Information Centres

Evolution of OCHA's Use of IM in Humanitarian Response

The development and understanding of the application of information management to humanitarian response has been evolving since the 1990s. Below is a chronology of IM initiatives that were instrumental in the development of today's OCHA Field Information Management Strategy and the mainstreaming of IM into OCHA activities.
For more information on HICs and Information Management initiatives, go to www.humanitarianinfo.org. Also visit Reliefweb www.reliefweb.int
Examples of IM best practices from various offices can be found here.

2006 OCHA Information Management Support

In 2006, OCHA addressed humanitarian crises in both Java and in Timor Leste through increased information management capacity within the OCHA office. Both responses operated within the humanitarian reform context and were important milestones in learning lessons of the application of information management to humanitarian response.

2005 Information Management Natural Disasters

In addition to the complex emergency in Niger in August 2005, three HICs were established in response to natural disasters: the South East Asian tsunami and earthquakes; and the earthquake in northeast Pakistan. It was the first time a full HIC had been established in the natural disaster context and the first HICs to be established following the independent evaluation by DfID and USAID, the year before. Many of the recommendations listed in the report were acted upon during the response this year.

HIC Pakistan     (http://www.unhic.org/pakistan/)
On October 8th 2005, an earthquake struck northeast Pakistan, affecting some 3.5 million people. Approximately 300,000 were living in formal IDP camps. The HIC was deployed 14th October 2005 and established in Islamabad, co-located with OCHA Islamabad. In addition, the HIC established HIC kiosks in the four main field hubs in conjunction with OCHA field offices.

The relief and response quickly transitioned into long term recovery and reconstruction efforts and Government capacity to manage information and data was also restored. HIC Pakistan closed in June 2006.

HIC Sumatra    (http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/sumatra/)
Following an inter-agency review of government information flows and capacities, HIC Sumatra established a transitional strategy that was to be a joint UN initiative under the UN Recovery Coordinator in support of the Indonesian Government. Plans incorporated assistance to the UNDP Development Assistance Database (DAD) and the (UNICEF) DevInfo. They also gave a great deal of emphasis to the analysis of data, including the recruitment of a senior demographer and statistician.
Whilst the transition strategy showed remarkable promise as an example of interagency cooperation and transition of products and services to meet the information needs of the recovery context, the implementation of the strategy was much more complex and indeed experienced many of the problems frequently associated with transitioning HICs.

HIC Sri Lanka    (http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/srilanka/)
HIC Sri Lanka was established in early January 2005. Differing from a complex emergency response, the HIC needed to be able to produce and disseminate coordination related information products immediately upon deployment. As the initial emergency phase subsided and additional HIC staff were on the ground the HIC expanded its available products and services; establishing field offices in 5 districts to better service implementing partners information needs. The HIC as a common humanitarian service tried to ensure that ownership of products belonged to the broader humanitarian community and to this effect partnered with various UN agencies, INGOs and the Government of Sri Lanka. The HIC had planned to fully transition in mid 2006, however due to the renewal of hostilities in Sri Lanka and the extended presence of the OCHA office core functions within the HIC remained through the establishment of the OCHA IMU.

2003 - 2004 Regional Information Management

Four regional OCHA offices were established in Panama, Bangkok and Senegal, in addition to the Nairobi office established the year before. In response to the Field Information Management Strategy, regional Information Management Units were established in Senegal and later in Bangkok, providing rapid deployment, remote support and policy and strategic advice to mainstreaming information management.

During 2004, the HIC Darfur was established. In early 2006, the HIC transitioned into an IMU within the OCHA Sudan office.

West Africa IMU (http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/westafrica/)
With a very fragile overall human security environment in West Africa, natural and manmade hazards such as the conflicts in the Mano River Union and in Côte d'Ivoire, floods, epidemics, locust invasion, etc. repeatedly lead to serious humanitarian situations in one of the least developed regions in the world. In 2005, with the strategic objective of improving the capacity for decision making and analysis when mobilising and responding to these recurrent and often neglected complex and natural disasters in the sub-region, OCHA established an Information Management Unit (IMU) within the Regional Office for West Africa based in Dakar.

Activities of the IMU include support to day to day operations of the OCHA Regional Office and the humanitarian community in West Africa, in particular in times of crisis in the form of maps, situation reports, contact management, website, etc as was the case in the initial stages of the 2005 crisis in Niger prior to the deployment of the HIC, and in Guinea Bissau in 2006. IM support is also provided to ongoing regional coordination processes such as the Regional Consultation on the Sahel, the regional Consolidated Appeal Process for West Africa, Contingency planning for Côte d'Ivoire and its five neighboring countries, and regional contingency planning for a human pandemic. Strengthened IM is facilitated by a close integration with coordination activities which also allow for sustainable long term orientations related to preparedness and capacity building and ensuring a more predictable response in a region where emergency levels are often overlooked, not least due to lack of reliable data and analysis.

2002 - 2003 HIC Concept Consolidation

During 2002 and 2003, a number of HICs were established in response to humanitarian crises. It was an important time in defining the ways in which better information management could lead to improved humanitarian response. Lessons learnt from this period informed the development of the Field Information Management Strategy, endorsed in 2004, and also shaped the deployment and transition of HICs in the following years.

Also instrumental in increasing the knowledge in this field was the 2002 Symposium on Information Management that involved participants from UN, NGOs and International Agencies, which outlined agreed principles and best practices.

HIC Liberia     (http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/liberia/)
Requested by the UNCT, the HIC-Liberia opened in August 2003. The HIC worked with partners on a variety of products including: the Ministry of Planning to help retrieve GIS data damaged during the conflict and develop new geographic datasets; the UNJLC on the process of mapping roads throughout the country to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance; with the Ministry of Health and WHO on a health facilities database and nationwide health survey respectively; and humanitarian co-ordination tools such as the mapping of reintegration and rehabilitation funding. The Centre also operated an Internet café for use by humanitarian partners.
As part of the national recovery strategy, in July 2006, the HIC formally transitioned into the National Information Management Centre (NIMAC) project. NIMAC is jointly administered by the Government of Liberia and UNDP.

