Our visual analysis allowed us to step back and see that good pieces of work were not connected together. Research, consulting engineers and humanitarian shelter staff had only a partial view of the activities and thinking that they were each doing before and after disasters. With so much data but so few opportunities to consolidate and call on this evidence in the critical decision-making process, there is a risk that the work loses traction and value. By organising the disparate evidence visually, we exposed three challenges:
A first-of-its-kind Red Cross interactive information line in Haiti has registered its millionth call, less then ten months after the system began operating.
Dubbed Telefon Kwa Wouj in Creole, the Red Cross line broke the 1 million barrier on Tuesday, just 9 months and 28 days after launching at the end of May last year.
“The demand for information from the system is incredible,” said Kerbie Paul, who manages the system for the IFRC.
In the aftermath of a disaster vast resources are deployed in the assessment of damage, humanitarian needs and vulnerability to hazards. There is however a mismatch between this analysis and its capacity to support recovery. It should inform and influence technical ministries, broaden the palette of tools used in the humanitarian shelter response and enable people affected by the disaster to adopt, reject or critique this advice. Are humanitarian shelter organisations reinventing the wheel each time? Are opportunities to build back safer being missed?
In February, David Constantine, Motivation’s co-founder and Executive Officer had the opportunity to attend the ISPO World Congress in Bangalore, India and make a presentation about our Emergency Response Wheelchair project. ISPO is the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics and it’s an organisation that Motivation has been closely involved with for a number of years.
In February 2013, the CARE project team continued engaging all major stakeholders in selecting bids for the digital device as well as overall coordination. These stakeholders include Systems Solutions and Development Technologies Ltd., with whom we coordinate on technical issues, as well as Campaign for Sustainable Rural Livelihood/Oxfam, Centre for Global Change, various Government of Bangladesh Ministries, and the Boat Owner’s and Fishermen Associations. CARE will sign memorandums of understanding to set out roles and responsibilities with these.
Last month was filled with action for us at NOMAD. We were working on the logistics for the organization of the NOMAD workshop. This workshop is one of the main tools in our dissemination campaign. We decided on the dates and French Space Agency (CNES) has been very kind in offering us the location for the workshop.
