Existing and potential humanitarian crises are characterized by rapidly-changing conditions on the ground. Decisions on when, where, and how to respond must be made on the basis of the most up-to-date, accurate, and relevant information. Without it, well-intentioned humanitarian actions risk being ineffective, inefficient and, often, too late.
In early 1994, humanitarian agencies did not anticipate the speed and magnitude of the outflow of Rwandan refugees into neighbouring countries. That July, lacking critical information, relief organizations began working in eastern Zaire without appropriate supplies to cope with the spreading cholera epidemic. Later, aid providers were confronted with the need to protect and assist refugee populations that included many responsible for the genocide. Information alone would not have solved all the problems, but a system for information exchange would have improved both the coordination and the effectiveness of response.
Relevant information must reach decision makers, and decisions and other information must be relayed back to those implementing the response. At each stage of the crisis and the humanitarian response, there are distinct information needs. In order to initiate preventive or preparedness actions in anticipation of a crisis, decision makers require concise, analytic information on potential crises, worrisome developments and likely scenarios. In order to properly direct relief operations, programme officers must know what needs exist, what resources are required, and where to position supplies. In order to ensure that life-saving supplies reach victims of disasters, field workers require detailed operational and logistical information. Other situation-specific information is also critical for humanitarian organizations to ensure the security of their field workers and for donors who wish to use limited resources as effectively as possible.
General Assembly resolution 46/182 acknowledged the importance of information in ensuring a timely and effective response to crises by the United Nations system. The Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) was called upon to maintain "an overview of all emergencies through, inter alia, the systematic pooling and analysis of early-warning information . . .", and to provide "consolidated information, including early warning on emergencies, to all interested Governments and concerned authorities, particularly affected and disaster prone countries, drawing on the capacities of the organizations of the system and other available sources".
The DHA coordination role requires that it be able to keep decision makers and implementers in many different institutions informed as they respond to large emergencies. A common understanding of the scale of, and changes in, an ongoing emergency is critical in developing compatible strategies, so that organizations work together and not at cross purposes. Acting as a central information resource, DHA provides the knowledge base for a common understanding of what is needed for preparing for, and responding to, the humanitarian emergency as it unfolds.
In addition to traditional information channels at headquarters and in the field, DHA has developed three specific types of information initiatives ( See figure 16 ). These are:
| Humanitarian Early Warning System (HEWS) |
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| Integrated Regional Information Network in the Great Lakes (IRIN-GL) |
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| ReliefWeb |
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While HEWS, ReliefWeb and the regional/country networks have discrete functions, in tandem they provide DHA and the humanitarian community with a shared information base on current and potential emergencies.
Early warning system
Man-made crises and natural disasters incur tremendous costs in terms of lives and scarce resources. More and more, the international community is called upon to anticipate these emergencies rather than acting only after they have broken out. Thus, in 1993, shortly after it was established, DHA set up the Humanitarian Early Warning System (HEWS) to identify potential crises with implications for the humanitarian community, in particular the United Nations. HEWS has developed extensive databases, including indicators of approaching tensions, assessments of existing vulnerabilities, trends and escalation potential. Using information from United Nations organizations, the Bretton Woods institutions, regional organizations, Member States, academia, NGOs, and some private sources, HEWS can generate background profiles, analytic briefs, and other reports on situations of concern.
HEWS focuses on country situations where latent or low-level tensions have not yet attracted significant attention but could escalate. It considers such general factors as prevailing socio-economic trends, the food supply, human rights violations, economic, social or political disparities between groups or regions, and the distribution and flow of arms. In cooperation with United Nations field offices and where possible, IRINs, HEWS has begun to develop indicators appropriate for monitoring a given country's situation, such as: the price of key export commodities; the price of basic food items; the rate of inflation; the level of livestock sales; or the number of months that public-sector employees, including soldiers, have not been paid. Its analyses recognize that several different factors can trigger a crisis and distinguish between root causes and triggering events.
Not an end unto itself, an early warning system should assist decision-making in order to spur preventive measures, where possible, and contingency planning, where necessary. Plans are under way for portions of HEWS information to be made available on ReliefWeb's Regional and Country Background section.
