ICT4peace is very pleased to see release of ‘A Decade Later: Reflecting on Disaster Relief 2.0‘ by UN OCHA, authored by Jennifer Chan and Jack Crowley. The report is a decade after the seminal ‘Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies‘, in pioneering work by and at UN OCHA led by Andrej Verity.
From 2007 to 2016, #ICT4Peace Special Advisor Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa led the Foundation’s engagements with the United Nations system, including humanitarian agencies, peacekeeping, development, peacebuilding, human rights, food, & health agencies on ICTs & crisis management.
As with UN OCHA’s pioneering 1st report, Hattotuwa’s input – based on wide experience w/ humanitarian tech since the 2005 Asian tsunami – is also reflected in new report. Sanjana led 1st review of UN’s crisis information management capabilities in 2008.
We agree with Andrej Verity’s thoughts,
Unfortunately, many of the information management (IM) challenges facing the humanitarian sector a decade ago persist today. They include aggregating and analyzing data inflows from digital humanitarians and affected populations as well as translating the data into actionable insights amid humanitarian crises.
Within ten years, the humanitarian landscape has changed considerably, presenting new and exciting opportunities as well as new risks. We found the interviewees keen to engage in other topics, from localization to burnout; to cyber risks and threats; to the traditional sector’s preparedness efforts; and to its lack of adaptability. The discussions showed that there are multiple underlying issues tethered to the topics discussed in the original report.
Reflecting on the insights shared by the interviewees, one may ask if the humanitarian sector is at an even bigger precipice. Will the technology that it once got so excited about turn out to be the thing that actually enables more local response and collaboration, and thus truly changes the role of the international humanitarian sector? Only time will tell. Let’s see what the next 10 years bring.
Verity’s sentiments echo 2018 meeting at UN in New York convened by the ICT4Peace Foundation, to discuss how best tech can meaningful help humanitarian operations.
We look forward to working with, and providing strategic advice and input to UN OCHA, the broader UN system, as well as Verity, Chan, Crowley and other trusted, valued and forward-thinking colleagues working in this challenging area.
Also read An International Process for Crisis Management and “Strategic use of ICT for Crisis Management” High‐Level Working Lunch, 15th November 2007.