English 
Your organization collects data every time a team goes to the field, but is this data fully utilized, or is it lost within a PDF document? Would you like to visualize your NGO’s core information on a map in order to get a better sense of where the needs are and, therefore, to plan your activities accordingly? Do you want to implement a new activity but only have the name of the village and are unsure where that village is?
The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” could not apply better than to GIS applications: using a map, you can visualize at a glance where needs are and where resources are, and then to analyse how best to link the two. Having a geographic overview of a situation can dramatically improve evidence-based decision-making. From printed base maps (where infrastructure data provides a good overview of a region) to sector-specific dynamic maps (to quickly visualize the evolution of a situation through time), geographic information is vital for a good understanding of a situation. In order to be able to produce maps, you need to find the existing geographic data and ensure your sector data is in a usable format. You also need to conduct analysis relevant to each sector. A GIS strategy allows you to define standard procedures that optimize workflow and ensure that GIS products reach the people who require the information. CartONG assists humanitarian organizations in their GIS work with any or all of these steps.
Learn more about how CartONG can help you with your GIS and mapping projects below:
You can also visit the Information Management and Capacity building pages as they are related.
In 2020, CartONG supported remotely the Solidarités International Lebanon mission to launch and reinforce their GIS capacity through user requirements and GIS capacity assessments, and the creation of different Standard Operating Procedures. In 2021, CartONG continued its support to Solidarités International by maintaining a hotline to ensure that Solidarités International staff could request support when dealing with difficulties.
Read more »Following the first strategy of 2013-2015, CartONG worked together with MSF Switzerland in defining the evolution of GIS in MSF-CH to support the movement for the period of 2016-2019. The strategy was extended into 2020 for a fifth year, in the context of the GeoMSF program and of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the 2016-2019 strategy, CartONG acts as technical partner and, to this end, provides support in mapping & GIS through the MSF GIS Unit, as well as in mobile data collection (MDC) and capacity building (training workshop in "GIS Basic", in advanced GIS, etc.). Occasionally, CartONG staff gets deployed in the filed to support the whole MSF movement.
Read more »CartONG is implementing with OpenStreetMap Madagascar a mission to support Secours Islamique France’s project Avotia (funded by the French Development Agency - AFD), around food security in the vulnerable Southwest Madagascar.
Read more »In April 2019, the German development agency - GIZ - started implementing a new initiative called “Technology Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Rural areas of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan”. This project, which is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) aims at strengthening adaptation measures to climate change in both countries.
CartONG’s involvement in this larger initiative started in February 2021 following a Grant Agreement with GIZ Tajikistan for a project named “Addressing climate change through participatory mapping: using technology and community-based approaches to support climate change adaptation in rural Tajikistan”. This project aimed at strengthening adaptation measures to climate change based on geographic information and open-source technologies and was conducted in collaboration with the Tajik association Little Earth.
Read more »In 2021, CartONG was selected to develop a webmap built on ArcGIS Online, to present all the activities (such as the building of wells or infrastructures) that were implemented by Grdr in the South of Mauritania through the DECLIC project.
CartONG carried out the Cities from here & abroad project at the end of 2021 with the students of Louise de Savoie secondary school in Chambéry, thanks to the support of the "RECITAL" program, led by RESACOOP and Pays de Savoie solidaires. Through 5 participatory mapping workshops co-facilitated by CartONG and by youth workers from the AQCV social centre, about thirty pupils were invited to discover the Sustainable Development Goals and to think about their impacts on urban areas.
In 2021, CartONG was selected to develop a custom public webmap on the Elsa platform in order to index all partner associations with whom the different members of the Elsa platform are working. This webmap allows to search for a specific partner association and get additional information about it, as well as access the country forms where partner associations are working.
Created in 2002, ELSA Platform is a pool of French NGOs involved in the fight against AIDS in Africa. In 2016, the members of the ELSA Platform are: the French Movement for Family Planning, Sidaction, SIS Association, Solidarité Sida and Solthis. This activity was supported by Sidaction.
The request for mapping support in the Gulf of Guinea was inspired by the work done in support of the AFD's Sahel regional team. In 2021, CartONG's support was mainly concentrated on the creation of AFD’s activities databases per country. In addition to this, different GIS resources and mapping training were provided to the GIS referents of each agency in order to make them autonomous in map production. To know more about this support, please read our 2020 Annual Report.
In 2022, support will probably continue to accompany the referents in their usage of databases and mapping.
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 »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."
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