Regional/country information networks
Given the pace and multifaceted nature of many complex emergencies, United Nations agencies and other humanitarian partners must often struggle to gain a complete, accurate and current picture of a particular crisis as it evolves on the ground.
A regional model (IRINs):
In response to a critical need in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, in November 1995 DHA established the Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN-GL) in Nairobi. IRIN-GL provides timely information on the interrelated emergencies in the region, thus enabling operational United Nations agencies, NGOs and donors to monitor developments and respond more effectively. By introducing wire-service style updates, analyses and background briefings, IRIN-GL has revolutionized the United Nations' interactions with interested parties. By January1997, IRIN-GL was producing daily updates for over one thousand primary subscribers in 42 countries.
IRIN-GL gathers and synthesizes information from a wide range of sources - national authorities, United Nations agencies, donor Governments, humanitarian NGOs, human rights organizations, political parties, regional institutions, academic institutions, and local and international media. To ensure a thorough picture, IRIN-GL collects public reports of the United Nations agencies and peace-keeping operations, other international organizations, OAU, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs, and makes them available either in response to specific enquiries or by subscription. In addition, IRIN-GL prepares thematic reports on specific issues, such as the situation in the Masisi area of eastern Zaire, or Uganda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. IRIN-GL utilizes electronic mail and, as required, facsimiles, satellite phones, HF radio telex and hard-copy distribution. The information is also made available on ReliefWeb and is fed into HEWS. Given its regional expertise, IRIN-GL will work with HEWS to develop background information on other parts of the region.
Its proximity to agencies operating in the field enabled IRIN-GL to serve as a much needed forum for information exchange as the crisis developed in eastern Zaire in late 1996. Having increased its reporting to twice daily in response to the crisis, IRIN-GL also introduced twice-weekly meetings which became an important regional focal point for information-sharing among the United Nations agencies, NGOs, donor representatives, and diplomats. These meetings continue to take place weekly in Nairobi and cover developments in the entire region.
The Great Lakes is only one region where complex political, social, and military issues converge to create huge humanitarian needs and to complicate humanitarian response. The IRIN model is currently being replicated in West Africa. As of May 1997, IRIN-West Africa (IRIN-WA) in Abidjan will provide critical information and commentary on issues affecting humanitarian operations, initially in Liberia and Sierra Leone, where peace processes remain fragile and where renewed violence would have serious implications for operations throughout the entire region. Like IRIN-GL, IRIN-WA will improve the information flow, report regularly, monitor developments and special issues, and will track the implementation of United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals. With HEWS, IRIN-WA will also strengthen DHA understanding of the countries throughout the region and assist HEWS in monitoring the latest developments. Like that of IRIN-GL, IRIN-WA reporting will be available on ReliefWeb.
A country model:
Information networks have also been developed to meet the need for consolidated information in a particular country. As one example, in 1996, DHA and several NGOs initiated AzerWeb, a country-based information network linking 40 relief NGOs in Azerbaijan. This information network, maintained in Baku by Save the Children/USA, seeks to fill gaps in communications and coordination among major relief agencies in Azerbaijan. The system links agencies via modem and provides a central bulletin board as well as electronic mail. As a central repository for sectoral and field reports and consolidated monthly reports, it allows for rapid exchange of information on the activities of the relief agencies, thus improving coordination between headquarters and field operations, as well as increasing circulation of information via ReliefWeb.
A country-based approach is being used in Sierra Leone by two NGOs - Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) and Response Net - with support from the World Bank, as well as in Ethiopia, through the UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia. While financial and other resources are not likely to be available for every affected country, it is certain that information centres would improve operational coordination. Strengthening the linkages between such country-based units and the other DHA information initiatives - ReliefWeb, HEWS, and the IRINs - is an important priority.
A global information platform
What of other complex humanitarian crises or disasters? ReliefWeb, the DHA global information dissemination platform, features information on all natural disasters and complex emergencies for which an international appeal or a CAP has been launched. ReliefWeb is located on the Internet at www.reliefweb.int and provides information access to the wider international community interested in humanitarian emergencies. With significant financial support from donor governments, ReliefWeb was officially launched at the World Aid Conference convened in Geneva in October 1996.
