Annual Report 2010-2011: Common Operating Picture for Humanitarian Coordination in Afghanistan

The project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) with a total dollar amount of $1,908,045.00. The project objectives were to improve the safety and security of humanitarian field operators, enhance and integrate current databases of humanitarian projects and activities, provide a Common Operating Picture of humanitarian data and baseline indicators of the humanitarian situation, identify hazardous areas and populations-at-risk, and improve currently available datasets. The project was implemented by the Information Management and Mine Action Programs (iMMAP) from July 2010 to February 2012. iMMAP maintained its OASIS system in Afghanistan since 2009, which is a software platform developed to capture and share information. As of September 2011, OASIS was used by over 64 organizations with more than 200 OASIS installations and approximately 150 trained users. The system allowed multiple users to instantly share the same data sets, enhanced by maps and reports. The project focused on identifying populations at risk to various disasters, and iMMAP conducted part of the work with funding provided by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA), U.S. Department of State. However, the PM/WRA funding ceased in May 2011, and all subsequent work was fully funded by OFDA. The project aimed to continue the momentum gained in the first few months of the OFDA grant and to enhance continuity and sustainability between programs. In the current reporting period, Afghanistan faced a serious drought that threatened the most vulnerable populations. Two-thirds of Afghans were considered food insecure, and the initial involvement of iMMAP to provide information management support to the Food Security and Agriculture cluster (FSAC) and the Early Warning Information Working Group (EWIWG) highlighted the need for a Common Operating Picture for coordination of drought response. iMMAP provided information management support to the coordination mechanism among three Cluster groups directly involved in relief operations for drought emergency response. The needs in terms of information management identified by all Cluster groups included mapping Cluster needs by priority, mapping access considering three perspectives, taking stock of drought-related assessments by Cluster, identifying information gaps by Cluster, creating an overall priority mapping of all Clusters, mapping inaccessible areas for winter, and establishing bi-weekly monitoring by targeted indicators. iMMAP developed information management products for the humanitarian Clusters, including the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster, Nutrition Cluster, WASH Cluster, Protection Cluster, and Education Cluster. These products were included in the OCHA Drought Response Plan and the OCHA Afghanistan website. Given the high volume of information management needs, iMMAP sought to expand its office and operations, and an information management gap assessment for OFDA partners and other key humanitarian organizations was started in the Northern provinces.