HIC Iraq     (http://www.uniraq.org/)
As a preparedness measure for a possible conflict in Iraq, the UN Country team in Baghdad requested an HIC. Initially, HIC-Iraq staff were deployed to Cyprus and neighbouring countries (Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and Turkey). Once access to Iraq was granted, the HIC opened in Baghdad with field offices in Basrah, Erbil and Mosul. Following the bombing of the UN headquarters on 19 August, and the tragic loss of three HIC-Iraq staff, the Centre was relocated in Amman. Despite the disruption, the HIC-Iraq completed analysis of baseline village data in the three northern governorates and compiled the same data for most of the remainder of Iraq. The HIC developed and updated a P-coding (allocation of unique numerical codes to geographical areas) database for the country to three administrative levels (governorate, district and town) and developed Technical and Map CDROM sets. The HIC disseminated an updated Iraqi field atlas that was considered a remarkable HIC product. The Centre also trained designated technicians from key Iraqi Ministries in the latest GIS software. Later, in the first quarter of 2004, OCHA management of the HIC ceased; the co-ordination functions of the HIC were transitioned to the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) whilst the technical aspects of the HIC transitioned to relevant Iraqi ministries via UNDP through targeted programs of capacity building.

Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt)     (http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/)
The oPt-HIC was established in May 2002 to support an UNDAC mission after a particularly intense military incursion (Defensive Shield) into Jenin, West Bank.

The HIC, located in Jerusalem within the OCHA office provided database and map support to the humanitarian community and a common website.

In 2004, the HIC transitioned into an IMU and expanded in size to support the humanitarian community’s rising information needs. The unit works seamlessly within the OCHA office and focuses on monitoring the impact of the Israeli closure regime on the West Bank, including the construction West Bank Barrier, and post disengagement issues in the Gaza Strip. The IMU continues to provide mapping service, database development, satellite image analysis, graphics and press publishing support for the office. The web site has been redesigned for the fourth time to reflect the changing information and needs of the complex situation. The IMU products are the back bone of the office advocacy in the evolving emergency.

Sierra Leone (SLIS)
The Sierra Leone Information System formally established in 2002 supported the return of IDPs following the peace agreement. However, it is most well known for its role during the recovery phase under the umbrella of the National Recovery Committee and for the development of the Recovery Database, which was adopted as the Government reporting mechanism; and the Sierra Leone Encyclopedia, which is now in its fifth edition.

The SLIS effected a complete transition to the Development Assistance Coordination Office (DACO) under the Office of the Vice President. The unit was administered by UNDP. The unit went on to provide information management services to each of the local government forums and national government ministries.

2002 - 2003 Other Significant Projects

During 2002 and 2003, couple other significant projects/offices were established. These were the Colombian Humanitarian Situation Room (HRS) and SAHIMS.NET.

Early Information Management Response

Whilst the majority of HICs in the style as we know them today were established from 2002 onwards. A number of successful information management initiatives had already been implemented as ideas surrounding the applications of GIS and information management trickled to the field. Some of the most instrumental are listed below.

Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
In February 2002 an eruption from Nyiragongo volcano in eastern DRC saw lava flowing through the centre of the town of Goma, splitting the town in two and destroying a large swathe of the city. IM capacity was deployed as support to an UNDAC team and a small HIC was established to provide support services to humanitarian agencies including document distribution and copying, internet access and meeting spaces. The HIC also provided GIS capacity, working closely with the GIST to receive and share data, and helped organize assessments and mapping of distribution facilities. The HIC in Goma closed within a month of the eruption; to be replaced by the Humanitarian Information Service in January 2003.

Afghanistan Information Management Service (http://www.aims.org.af/)
In late 2001, at the request of the UN Country Team, a Humanitarian Information Centre for Afghanistan (HICFA) was established in Islamabad, Pakistan building upon the substantial resources of ProMIS. HICFA moved to Kabul, Afghanistan in early 2002 and immediately began supplying the humanitarian community with information and maps which has continued into the rehabilitation phase. After the first year in operation, HICFA began Geographic Information Management training for Afghan staff from ministries and government offices. In late 2002 HICFA transitioned to the Afghanistan Information Management System (AIMS) under the administration of UNDP, to continue to meet the needs of the reconstruction community and to provide training in GIS, information management, remote sensing and databases. Today AIMS is a thriving centre of excellence for data development and promotion of best practices in humanitarian information management.

Eritrea Information Coordination Centre (ICC)
The ICC was established in Asmara in 2000 following the fourth offensive in the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The ICC was housed in the government’s Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC) and entirely run by national staff after 2001 with continued support from OCHA and UNICEF. The ICC continues to provide humanitarian information linked to return and rehabilitation as well as the ongoing drought in Eritrea and has recently produced an updated Who does What Where database. For more information contact the ICC at icc@gemel.com.er.

Kosovo HCIC
The HIC concept was put into practice in Kosovo in 1999. Established after the conflict, the Humanitarian Community Information Centre (HCIC) became an important place for humanitarian information and meetings. Given the difficulties in communications, the HCIC also had Field Officers who daily visited regional offices and acted as information conduits. A major achievement of the HCIC was the creation of a standardized rapid village assessment form and the co-ordination of multiple actors in the collection of data which produced baseline data on the humanitarian needs throughout the Province. In 2002 the HCIC became an independent, national NGO, and it still operates in Pristina servicing information needs relating to return, rehabilitation and reconstruction.