We have achieved this year a milestone in our development, writing our first Associative Project which helped clarify our mission, redefine our values, introduce our history and detail our expertise. We have also endorsed the 9 Principles for Digital Development.
2019 was also a year of continuity with our long-term partners, signing for the first time a multi-year partnership agreement with the 3 sections of UNHCR we work with, and supporting MSF in the scale-up of their GIS activities via the GeoMSF programme (see below). Two memorandums of understanding were also launched in the fall with Solidarités International and Max Havelaar France, while a third is currently under discussion with another one of our humanitarian partners.
In parallel, we reinforced our participatory mapping portfolio, with various projects of sensitive and collaborative activities in Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Guiana, Haiti and France, covering topics such as urban planning, gender-based violence and more. We are now working on how to disseminate these methodologies in our various projects, with a few first successful experiences mapping refugee camps in support of UNHCR. We have also diversified our information management needs assessment activities with 3 partners supported in 2019.
Efforts were made in improving the content available on our website with the creation of a Get Involved section and the redesign of our existing Partnerships section, and we have launched a project to revamp our internal data protection processes. As usual, our team also strived to produce shared resources in support of the sector as a whole, via the release of a dozen of tutorials, benchmarkings and studies on the CartoBlog.
We hope that 2020 will allow us to continue surfing on this positive wave, in particular with the launch of a three-year initiative to strengthen information management practices within Civil Society Organizations (see below) and with the 7th edition of the GeOnG forum in November 2020.
We wish you all Happy Holidays, see you in 2020 for new adventures!
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~ Launch of a 3-year project to strengthen IM practices in the humanitarian sector ~
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CartONG is launching a new project with the support of the French Development Agency (AFD) to strengthen the way Information Management is handled by francophone Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the 2020-2023 period. The co-financing of this project aiming at structuring the associative sector was confirmed by AFD, in parallel with 13 other initiatives, at its last NGO committee meeting on October, 15th 2019. The two CartONG co-leads of this project agreed to a short interview so as to give you a quick insight into its main challenges and objectives. Discover it here.
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~ Migration from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro carried out in 2019 for MSF-CH ~
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As part of the partnership with Doctors Without Borders-Switzerland (MSF-CH), CartONG was entrusted in 2019 with managing the migration from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro for the MSF GIS Unit so as to align with the upgrading of the GIS infrastructure carried out as part of the GeoMSF program. Here is a step-by-step feedback detailing the full migration process.
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~ Helping marginalized populations to defend their rights ~
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After the initiatives carried out in Jérémie and Ouagadougou in 2019, CartONG accompanied a new project centered around participatory mapping methodologies this autumn - this time in support of the Maroni Lab, an urban experimentation laboratory that promotes reflections and debates on urban development and local cities and implements innovative development projects with the inhabitants of the informal districts of Saint Laurent du Maroni in French Guiana. As part of this mission, CartONG produced a series of 12 maps around the themes pre-identified by the inhabitants of the precarious neighbourhoods of St Laurent du Maroni which were built as advocacy tools. Discover the challenges and achievements of this project in our article.
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~ Echoes from Ethiopia: using maps to tell the story of the old-established refugee camps ~
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In our last newsletter, we presented our Ethiopia mission and how the data created through remote Mapathons - organized in no less than 12 French cities - became important base data for our field mission and the remote support provided by our team. In order to tell the story of old established refugee camps in Ethiopia, and the unique approach UNHCR and CartONG applied to map out 5 camps in the northern part of the country, we used the format of a story map. Discover the "Echoes from Ethiopia" story map here.
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- For the second year, we will support the Tunisian ARRU agency in monitoring the nation-wide urban PRIQH2 development project - a project funded by AFD. The first results are already very encouraging: i.e. developing tools to use geography for impact assessment as well as building a sustainable GIS system and a methodology to map the areas of interest directly in OpenStreetMap.
- Following the success of the open data collaborative project in DRC organized last year by CartONG and OSM-RDC on health-related data, we are starting a new initiative on WASH data sharing, also supported by AFD. Following the two-day launch workshop and meetings with local stakeholders this fall, we will conduct a field pilot mission next year as well as develop new analysis tools.
