The ICT4Peace Foundation has for many years worked with the UN and ICRC to strengthen the awareness and understanding of, need for as well as the meaningful implementation of standards, frameworks and technologies to protect the information of vulnerable communities in violent contexts, as well as refugees and internally displaced persons.

In August 2012, Simone Eymann on behalf of the ICT4Peace Foundation participated in a one-day consultation, co-organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and InterAction, on “Protection in violent situations: standards for managing sensitive information“.

Having participated remotely in the first Protection Information Management (PIM) meeting held in May 2015, and subsequently given input to working documents that captured the discussions at the meeting, ICT4Peace Foundation’s Sanjana Hattotuwa was invited by UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) to attend the second PIM meeting, held in Geneva from 2 – 4 December 2015.

Sanjana was again invited to participate in the Protection Information Management Working Meeting held in the UN City in Copenhagen in September 2016, co-hosted and organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).

The intensive, two and a half day working meeting was anchored to,

  • Articulate the PIM Process: Articulate and understand linkages between the PIM Process and protection analysis, strategy and response
  • Use of and refinement of the PIM Matrix: Further refine the cover page and data outputs for PIM categories and gather feedback & lessons learned in using the PIM Matrix
  • PIM Principles in Action and the PIM Process: Share and refine the unpacking and operationalization of the PIM Principles and their linkages to the individual steps of the PIM process
  • Essential Data: Explore and articulate the characteristics of data which are critical for an informed protection response
  • PIM Capacity Building and Learning: Stocktaking of what has been done, developed, and is available in terms of protection information management learning and briefing materials
  • Review and agree on ‘Next Steps’
  • Modalities for collaborating on PIM

Though a full report from the workshop is pending at the time of writing, as one preliminary outcome endorsed by the participants, UNHCR and DRC, the Foundation agreed to host, and help create and implement a website for the PIM process, which would contain all the relevant documentation, standards, reports as well as links to on-going discussions and relevant materials. Sanjana, on behalf of the Foundation, was also tasked with helping lead a data-sharing working group around PIM.