Operations and support ~ Field-based projects

Summary

"Modern humanitarian operations have been made possible by ICTs, and it is now difficult to imagine an operation without that technology.Amongst civilian agencies, coordination needs to occur both vertically – between organizational headquarters and their staff at different local levels – and horizontally – between the different actors, at both headquarters and field levels. Horizontal (or inter-agency) coordination is usually more difficult, since differences in the mandates, resources and capacities of different organizations can impede cooperation – not to mention competition for funding. All these factors can hinder coordination even in comparatively simple emergency situations such as natural disasters; in complex emergencies, they become even more difficult to manage. Yet this very complexity increases the need for effective coordination. In order to successfully manage such operations, more widespread use of ICT has become essential."

Excerpt from The Role of ICT in Preventing, Responding to and Recovering from Conflict, published by the ICT4Peace Foundation.

Resources

Humanitarian Information Centers (HICs)

http://www.humanitarianinfo.org operated by the Field Information Support Unit (FIS) within the Advocacy, and Information Management Branch of OCHA. HICs are open access facilities established in conflict and post-conflict zones to support the humanitarian assistance through the provision of information resources. They bring together UN, NGO and sometimes governmental actors to support coordination in the field. They create a common meeting point and framework of action for information managers from diverse organizations, most notably international agencies and NGOs, but hopefully also local actors as well; ensure that these organizations have access to the information management tools needed to assess, plan, implement and monitor humanitarian assistance given local conditions; facilitate standardized data collection, analysis and dissemination, as well as individual and joint initiatives; and promote a culture of information-sharing and awareness of good practices. The kinds of information resources they make available can include everything from orientation materials and maps, contacts lists, meetings schedules to project management information, “Who’s doing What Where” databases, GIS data, incident reports, research studies and beyond.

UN Joint Logistics Centre

http://www.unjlc.org. An inter-agency facility operating under the custodianship of World Food Program, the UNJLC reports to the Humanitarian Coordinator in any given crisis, and overall to the IASC. Its mandate is to coordinate and optimize the logistical capabilities of humanitarian organizations in large-scale emergencies.

World Food Program (WFP)

http://www.wfp.org is perhaps the most advanced user of ICT for its field operations. Fast IT & Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST) http://www.hiciraq.org/services/FITTEST/index.asp, based in Dubai, has participated in emergency operations in 89 countries.

Télécoms sans Frontières (TSF)

http://www.tsfi.org Télécoms sans Frontières (TSF) is a French voluntary agency (total staff: a dozen) that provides communications assistance in the case of emergencies. It has signed an agreement with the United Nations to become the telecommunications “First Responder” in emergencies such as earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters that disrupt conventional communications.

MapAction

http://www.mapaction.org is an NGO that specializes in using satellite earth imaging, data processing done in the UK, and locally deployed mapping teams to assist relief missions to supply up-to-date realtime

maps of disaster areas to relief operations.

RESPOND

http://www.respond-int.org/index.htm RESPOND combines the expertise of the geospatial private sector with the needs of the international humanitarian community, committing itself to making geospatial technologies more accessible to the humanitarian community, by improving access to maps, satellite imagery and geographic information.

MapRelief

http://www.maprelief.org.

MapRelief was born of the need to provide "best available" information in the form of field maps and guides used by relief workers in the field. Our methods of field data collection have been honed around the globe from Honduras to Qinghai. We are currently on-site in South Asia based in Bangkok, Thailand coordinating resources among the humanitarian community. The resulting dynamic database of geographic information will function as a foundation for the relief and rebuilding process.

Global Map Aid

http://www.globalmapaid.rdvp.org. Global MapAid, a not-for-profit organization, was initiated to supply specialist maps to those assisting victims and rehabilitating damage. The focus is to map poverty crises hotspots by capturing data about orphanage programs, drought, food security, HIV monitoring, and environmental rehabilitation. GMA's mission is to support help towards the hungry poor by providing and assisting in the creation and communication of maps to different agencies with these same goals.

NetHope

http://www.nethope.org is a network of international NGOs that enables its members to deliver information and accelerate responses to developing countries, including those dealing with complex emergencies and natural disasters.

Ericsson Response Program

One of the most significant issues facing the world today is the increase and severity of disasters. Ericsson has the technology, the global reach and presence, and the experience of helping out in disasters. Ericsson Response is both a global and local initiative aimed at developing a better and faster response to human suffering caused by disasters. In times of disaster, we provide communication aid, skills and resources and work with leading disaster response organizations. We strive to be a catalyst for greater awareness and give a more strategic response to major disasters. Our global reach in more than 140 countries make us a true global citizen. Corporate Responsibility is about doing good in society as well as doing well in business. Ericsson is in partnership with the the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNICEF, World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) developing disaster preparedness programs around the world.

1. To provide rapid deployment of communications solutions encompassing Ericsson technologies and skills to support and respond to the unique communication challenges of each disaster.
2. An Ericsson Response Unit consists of equipment and the people to implement and operate it.
3. An Ericsson Response Volunteer program to present opportunities for our employees to become involved in our response efforts.