- A support on the technical and methodological component of Mobile Data Collection has started with a second branch of FairTrade, in New Zealand, and will continue into 2020.
- Together with MapAction, we have been selected by UNICEF for a long-term agreement, to provide GIS & IM support to their operations around the world. We should have the first activations in 2020, and will try to use them to build shareable resources in collaboration with MapAction.
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CARTONG IN NUMBERS THIS QUARTER
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50+ propositions on CartONG's future made during the Get-Together |
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100 students were trained at the Bioforce Institute in Vénissieux |
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300...The number of refugee camps for which we've evaluated the existing data in OSM to plan their mapping in the future |
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MISSION AND TRAINING WORKSHOPS
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The Democratic Republic of Congo is a vast country of 2,345,409 km2, with 18 UNHCR Offices. Providing access to essential health care, nutrition and WASH services to refugees living in DRC is crucial and key health information is used to aid both UNHCR and partners in guiding its program objectives and priorities. Such information is collected and stored in iRHIS, an integrated Refugee Health Information System developed by UNHCR. CartONG has been supporting the UNHCR Public Health section in the roll-out of this system in DRC. In November and early December, our staff traveled to six different locations (more than 5000 km in-country!) and trained 62 health staff in how to use the system and to record the information. The support was very well received and participants gave ready feedback on the system, its usability, the challenges they face allowing us to adapt the training material and make recommendations to the iRHIS development team. Additionally, as Congo Brazzaville is just a short boat ride from Kinshasa away, our staff also conducted a follow-up on last year’s mission there, helped to update devices, offered tips and tricks and explained all the new functions.
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- A one-week WASH KAP (Knowledge, Attitudes & Practices) training of trainers was conducted in Erbil (Irak) for UNHCR and implementing partners.
- A one-week WASH KAP training was also conducted in Algeria for UNHCR and its implementing partners.
- An inception workshop was organized for AFD’s Data collaborative on WASH in DRC (see above for more information).
- As always, a member of the team was present at the MSF GIS Working Group to take part in discussions on the organization of GIS at MSF and to present a few technical products and tools, such as the Easymap (map kits "for dummies") and the V2 of the Epimap.
- CartONG conducted 7 MDC & GIS induction sessions at the Bioforce institute of Vénissieux.
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- 12 video tutorials supporting the WASH KAP mobile form adaptation to a local context and overview of analysis tools
- Check out the "Communities make the difference" story map designed by CartONG in support to UNAIDS’s annual communication on HIV and AIDS. This story map provides information about prevention, care and support given to people living with the disease, while focusing on 9 local case studies. It also gives a voice to local communities and actors fighting against the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS, communicating and doing prevention through social media, and making treatment accessible to a higher number of people around the world.
- External ressources we recommend
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| Video teaser of the 2020 GeOnG forum |
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We are very pleased to release the teaser of the 2020 GeOnG forum. Please also note that, as for the last 2 editions of the GeOnG, we have decided to open a Call for Suggestions to encourage interested actors to submit ideas for sessions. If you’d like to receive regular updates about the next edition, we encourage you to also subscribe to the GeOnG newsletter.
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CartONG has decided to support two volunteer initiatives in 2020 as part of its Call for Ideas launched last November. The first project, called MAPATI, aims to use collective and participatory mapping on OpenStreetMap to raise awareness about the lack of green spaces in the Atikoumé district of Lomé (Togo). The second project, called YAKA, is led by a team of six volunteers aiming to reference, document and share the know-how of self-sufficient communities, alternative organisations and eco-villages from all around the world. We will keep you updated on the progress of these two volunteer projects in our 2020 newsletters in. Stay tuned!
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At the beginning of December, CartONG organized a 2-day mapping training course for its volunteers. The 11 participants were able to strengthen their skills on QGIS to produce maps as part of projects that we support on a voluntary basis, for example for the Planètes réfugiés association or our local Missing Maps partners. It also allowed us to move towards a common methodology and standards between our volunteers and staff.
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