From mid-April to mid-June 2022, CartONG deployed, back to back, two Geographic Information Systems Specialists as part of the support provided by the GIS Centre to the 5 Operational Centers of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) operating in Ukraine. MSF has been active in the country since the beginning of the war and in all of Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
Current operations have expressed significant needs in terms of spatial data and mapping. First of all, it is important to locate and qualify the activities being carried out, in order to cross-reference them with the different vulnerability factors that may represent a risk for the teams involved as well as for the local population (chemical, nuclear or biological hazard, monitoring of bombings and their intensity, shelter locations, etc.). These needs can be translated into static or dynamic form - i.e. PDF maps or geoapps - and help to and/or allow to orient the operational strategy of MSF coordination teams. In the background, these products also generate important needs in terms of spatial data management.
We invite you to read this article to learn more about these two missions and the support provided.
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~ Registration is now open for the 2022 GeOnG! ~
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Registration is now open for the 2022 GeOnG Forum! As for every edition, we are making available a range of different ticket options, with an early bird rate being applied during the first few weeks. The biggest change for this year's edition is the possibility for participants to either take part in person - to get the full experience - or remotely - to access a few selected sessions.
Wanna have a look at the preliminary agenda? Check out this page.
Please note that we are still accepting ideas for workshops and other shorter format sessions. Submit yours via our Open Call for Suggestions.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact the GeOnG team!
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~ Supporting the social inclusion of migrant people in Europe through digital mapping ~
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As part of the Erasmus+ program called "Small-scale partnerships in adult education", CartONG has launched a new project, called "MapInclusive", in collaboration with Social Hackers Academy, a non-profit web development school based in Athens. The project will run until June 2023, and will aim at helping migrant people in France and Greece to acquire new digital skills through digital mapping activities. Learn more in this article.
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~ Accompanying Secours Islamique France in Madagascar ~
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From October 2021 to March 2022, CartONG has been supporting the Avotia project of Secours Islamique France with the help of OpenStreetMap Madagascar. The project combines participatory mapping and workshops with local communities to assess the territory's capacities in terms of food security in Southwest Madagascar. Learn more about the hybrid methodology we developed and the two field missions we conducted here.
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~ Developing a new monitoring and evaluation system for Sidaction ~
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Between June 2021 and June 2022, CartONG and Groupe URD collaborated to support Sidaction in the co-construction of a relevant and efficient Monitoring & Evaluation system adapted to their internal functioning. Sidaction being a donor in France and internationally, as well as a direct operator through its advocacy, support and capacity building activities, it meant for our teams developing a hybrid monitoring & evaluation system that would address three complementary needs. Learn more about these requirements and how we went about it in this short article.
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We also take this occasion to share with you our 2021 Annual Report. The design and content was entirely revamped for this new edition and we sincerely hope you’ll enjoy it!
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DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW DASHBOARD - As part of their RC3-Mali project, Grdr Migration-Citoyennete-Development wishes to monitor and document the activities being carried out in the circles of Kayes and Kenebia through a dashboard. For the second time, CartONG is thus supporting Grdr, this time by creating a dashboard on ArcGIS Online, representing a set of activities (such as: farms, cereal banks or micro businesses) located on an interactive map, with contextual windows providing details and photos. In parallel to this map, additional indicators are displayed in the form of graphs.
NEW RESOURCES COMING UP! - As part of our project to improve the data practices of NGOs, you will see new content appear on the resource portal’s Learning Corner in the next couple of months: a finalized “On the field, I don't analyze, I Excel” toolbox in French and its English translation, a finalized English version of the self-assessment methodology, a first version of a responsible data toolbox, the transfer of the MDC toolkit from the blog to the Learning Corner, as well as various blog posts! We hope you find them all useful.
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If you would like to get a one-hour overview of the IM Resource Portal and its Learning Corner, as well as some of the key CartONG resources of this project, join us on Wednesday, 6th July at 2pm Paris time (12am GMT). The presentation - in French - will also include partners’ testimonies. To attend or be kept informed of the project events and resources, drop us a line at: renforcement-osc@cartong.org.
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SUPPORT OF EXPERTISE FRANCE IN TUNISIA - CartONG will accompany Expertise France’s Innov’I project in Tunisia. This project aims at supporting entrepreneurs and fostering a stronger and more active local economic environment. Within that frame, CartONG will help Expertise France's team enhance its existing data collection system via online forms, and build a dashboard that will display key numbers and indicators from the project. Moreover, CartONG will train Expertise France’s team to ensure that the system provided is sustainable and that the partner is able to tailor it to its needs.
