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Do you feel that finding reliable information in your organization on which to base decisions is becoming increasingly difficult in an ever-changing humanitarian context? Do you find it difficult to develop an information management strategy as it deals with so many different aspects of your teams’ work and so many different internal entities? And whilst information can be harvested from the web, are you unsure about how to make best use of this data and complement your own operational data? Do you find it difficult to explain what information management is and how it can be used?
Information management (IM) is one of the keys to identifying needs and assisting affected populations in a more efficient manner. It ensures that information gaps are identified, and that data from different sources is linked and analysed, and becomes actionable information within an organization and for its partners. An information management strategy allows you to define standard procedures that optimize workflow and ensure that the right information reaches the right people. Efficient information management is necessary for all sectors, be it WASH, education or CCCM, since you will conduct needs assessments, track distributions, carry out household surveys and generally monitor and evaluate your implementation for all programme activities. Information management involves collecting reliable and timely information, coordinating, planning and implementing assessments, analysing and storing information, as well as disseminating and presenting information in a format that is easy to understand and use, such as maps or graphs. Ultimately, these information products will inform planning and decision-making. CartONG assists humanitarian organizations in their IM work with any or all of these steps.
Learn more about how CartONG can help you with your Information Management projects below:
Information management is also strongly related to Mobile Data Collection, Geographical Information Systems and Capacity building so don't hesitate to visit those pages also.
This project aimed at supporting the operation in terms of data management, by analyzing their needs, determining recommendations, and helping them build the information management system needed by the operation. It is being conducted as part of the 3-year partnership agreement concluded between CartONG and Solidarités International.
Read more »In support of the Federation of Solidarity Actors in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (FAS AuRA), CartONG is working on creating a database that will be used for the design of an online map showcasing existing health services for vulnerable people in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AuRA) region. The database is meant to aggregate data from several sources, and as part of our support, we are also cleaning existing data and incorporating it into the database. The online map that will be designed with the data will be published on the RESAP website.
In September 2021, CartONG was asked to support the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) during the course of several months by drafting a set of technical specifications for an application to collect, store and visualize data that meets ICI’s needs. This support also included advising ICI on suitable options to achieve the said objective.
This activity aimed at supporting the operation in terms of data management, by analyzing their needs, determining recommendations, and helping them build the information management system needed by the operation.
Read more »The RESILAC (Inclusive Economic and Social Recovery of Lake Chad) project and consortium identified during its start-up phase the need to improve the management of its information. CartONG is supporting Groupe URD in charge of the operational M&E system (système de suivi et d'évaluation des réalisations) on the information management component. In 2019, CartONG conducted a diagnostic in information management (all combined technologies) in order to formalize the needs of stakeholders, identify existing constraints and opportunities and propose solution scenarios.
Read more »The support provided by CartONG to FairTrade International in 2021 aims at building two updated forms to monitor the key performance indicators, coded into Kobo in both field languages (French and English), that will fit into the existing online platform (Impact Cloud) that Fairtrade international is using to monitor its West african Cocoa program (WACP). After the conception of the forms, CartONG trained and accompanied 25 staffs to ensure the quality of the data collection.
CartONG is also supporting FairTrade international in its digitalisation process, building a Kobo form that will help the standards & pricing unit to assess the price of Cocoa. CartONG will continue this process in 2022 and also follow-up the deployment and test of this new process.
In 2021, Max Haavelaar France and CartONG worked together in developping and testing IM tools within the framework of the "Strengthening CSOs' Information Management" project co-funded by AFD. In particular, work was done on the Program data self-assessment methodology (available in French here) as part of the revision of the IM structure of Max Havelaar France, a process that will continue in 2022."
As Covid vaccines started to arrive in low- and middle-income COVAX participant countries, successful vaccination programs in those countries were dependent on geographic data to help identify priority population groups and to plan efficient "last mile" vaccine delivery. South Sudan was identified as a pilot project to assess which data was needed and implement good practices for other countries that will receive the vaccine. The support provided by CartONG consisted of data cleaning and setting up a data model and was conducted in collaboration with MapAction.
In 2020, CartONG started to support the AFD Africa Department to strengthen their bottom-up accountability systems. Indeed, AFD is looking to consolidate indicators using data reported directly by their partners in the field. On this project, CartONG is working jointly with Groupe URD to propose a series of indicators as well as a scenario for their Information Management system to ensure the reporting of the said indicators.
In 2021, building on the assessment phase which occurred in 2020, CartONG proposed a set of 6 scenarios based on AFD's technological environment (which includes a database developed in the Sahel Region) and the available human and financial resources. The Africa Department was able to evaluate and choose the scenario that best suited its needs. The implementation of the chosen system is now the responsibility of AFD.
In May 2020 UNICEF Mexico launched the first activation of the 3-year Long Term Agreement signed with UNICEF HQ, CartONG and MapAction in the second half of 2019. This first activation occurred after UNICEF was approached by the Mexican Ministry of Education to support the creation of a dashboard aiming to display and monitor real-time information on key education indicators on elementary schools at the national level in order to map COVID-19 affectations before the start of the new school year.
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