Strengthening The Performance Monitoring Of Humanitarian Responses In The Sahel Region

Basic monitoring of key humanitarian indicators has been in place since June 2012, but it needs to be improved by strengthening data collection and extending across the affected countries. The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Sahel requested the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and other humanitarian partners to ensure timely and accurate performance monitoring of their responses. The lack of a centralized system for data collection in response countries was identified as a significant obstacle in 2012. To address this, a system was developed that enables clusters to report activities in a predictable and standardized format, ultimately against indicators derived for each respective cluster. Cooperation and facilitation by UNOCHA throughout this project are essential for its success. The Online Reporting System (ORS) is a web-based tool developed as a reporting tool for organizations working in the field to report their activities and share information. The ORS has been redesigned to include multiple dashboards, such as Performance Monitoring, Reporting Status, and Operational Presence. Cluster Leads have the power to approve or reject entered data, select priority indicators for the country, and add or change mid-year targets and full-year targets for their cluster. The ORS has undergone several improvements, including the roll-out of the admin side of the system, integration with the Funding Tracker System (FTS), data validation, user trainings, and the generation of 3W reports. The system has also been improved to allow for direct data import from Excel sheets, response to requests from partners, and the addition of implementing partners in projects. The ORS has been used by humanitarian organizations in the Sahel region, with 60% of members from at least three clusters logging into the web application in September 2014. The system has also been used to generate situation reports, 3W/4W reports, and other information products. The ORS has been released in both ALPHA and production versions, with the production version being released on a highly available server. The Sahel region has seen significant progress in the implementation of the ORS, with multiple training sessions held in Senegal, Mali, and Cameroon. The system has been improved to meet the needs of humanitarian organizations in the region, and it has been used to monitor and report on humanitarian responses. The ORS has the potential to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian responses in the Sahel region by providing a centralized platform for data collection and analysis. The ORS has been used to track the performance of humanitarian organizations in the Sahel region, with 3W reports and performance monitoring reports being issued on a monthly basis. The system has also been used to generate custom reports for all clusters and organizations with live data. The ORS has been accessed by clients for at least one cluster, with 3W and performance monitoring reports being issued on a monthly basis.