Evaluation of a cluster of projects responding to the Beirut port explosion

On August 4, 2020, the explosion at the port of Beirut severely impacted the Lebanese capital. Immediately mobilized within Team France, the AFD funded a multisectoral response to support the city’s recovery. In total, 11 projects were financed across various sectors: health, food security, education and vocational training, economic resilience, and neighborhood rehabilitation. The majority of these projects were supplements or reallocations of existing projects. An evaluation of this response to the explosion was conducted to analyze its effectiveness and the added value of the AFD. This evaluation includes a cross-cutting assessment based on the evaluation of a cluster of projects.
The evaluation results show that the AFD’s response was both rapid and relevant, while remaining aligned with the Agency’s strategies and coordinated with Team France’s response. Despite some delays in implementation and variable sustainability depending on the interventions, the objectives were generally achieved. The evaluation also showed that the AFD’s response to the explosion was most effective when it acted within its areas of added value rather than when it focused solely on emergency actions. Finally, the lessons from this evaluation helped inform the AFD’s thinking and tools regarding responses to crisis situations.