An Evaluation of Humanitarian Information Centers

keywords:

assessment

Publication details

Publisher(s)	DFID (2004)
Author(s)	Lewis Sida, Chris Szpak

Description

Humanitarian Information Centres are having a positive impact on their operating environment. They are widely used and there are few agencies that are not familiar with their products. If all they manage to do is provide some basic common data (such as standard village lists) there is value in this. The potential is far greater however.
There is a contested vision among stakeholders with regard to the role of HICs despite terms of reference which are currently being considered by the IASC for endorsement. Some see the HIC as solely an instrument for supporting coordination, whereas others view it as an agent for promulgating information management practices and standards. Such perceptions raise differing expectations and can cause confusion
regarding the purpose of the HIC, both among users and staff.
Despite much activity in the area of data collection, the humanitarian community is not harnessing the full potential of modern information management capacity. Agencies, donors and OCHA must share the blame –
collection is often amateurish, the competitive environment often acts against sharing and there is not consistent leadership. The humanitarian field urgently needs to agree and adopt a framework for assessments and for monitoring implementation to move forward in this area.
The HIC’s contribution to the creation of a common information management framework for the humanitarian community can be meaningful only when organisations subscribe to a common approach and devote the necessary resources to support it. Otherwise, the results of the HIC effort in this regard, no matter how good, are diffuse and fleeting.