Grant Progress Report: 2011-Q4

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 over 100 organizations with more than 200 OASIS installations and approximately 150 trained users. During the reporting period, iMMAP continued to provide time-critical information products to a variety of humanitarian actors to improve the humanitarian community's overall situational knowledge, improve response planning decision-making, and improve coordination in assessment and response planning. Key information products developed and disseminated by iMMAP have been used by humanitarian decision-makers in the field, at regional, national, headquarters, and donor capitals. In particular, iMMAP information products were key for the development of the "Emergency Revision in Response to Drought of the Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan 2011" and the "Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan, 2012". iMMAP provided information management support to five Clusters groups directly involved in relief operations and the inter-cluster coordination mechanism. The Clusters include the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), Nutrition Cluster, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Cluster (WASH), Protection Cluster, and Education Cluster. Examples of the work undertaken during the reporting period for the Clusters include the production of maps to communicate the implementation and outcomes of the Emergency Food Security Assessment, the production of maps that communicate the response planning, access, and actual response of FSAC partners, and the activation of the stand-by partnership with FAO Emergency for an Information Manager. iMMAP products were included in a Nutrition Cluster Drought Response Plan, the Nutrition Cluster component of the Emergency Revision in Response to Drought of the Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan 2011, and the Nutrition Cluster components of the Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan, 2012. Capacity development of a new UNICEF Information Manager was also conducted, and continuing support was offered for the further improvement and development of the Nutrition Cluster database and information gathering processes. iMMAP products advised the development of the WASH Cluster Drought Response Plan, the WASH Cluster component of the Emergency Revision in Response to Drought of the Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan 2011, and the WASH Cluster components of the Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan, 2012. Continuing support was offered to UNHCR for the development of a people tracking system and the IDP profiling process, and the completion of the UNHCR people tracking module in Oasis was also conducted. iMMAP products advised the development of the Education Cluster components of the Consolidated Appeal for Afghanistan, 2012, and the development and publication of cluster 3W maps and maps outlining the provision of education services in Afghanistan were also conducted. The project has made significant progress in providing a common operating picture for humanitarian coordination and security in Afghanistan, and iMMAP continues to provide critical information management support to the humanitarian community in the country.