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CARTONG IN NUMBERS THIS QUARTER
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47participants took part in the Get-Together associative week-end, including 17 volunteers.
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516 points collected in the field with OsmAnd as part of our support of the Avotia projet of Secours Islamique France. |
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MISSIONS AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
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MISSION - In June, a staff of CartONG supported Médecins du Monde (MdM) in Mayotte during a two-week field mission facilitating participatory mapping workshops in two informal settlements of the island. Maps were co-created with local inhabitants, helped by a team of volunteers of MdM. Two of the main objectives of this mission were to enhance community mobilization and to better understand how the environment in which they live can impact local inhabitants’ health. Both objectives were successfully met. The new maps will now be used by MdM in Mayotte to support its advocacy and fight against insalubrity activities.
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MISSION - After a long period of no in-country missions, CartONG supported UNHCR’s first Health Access and Utilization Survey in Pakistan. The study will provide valuable information on how Afghan refugees access health care services in the country and will help allocate resources where they are needed the most. CartONG’s staff discussed with the stakeholders, coded the questionnaire, prepared the customized the analysis and visualization tools, and trained a group of 21 Afghan students to carry out over 1,400 telephone interviews across all regions of Pakistan.
A quick panorama of some of the other training activities we conducted this quarter!
- CartONG took part and facilitated several sessions at MSF GIS Centre's Annual GIS Week at the end of June. This internal event brings together all MSF staff working on GIS and geographic information management related topics for a week of refreshers, workshops and experience-sharing moments.
- CartONG conducted remotely a GIS training for 12 Solidarités International’s staff in Myanmar. We covered the basics of GIS up until the first elements of spatial analysis with a case study tailored to their daily activities.
- CartONG also delivered an Excel and Kobo training workshop to Acting for Life’s staff over a period of 3 days at their HQ in Le Bourget followed by an additional day done remotely. This exhaustive training aimed to provide all the tools and methods for the staff to be able to collect their data via Kobo and analyze it via Excel, but also to create and design simple maps via uMap.
- We also continued the cycle of core M&E training workshops with Expertise France with 3 more being delivered to 40 staff both in Paris and from remote.
- CartONG organized the 5th exchange day for the strengthening of data practices of francophone NGOs in May, which was hosted by the GRET. We tackled a variety of topics from responsible data approaches to discussing the ongoing work each organization is doing around program data. You can find the notes from the day here.
- On June 19th, CartONG participated in the Marché des Continents in Chambéry, in order to raise awareness among the general public - and in particular among young people - about international solidarity and cartography.
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Learning Corner: discover the new section of the IM Resource Portal!
As part of the project to strengthen NGO data practices, CartONG ran a series of webinars in French every Tuesday for 5 weeks in a row from May 17th to June 14th, co-facilitating with its partner RITIMO. The webinars explored some of the stakes of the day concerning program data management that had been identified in the CartONG study on the practices and needs of CSOs: some of the misconceptions around open source & open data, the question of how digital transformation applies to program data management, existing data protection risks, and how infosobriety can be better applied. They will all be progressively posted on the Youtube channel of CartONG with some associated blog posts too.
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~ 6th exchange day on program data management ~
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The 6th exchange day on program data management will be held on September 13th, 2022! Organized by CartONG, this exchange day is intended for all French-speaking CSO representatives interested in program data management and wishing to exchange with their peers on the subject. It will take place at Max Havelaar France headquarters at Château Etic in Nanterre. Two sessions will also be accessible online. You can register until September 5th via this link.
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~ A glimpse at the 2022 June Get-together ~
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After 2 and half years spent only meeting up online to the Covid-19 pandemic, we finally managed to meet in person mid-June for the traditional "Get-together", an associative weekend that brings together employees and volunteers of the association. In the postcard setting of the Savoyard mountains, the 47 participants were able to share moments of collective reflection (speed geekings, General Assembly, brainstorming on the place of volunteering at CartONG), as well as festive moments. A long-awaited weekend, which gives us a lot of energy for future projects and collaborations.
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~ A look back at the 2021-2022 Tour des France des mapathons ~
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The 2021-2022 edition of the Tour de France des mapathons came to an end this month! Thank you all for your involvement, for your warm welcome in the 13 cities we visited and for mapping with us in support of international solidarity initiatives. Special thanks also to the organizations that hosted the mapathons.
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CartONG is currently looking for a:
- Civic service volunteer in humanitarian participative mapping & social link vector - more information here
- Human Resources Manager - more information here
- Inclusive Projects Manager & Volunteering Facilitator - more information here
- Information Management Project Manager - more information here
- Information Management Project Manager - Agile experienced - more information here
- Information systems administrator - more information here
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