Read more on http://www.ericsson.com/ericssonresponse

Partners in Technology International (PACTEC)

http://www.pactec.org specializes in the installation of high frequency radio systems, radio e-mail, and satellite telephones in remote or austere environments.

USIP Guidelines for Relations Between U.S. Armed Forces and Non-Governmental Humanitarian Organizations

http://www.usip.org/newsmedia/releases/2007/0807_guidelines.html

Facilitated by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Guidelines seek to mitigate frictions between military and NGO personnel over the preservation of humanitarian space in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Principles in the Guidelines include ensuring that military personnel wear uniforms when conducting relief activities to avoid being mistaken for nongovernmental humanitarian organization representatives. Conversely, it recommends that, to the extent practical, humanitarian relief personnel avoid traveling in U.S. Armed Forces vehicles, with the exception of liaison personnel.

The heads of both the U.S. military and InterAction (an umbrella organization for U.S. NGOs) have endorsed the Guidelines and will be disseminating them throughout their organizations. Two years in the making, the effort represents "a desire from both sides to move beyond polemics to proactive problem solving," said Jeb Nadaner, deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations at the Pentagon.

Eyes on Darfur

http://www.eyesondarfur.org/

Amnesty International's unprecedented Eyes On Darfur project leverages the power of high-resolution satellite imagery to provide unimpeachable evidence of the atrocities being committed in Darfur - enabling action by private citizens, policy makers and international courts. Eyes On Darfur also breaks new ground in protecting human rights by allowing people around the world to literally "watch over" and protect twelve intact, but highly vulnerable, villages using commercially available satellite imagery. The project was led by the Crisis Prevention and Response Center (CPRC) - Amnesty International USA's rapid response center for engaging members, policy-makers, and the public in preventing and responding to human rights crises around the world.

Crisis in Darfur by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has joined with Google in an unprecedented online mapping initiative. Crisis in Darfur enables more than 200 million Google Earth users worldwide to visualize and better understand the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur, Sudan. The Museum has assembled content—photographs, data, and eyewitness testimony—from a number of sources that are brought together for the first time in Google Earth.

Crisis in Darfur is the first project of the Museum's Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative that will over time include information on potential genocides allowing citizens, governments, and institutions to access information on atrocities in their nascent stages and respond.

InfoShare Human Rights Monitoring, Reporting and Advocacy Platform

www.info-share.org

Human rights workers regularly manage highly sensitive information such as eyewitness accounts, case details, and incriminating images. Effective use of this information, either by delivering it to the right audience or analyzing it to reveal important trends, can often lead to successful prosecutions or heightened international and local pressure, creating an environment for greater protection of human rights. Unfortunately, such information is often poorly managed, leaving it vulnerable and underutilized. Sensitive details recorded on paper forms often sit on shelves or in files; information is commonly transmitted through vulnerable channels such as email or telephone; and data is rarely compiled and analyzed in a systematic, comprehensive way. As a result, too many abuses go unreported and many perpetrators are not brought to justice due to missing or inconclusive evidence.

Recognizing that many human rights groups have no choice but to collect and send sensitive information across insecure, unreliable channels, InfoShare proposes setting up a system to document and report on human rights conditions in Sri Lanka.

Key features:

1. Comprehensive, web-based, database architecture that’s backwards compatible with HURIDOCS published data schemas that organisations can fill out on a rolling basis as more information is available on human rights violations in general, or specific cases, incidents and reports in particular.
2. Adaptive web-based architecture means that the system will operate on any PC, using any Operating System using any browser on any Internet connection. This allows the greatest flexibility in the access, analysis and dissemination of information.
3. Secure – industry grade system-wide security will be used to protect the contents of the database. User authentication will also guarantee that only a select few have access to composite information, while a larger group can enter information into the database.
4. User friendly and powerful: The system will require very little training. It will also offer the on-demand, visual graphing of information according to user selected criteria, in addition to several comprehensive system generated standard reports. The system will enhanced to generate periodic (day end/weekly/monthly) reports that will be automatically emailed to a predefined set of persons.
5. Multimedia capable: Narrative descriptions of incidents entered into the system can be augmented by scanned documents (e.g. affidavits), video clips, sound clips and photos.
6. Integrated mapping: The system will allow users to click on specific regions of Sri Lanka to drill down, visually, human rights incidents and violations.
7. Secure open architecture: Designed and developed using established web standards, the system itself, though secure, will allow new users (individuals and organisations) to be added with ease. New users gain instant access to the system (according to their security clearance) and do not need to install any programme or application on their PC’s to use the database.
8. Offline data availability: Information in the database can be exported into secure collaboration applications such as Groove Virtual Office (and Microsoft Access) to analyse and disseminate even when disconnected from the Internet.

The system is highly scaleable, and can facilitate information flows with provincial, national, regional and international actors involved in the strengthening and safeguarding of human rights. Low on infrastructural requirements, with no capital expenditure required to access it by those who already have PC’s and an Internet connection, the system is field tested in conflict and is in active use by organisations on the ground to strengthen human rights.