Grant Progress Report: 2011-Q3

The project's overall goal is to provide a common operating picture concerning humanitarian coordination and security. The project objectives are 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. iMMAP has maintained its OASIS system in Afghanistan since 2009, which is used by 85 organizations with more than 170 OASIS installations and approximately 150 trained users. The project has made significant progress in the current reporting period, with iMMAP providing information management support to the coordination mechanism among three Cluster groups directly involved in relief operations for drought emergency response. The identified needs in terms of information management include mapping Cluster needs by priority, mapping access considering three perspectives, taking stock of drought-related assessments by Cluster, identifying any 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 has provided information management support to the following Cluster groups: Food Security and Agriculture Cluster, Nutrition Cluster, WASH Cluster, Protection Cluster, and Education Cluster. The information management products developed for the humanitarian Clusters have also been included in the OCHA Drought Response Plan and the OCHA Afghanistan website. Local authorities have also been involved in the coordination of relief operations, with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development becoming involved in the participative Cluster group process. Given the high volume of information management needs described above, iMMAP has identified the need for two additional information management consultants. An information management gap assessment for OFDA partners and other key humanitarian organizations has started in the northern provinces, with early results indicating that information management is considered a key component in humanitarian coordination. The access to vulnerable populations is often impeded by insecurity, natural disasters, difficult terrain, and climatic conditions, and policy-makers struggle to access timely, periodic, and reliable information.