March 2021 Newsletter: HR pack in program data management & GIM Initiative in support of COVID-19 vaccine delivery

Since 2019, CartONG has been accompanying the regional RESILAC project in structuring and strengthening its Information Management. We took a look back at 2 years of collaboration.

In the midst of the Covid-19 health crisis, CartONG’s volunteers accompanied many national and international solidarity organizations, particularly by providing web mapping support. This effort also led to training and the release of a benchmarking of online interactive mapping solutions for beginners. Learn more here.

MULTI-YEAR STRATEGY - CartONG is currently developing its first ever three-year strategy using a co-construction approach involving all of its staff, voting members and volunteers and with some input from a few key partners. Building a multi-year strategy is the natural continuation of the work undertaken by the organization back in 2019 and which led to the release of the first Associative Project of CartONG. Releasing a strategy is thus perceived as a new step of a larger consolidation and development process for the organization while also tackling the issue of its continued relevance in regards to its mission and the evolving context in which humanitarian, development and social action organizations operate. The strategy will be presented during the General Assembly of June 2021.

NEW RESOURCES - CartONG continues its work in support of the aid sector as part of its three-year initiative "Strengthening program data management within francophone CSOs". Following the release of the HR pack in program data management (see the Highlight section), our team is now working, with the support of key partners, on developing a self-diagnostic tool using a co-construction approach. Giving CSOs the ability to perform a first diagnosis of their own Information Management capacities is a key stake of the project. Such a tool will serve as a basis for CSOs to conduct more in-depth work on program data management at organizational level. Additionally, our team is also working with ALNAP on developing an IM Resource Portal, a global platform through which practical resources and guidance on Information Management for the aid sector will be shared. This portal will act as the go-to place for humanitarian and development actors who wish to build their IM capacity and knowledge, in French or English. Both the self-diagnostic tool and the portal are to be released by the end of June at the latest.
 

E-LEARNING OFFER - CartONG, in partnership with Groupe URD, is running a capacity-building project entitled "MEAL CHS - Quality and Accountability into practice" and which is funded by the H2H Network Get Ready Fund support package. The aim of this new initiative is to make it easier for field staff to implement Quality and Accountability Commitments (QACs) in a crisis response. To achieve this, an e-learning offer will be developed around the themes of Monitoring and Evaluation, Accountability and Learning, and Information Management in the second quarter of 2021.
 

NEW PROJECT - CartONG in partnership with Little Earth, a Tajikistan non-profit and environmental organization, has launched a new project in Tajikistan, aiming at fostering the sustainable and community-led usage of spatial data for increasing climate change adaptation in rural communities. This project, which is supported by GIZ, is innovative in the sense that it will combine GIS and subjective mapping activities. The project will be fully managed in an agile way, using the Scrum methodology.

NEW BENCHMARK - As part of a project conducted in support of Welthungerhilfe, CartONG will soon be releasing a benchmark on Mobile Data Collection tools for which seven solutions were tested: AkvoFlow, CommCare, KoboToolBox, Magpi, Mobenzi, ODK, ONA and SurveyCTO. The benchmark will look at features centered on the need identified by the user, whether it is a platform for organizational management, for case management, to protect data in an easy and efficient way or to enhance data quality. The release of the benchmark is planned for the month of April.
 

MISSION - CartONG undertook its first mission in 2021. A GIS specialist was sent to Chad for over a month in support of Médecins Sans Frontières to test and conduct the roll-out of a GIS tool in a remote area. CartONG made every possible effort to make this field mission happen in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, while abiding by all the necessary precautions.

TRAINING - As part of its 10-month initiative to support humanitarian and development NGOs in adapting their Monitoring and Evaluation to the COVID-19 crisis, CartONG organized a training session for Action Contre la Faim's French mission on data management and analysis via Excel. Almost a dozen participants benefited from this training.

AWARENESS RAISING - CartONG carried out 2 one-day remote sessions to raise awareness about Information Management, GIS and MDC at the Bioforce Institute in Vénissieux (France). A total of 43 students participated in these sessions.

WORKSHOPS - In January, CartONG facilitated 8 subjective mapping workshops in hosting centers for asylum seekers in the Paris area, with 20 participants. These workshops - designed at a first space of expression halfway between subjective mapping and artistic mediation - were conducted thanks to the renewed support of the Fondation de France.

WEBINARS - During this first quarter, 5 remote webinar trainings were conducted on the usage of the Livelihoods and Energy monitoring tools. A total of 28 focal points from UNHCR field operations in Chad, Nigeria and South Sudan were trained.

• A few learnings from the COVID-19 crisis and its impacts on Information Management practices in the aid sector: improving information through inclusive processes and capacity building
• What digital solutions for feedback and complaint mechanisms?
• Checklist of key considerations to keep in mind in order to select a new digital data collection tool in a responsible way
• Designing a good Excel Database quickly: a few tips for increased efficiency
• RESILAC consortium case study on reinforcing adaptive programming through the Feedback Day Method

• Supporting NGOs in adapting their Information Management and MEAL systems to the Covid-19 crisis (CartONG)
• A new concept for humanitarian logistics in DRC (Atlas Logistique)

This year once again, CartONG is taking part in the GeoNight (or Nuit de la Géographie in French). Our team has prepared a wonderful program! Online Missing Maps mapathons will be co-hosted with 15 organizations based in 8 different countries: France, Germany, Mali, Senegal, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia and Tajikistan. 

13 mapathons are open to the public: please sign up to the mapathon of your choosing either via this uMap or via the Facebook event! 

We are very much looking forward to an evening of mapping with you all!

Our volunteers have been incredibly active this beginning of year. Here is a quick overview of a few initiatives they have been supporting:
 

1- A team of volunteers has started a new data mining mission to support ICRC. The aim of the project is to enrich the ICRC’s database with the location of Red Cross Societies at the provincial, district and unit levels in France, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Eritrea.
 

2- Our volunteers are also offering support to a PhD student who is working on the urban development of Goma (DRC) in a post-conflict context. They are producing geographic data to support his socio-spatial analysis of existing inequalities in Goma and the peri-urban area of Munigi (located north of the city).