ReliefWeb consolidates and organizes information on current humanitarian emergencies from a network of 170 information sources, comprising 65 NGOs, 24 United Nations agencies and other international organizations, 30 governments and inter-governmental organizations, 39 media sources, and 12 academic institutions ( See figure 14 ). Updated twice a day, five days a week, with emergency coverage on weekends, ReliefWeb features full-text documents of various types, maps, graphs charting contributions to appeals, logistical information for field operations, situation updates, and a background section covering seven regions that links to materials in other relevant web sites.
By including information from multiple sources, information can be compared, contrasted and even challenged. In mid-1996, ReliefWeb included reports produced by IRIN-GL, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the US Committee for Refugees on increasing tensions in eastern Zaire, several months prior to the outbreak of conflict in that area. During November and December 1996, daily coverage of population movements and assistance in the region helped the humanitarian community to visualize graphically the nature and extent of the humanitarian emergency and response.
ReliefWeb organizes this vast amount of information to avoid information overload. Documents on complex emergencies, for example, can be retrieved in four different ways:
Situation reports on natural disasters, such as those prepared by the United Nations Resident Coordinators, are also available. They include the latest facts on:
Alerts, dramatic news, and important announcements are also disseminated via e-mail directly to users who subscribe to the ReliefWeb Bulletin or who do not have Internet access.
ReliefWeb has formed information-sharing agreements with international organizations, Governments and NGOs. Its links to regional or country-based information networks, such as IRIN-Great Lakes and AzerWeb, significantly enhance the quality, timeliness, and relevance of reporting, while at the same time facilitating their dissemination to a much wider audience outside the country or region. Thus, ReliefWeb is beginning to serve as a global information-sharing platform for the international humanitarian community. Already, ReliefWeb attracts between 6,000 and 8,000 users on an average day. As figure 15 shows, current users include: United Nations agencies (23 per cent); NGOs (16 per cent); Governments (23 per cent); research/educational institutes (10 per cent); and commercial and private users (28 per cent).
While the majority of ReliefWeb's users are from North America and northern Europe, by early 1997, ReliefWeb was recording users from over 100 countries. Lack of equipment, expertise, and access in developing countries are important issues which must be addressed. DHA is making efforts to reach those relying on less sophisticated information technology. For example, IRIN-GL makes use of e-mail networks to disseminate its information throughout Africa and the world. Electronic formatted documents can be downloaded from ReliefWeb and disseminated via e-mail or shared on diskette. In the future, materials may also be available on CD-ROM.
| DHA Information Sources |
| "DHA-Online" provides access on the Internet (http://www.reliefweb. int/dha_ol) to DHA materials on humanitarian affairs, including emergency reports, United Nations Inter-Agency Consolidated Appeals, the donor contributions database, the periodic Humanitarian Newsletter, the Landmines Database, an abstract of the Military and Civil Defence Assets manual, and other information derived from the DHA mandate. "DHA-Online" describes the work of the Department in everything from disaster management training to humanitarian diplomacy. It also includes extensive documentation on the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) and DHA efforts in natural disaster mitigation and preparedness. |
Next steps
No single agency or system is capable of meeting all the information needs of those preparing for and responding to humanitarian crises and disasters. What is necessary is a sustained commitment to promote and support collaborative efforts in information collection, analysis, exchange and dissemination. While those devising preventive strategies and those launching multilateral responses may have differing needs, all stand to benefit from an increased exchange of information.
The DHA information tools including HEWS, IRINs and ReliefWeb are the first step towards a strategic information framework which could support humanitarian action by all major actors. In the future, there will be a need for: increased and improved reciprocal communication between field and headquarters; standardized situation reporting from field offices through the use of agreed guidelines; more inter-agency information exchange agreements; and additional field-based networks. DHA plans to continue providing the United Nations system and other humanitarian partners with rapid and widespread access to information, and to a broad choice of information products. In keeping with the volatile nature of emergencies, DHA will remain flexible enough to expand and contract the field-based portions of the information structure as emergencies flare up and subside, while still allowing sufficient monitoring and analytic capacity for early-warning purposes. To effectively coordinate in the field of information, the ERC must manage a rational, targeted, and cost-effective information system supporting all aspects of humanitarian operations.