The first of its kind Master of Advanced Studies in Humanitarian Logistics and Management Programme (MAS HLM) at the University of Lugano is a new programme aimed at those involved in humanitarian aid and relief delivery and planning.

In collaboration with the University, the Foundation taught a two and a half day module on crisis information management (CiM), aided by UN OCHA. The module included a state-of-the-art simulation exercise involving 32 of the leading UN, government and crowdsourced crisismapping platforms anchored to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti in 2010, to teach participants – who had on average 9 years of experience in the humanitarian sector – how to access, verify, use and disseminate cardinal information before, during and after a crisis.

Overall, the course aimed to,

• Increase the capabilities and capacity of information management amongst staff involved in humanitarian affairs
• Begin steps towards professionalization and mainstreaming of Information Management in humanitarian responses
• Expose participants to cutting-edge information and communications technologies and new media tools
• Provide hands-on experience in the use of some of these tools, using simulations that mirror ground realities
• Promote the understanding of information management as a core skill in crisis response, preparedness and recovery.

In addition to the above, the course also introduced participants to the UN’s Crisis Information Management strategy and flagged the recent initiatives by the Foundation to bridge the crisismapping community with key crisis information providers at the UN.