About us

A few words about CartONG...

Who are we?

CartONG is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) specialized in Information Management whose mission is to put data – in particular geographical data – at the service of humanitarian, development and social action projects. As a Humanitarian to Humanitarian (H2H) organization, we aim to tackle the technical, strategic and ethical challenges of digital technologies in support of the community.

Our use of Information Management (IM) tools and methodologies is dedicated to better understanding the challenges faced in field environments and to improving the quality and accountability of field activities, in particular through improved needs assessments and monitoring and evaluation. Check out our Associative Project to learn more about our mission, and our 2022-2024 Strategy to learn more about the collective vision and ambition of CartONG’s employees, members, volunteers and Board members for this period.

CartONG was set up in 2006 by cartographers in Chambéry, France. Originally centered around mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), our core areas of expertise have expanded in the last decade and continue to do so. It presently includes the full range of Information Management expertise, including GIS, Mobile Data Collection, data processing and transversal IM approaches. Have a look at the highlights of the last 13 years by discovering our historical timeline.

CartONG is registered in France as a nonprofit, secular and apolitical loi 1901 association and is run democratically and transparently. You can check our statutes here and read our latest annual report below.

What do we do?

As a multidisciplinary resource and expertise center, our team of staff and volunteers supports the organizational strategy and field operations of a wide array of actors. We also help build knowledge on IM tools and methodologies within the humanitarian and development sector.

CartONG is a leading IM training and awareness-raising actor who strives to build capacity within our partners’ organizations and, whenever possible, within the whole sector. For instance, CartONG organizes the GeOnG biennially - a forum dedicated to addressing issues related to data in the humanitarian and development sectors. To learn more, please have a look at our service offer and our activities.

What do we promote?

Without defining itself as an advocacy organization, at CartONG we position ourselves on a number of subjects that we consider essential for the sector such as responsible data practices, open data and the pooling of resources to improve the overall efficiency and impact of humanitarian and development ecosystems. We thus actively promote the sharing of data, tools and methodologies usable and accessible to all.

At CartONG, we also recognize the benefits inherent in collaboration and partnership, and their importance in ensuring a lasting impact. Our action is intrinsically guided by our 6 values:

Who do we work with?

Our organization addresses the needs and challenges faced by its partners, no matter their size and resources. CartONG supports a wide array of stakeholders including NGOs, international organizations and institutional actors. CartONG also closely works with other H2H nonprofits as well grassroots organizations and local communities. By doing so, we cover a wide range of sectors such as protection, water & sanitation, health, disaster risk reduction or urban development. We work towards improving the lives of vulnerable populations, in particular refugees and communities affected by man-made and natural disasters. Check out our mission maps to learn a bit more about where we operate.

CartONG has a diversified economic model that allows us both to work directly on partner requests and to launch innovative activities with the support of donors, foundations and private companies.

CartONG has endorsed the Principles for Digital Development and is a member of the H2H network as well as Coordination Sud (via the CHD) - the national coordination of French humanitarian and development NGOs.

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