Open Humanitarian Initiative ESRI User Conference – July 2012

5

6

7

8

https://syriatracker.crowdmap.com/

9

Information is not being shared

Decisions are made based on experience, not actual information

Information is outdatedbefore the map gets published

Information management capacity isseverely limited

Listen to the affected community?

Who are they?

What do they know about disasters?

Disaster response continues to be rated as “poor” with the lack of information flow

cited as one of the main reasons

“The difficulties encountered in establishing an appropriate system for collecting and analyzing data in order to provide decision makers with information ‐in a timely manner” were cited as one of the main reasons of poor response

Real Time Evaluation report found that “the overall results are considered to be both ‘scattered’ and ‘patchy’”

“The information flow was massive but with limited strategic usage (i.e. decision making and prioritization)”

“The response to the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 was a missed opportunity to translate the quick setting up of cluster coordination and the availability of substantial resources into timely results”

Having access to the right information seems to be one of the main factors that determines the difference between life and death

10

Earthquake in Haiti

Floods in Pakistan

Disaster in Darfur

• Lack of process standardization on how humanitarian data is represented during data exchangeProcess

• Lack of access to the most current information required by responders to make fully informed decisions

• Lack of a common platform for securely sharing humanitarian data

• Lack of capacity to share, manage, analyze and disseminate humanitarian data both at the national and international level

• Lack of willingness to share humanitarian information

Granular issues

11

Technology

Organization

Governance

12

Open Humanitarian Initiative

STREAM1 - TECHNOLOGY STREAM2 - CAPACITY BUILDING

Main Objective:

• Improve information sharing between humanitarian organizations

Main Objective:

• Improve information management capacity both within local and international humanitarian organizations as well as within governments and first responders in disaster prone countries

Six project areas in two streamsProject Deliverables

• Data Sharing Platform: A data sharing platform will combine, store and share humanitarian response data using the data standards schemas defined

Impact

• Interoperability: Data standards will be defined to ensure consistent terminology and to enable data sharing

• Visualization: An interface will be created where data can be processed, analyzed and displayed in different formats such as graphs, tables, charts, dashboards, maps etc…

• Capacity Building: Local disaster management authorities as well as humanitarian organization staff will be trained in the use of information management tools, such as the OHI platform

STRE

AM1

- TEC

HN

OLO

GY

STRE

AM2

- CAP

ACIT

Y BU

ILD

ING

• Digital Volunteers: Local and global digital volunteer communities will be created, fostered and trained in the use of information management tools

• Research and Innovation: A culture of research and innovation established within the information management field in disaster prone regions

• Ensures data can be shared remotely between organizations and can be accessed from any location enabling better decision making

• People trained in using information management tools, such as the OHI platform, leading to better crisis information management

2

1

3

4

5

6

13

• Culture of information management established, leading to an increase in responder capacity and data availability

• Increase in the quality of the analysis performed resulting in increased OHI tool effectiveness

• Governments, NGOs and humanitarian organizations will be able to move and share information between different technical solutions

• Organizations and responders will be able to visualize the required data in the ideal format

Bringing together a broad set of potential partners is a key success factor

Subset of potential partners

• Support with the design and implementation of the data platform, visualization and interoperability

• Provide the technology such as hosting services and software

• Provide guidance and in-kind development support

Role within OHI

• Support with the research and innovation approach

• Help with training and learning material

• Provide guidance and in-kind support

• Support with the overall project

• Provide guidance and leadership

• Provide in-kind support

14

Global Technology Companies

Academic Institutions

Humanitarian Institutions

15Photo courtesy of Save the Children

You can take part in OHI and provide…

TechnologyExpertise

Time

Funding

Training

Open data

Mentoring

16

Get involved as a digital volunteer…