In December 2004, an extraordinary session of the FAO Desert Locust Control Committee (DLCC) proposed an evaluation of the 2003-2005 upsurge campaign in order to assess the campaign in its entirety, including the role of FAO. In August 2005, the evaluation was endorsed by affected countries and donors as a multilateral evaluation overseen by a Steering Committee with representation from all the partner countries in the Desert Locust campaign. FAO's Evaluation Service provided secretariat and methodological support for the work which was undertaken by an independent team.

Based on a comprehensive evaluation of the efficiency, effectiveness and impacts of the roles and activities undertaken by all partners in the locust campaign, the evaluation provides findings and recommendations to be considered by all partners in strengthening future work to prevent and counter future locust outbreaks and upsurges. The evaluation also provides accountability to all partners on the efficiency and effectiveness of resources deployed in the campaign.

The final evaluation report was presented to the 38th session of the DLCC in September 2006 for discussion.