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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.
CartONG did an evaluation of the mapping and database needs of the permanent secretariat for NGOs (SPONG) of Central African Republic, on behalf of the Bioforce training institute. This project aimed at producing an assessment report which included a needs assessment, analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the current system in place at the SPONG, secondary data mining, technical scenario options, and a capacity building plan. Two maps were also produced to support the SPONG.
« Educ'AuRA: objective 2030 » is a project implemented in partnership with the association “Les Petits Débrouillards” aimed at raising awareness among the citizens of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and to encourage them to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. A total of 11 SDGs are to be addressed through various activities across the region.
In 2018, we participated to 2 festivals, and organized 4 activities for young audiences, 2 mapathons and 1 conference during the 2018 GeOnG Forum.
This project is implemented with the support of different regional partners : RCF Savoie and local associative structures for youth. Learn more by reading our news here & here, or by checking our 2018 Annual Report.
In 2018, CartONG was activated to support the GIS team of ICRC for a few months, working on 4 different projects.
Learn more by reading our 2018 Annual Report.
"Maps from here & abroad" aims to foster the social inclusion of the migrant population in France through two main kinds of activities: participatory mapping on OSM during mapathons, and sensitive mapping workshops, meaning the freehand drawing of maps based on the affect one has for a space.
The objective of this initiative is to offer these activities to the residents of emergency accommodation centers or CADA, everywhere in France in order to raise awareness about digital cartography, but also on an artistic and creative form of mapping. This project was implemented with the support of several partner organisations such as Bibliothèques sans frontières, Aurore, and many more, as well as CartONG's volunteers.
Maps from here & abroad was originally financed by Fondation de France from May 2018 to May 2019. In 2019, the project also received the support of the FDVA. This initiative will continue in 2020 with the support of other donors.
CartONG has helped Tdh to support its field teams through the development of tutorials and tools to help improve the data protection practices in the field.
All of the public documentation is available on the MDC-Toolkit website. The MDC Toolkit is composed of 40 documents – created under a free license- to support the use of mobile data collection by the Tdh’s field teams as well as all the actors of the humanitarian and development sectors. The MDC Toolkit is combined with a Data Visualization Toolkit whose purpose is to help field staff improve their data visualization practices, and which may be found in the Analyze your data section of the website.
Dans la cadre d’un projet de lutte contre la déforestation en Côte d’Ivoire, CartONG a été financé par l’AFD pour mettre en œuvre un outil de suivi des parcelles forestières et agricoles des bénéficiaires de NITIDÆ (ex-Rongead/EtcTerra) dans la région de la Mé. Ce projet a permis l’implémentation de la suite d’outils GeoPoppy, également pour la première fois, par CartONG à l’occasion d’une mission de deux semaines sur le terrain.
Au-delà de cette mise en pratique, CartONG a également été sollicité pour aider NITIDÆ à améliorer son système de Suivi-Evaluation en effectuant un diagnostic du système en place et en émettant des recommandations d’amélioration – à savoir, le cadre logique, les indicateurs utilisés, les outils de collecte de données primaires – ainsi que des procédures qui lui sont associées. A cet exercice s’est ajouté un travail plus général et assez complexe, de compilation de suggestions portant sur l’amélioration de l’accompagnement en Suivi-Evaluation que l’AFD offre à tous les partenaires qu’ils financent.
CartONG a présenté le projet et l'outil aux chefs de projet de l'AFD à Paris en janvier 2018.
CartONG a réalisé une étude sur les usages des NTIC dans le cadre de micro-projets de développement, comprenant un travail de recherche général sur l'utilisation des NTIC dans le domaine des micro-projets, et également une boite à outils composée de fiches Outils, Méthodes et retours d'expériences à destination des associations de solidarité internationale pour les aider à utiliser ces technologies de manière pertinente.
Accéder à l'étude et à la boite à outils ici.
CartONG was activated twice in 2017 by ICRC to support them by generating data in OpenStreetMap and preparing databases that were then exploited by the ICRC Water & Sanitation teams to plan their operations.
The first project was led in Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo), where ICRC needed map to plan new water distribution infrastructures. A second similar project was conducted in October to map the cities of Diffa and N’Guigmi in Niger using OpenStreetMap. Leanr more by checking out our 2017 Annual Report.
Since May 2017, CartONG has been working in support of a new partner, ACAPS. ACAPS is an independent humanitarian information provider which supports the aid community by providing up-to-date data on key crises around the world. In the event of a crisis, the analysis and information work carried out by ACAPS allows humanitarian, as well as local and national actors, to better understand and consequently better respond to the needs of the affected population. As part of this mission, ACAPS regularly issues bulletins called "Briefing Notes" containing situation maps. CartONG, in its capacity of humanitarian mapping specialist, thus provides support to ACAPS by producing a significant number of these maps that complement and illustrate the bulletins by highlighting affected areas, hot spots or key figures of a crisis. Learn more in this news.
In 2018, CartONG supported ACAPS’s mission for 6 displacements and refugee crisis (in Uganda, Syria, Afghanistan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria); at the occasion of 4 natural disasters (volcano eruption in Papua New Guinea, flood in Malawi, cyclone in Somalia and typhoon in The Philippines) ; in 3 contexts of outbreaks (Nigeria: Lassa Fever, Zimbabwe: Cholera, DRC: Ebola) and during the Venezuelan crisis in September.
CartONG provides GIS and mapping support to the CCCM (Camp Coordination, Camp Management) unit within the FICSS section at UNHCR.
In 2017, such support involves developing new OPSMAPS and adding new functionalities to existing OPSMAP.
Following the work of previous years for the CCCM Cluster, in 2018, the ISMI (IDP Situation Monitoring Initiative) tracking dashboard was further enhanced and a new OPSMAP was developed in support of the ISIMM (IDP Sites Integrated Monitoring Matrix) project, both for North-West Syria context. ISMI dashboard has been remarkably improved after the first version delivered in 2017. This tool visualizes the Internally Displaced People (IDP) movement data collected by the cluster, who is responsible for updating the data through CKAN platform. It now includes animated movement layer, filter options through dynamic charts and data exports. ISIMM OPSMAP was deployed in 2018. Similarly to ISMI, and as a new feature in relation to older OPSMAPs, this version is connected to a CKAN platform, which allows the data owners to update it easily without requesting web developers.
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