measure the individual performance of humanitarian donors. The index, backed by many supporters including Kofi Annan and Jeffrey Sachs, ranks 23 of the wealthiest government and inter-governmental donors according to the quality and effectiveness of their funding and support of humanitarian action.  It aims to ensure that all institutional donors are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, held accountable and that their funding has the greatest possible impact.

 

Sri Lanka, IDPs, Fishermen return to the sea at Nilaveli beach north of Tricomalee. Naveladi beach was devastated by the tsunami, UNHCR. ©2005 H.J. Davies

Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative (DRRI)
In 2008 DARA used its risk adaptation expertise to begin developing the Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative (DRRI), a network of knowledge sharing and joint activities aimed at improving our adaptation to disasters. As part of the Initiative, in 2009 DARA began developing the Risk Reduction Index, to measure the effectiveness of policies, strategies and activities for reducing the impact of disasters on vulnerable local communities.