Disaster Management Systems Building Capacity for Developing Countries and the Most Vulnerable Among Us

by Connie WhiteUniversity of Southern MS, USA

TIEMS USAHattiesburg, MS 2014

Information and Communication Disaster Management Capacity

Building Developing

Leveling the Playing Field

Internet Penetration

Mobile Devices

Social Media

Taking humanitarians & organizations onlineSupporting virtual communitiesDisseminating Information2 Way CommunicationMedia Rich

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http://youtu.be/mICgg3h43_k

http://worlddisastersreport.org/en/

Target 13: Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries (includes tariff and quota-free access for Least Developed Countries, exports, enhanced program of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries [HIPCs] and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction)

Target 18: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technolgie. (http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/gti.htm#goal8)

– a long-term continual process of development that involves all stakeholders; including

ministries, local authorities, non-governmental organizations, professionals, community

members, academics and more.

The United Nations Development Program defines capacity building as

For UNDP, developing sustainable DRR capacities at national and local level is based on the following assumptions:

• Locally generated, owned and sustained capacity is essential to the success of any DRR enterprise. • The development of DRR capacity is the concern of an entire society, rather than of any single agency, professional discipline, or stakeholder group.• The development of technical capacities associated with professional disciplines or functions—such as environmental management or land-use management—needs to be combined with other types of capacity development that include the promotion of leadership and other managerial capacities and performance-enhancing measures. • An enabling environment—i.e. strong political ownership and commitment at the highest levels of authority, extensive participation, transparency and clear public accountability—is essential for translating capacity into performance.

http://www.us.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/crisis%20prevention/disaster/5Disaster%20Risk%20Reduction%20-%20Capacity%20Development.pdf

Levels of Capacity Building

● Individual: refers to the process of changing attitudes and behaviours-imparting knowledge and developing skills while maximizing the benefits of participation, knowledge exchange and ownership.

● Institutional: focuses on the overall organizational performance and functioning capabilities, as well as the ability of an organization to adapt to change.

● Systemic: emphasizes the overall policy framework in which individuals and organizations operate and interact with the external environment. Also known as 'enabling environment' or 'society'

http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/The_Capacity_Building_Concept

IndividualHackathonsWorkshopsSahanaCampsWebinarsF2f Training on location

OrganizationalDeveloping SoftwareRaising FundsPublishingDeveloping Training ManualsCreating StandardsConferencesSeamless Integration

Enabling EnvironmentWeb2pyHFOSSFbTwitterGoogle Hangouts

Sahana Software Foundation:Capacity Building on All Levels

Workshops Hackathons

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Information Gathering FastStandby Task Force – Crisis MappersReal-time solution

Solving a series of problems whileEducating individualsBuilding CommunityExposing Software SolutionsNetworkingNormally Free & Techy

Building Capacity, Building Communities, Techniques

Training organizations to use,Building Skill Sets for Detailed technical requirements,Can last longer and be more Focused for training needs.

Specific Solutions Sought - A type of crowd sourcing, can be open to all or restricted. With a minimal reward, great ideas and solutions can be generated.Can stimulate individuals to learn and develop skill set.

Sahana Software Foundation(facilitators, directors)

Web2py(html, python, MySQL)

hFOSS

INDIVIDUAL

ENABLINGENVIRONMENT

ORGANIZATIONAL

SahanaCamp Training & Education(volunteers, participants)

LOCAL

The Philippines

International FederationOf the Red Cross

ICDMC TECHNOLOGY TOOLS, COMMUMITIES AND METHODS BUILDING ICDMC

Sahana Disaster

Management System

INSTITUTIONAL

NATIONAL

ORGANIZATION REAL-WORLD RESULT

Workshops Hackathons

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Sahana

Ushahidi

OpenStreetMap

InSTEDD

Frontline SMS

OpenMRS

RapidSMS

Google

Linux

Apache

MySQLPython

PHP

OpenOffice

Twitter

Facebook

IRC

eMail

texting

ProjectLibre

QQ

Instagram

hFOSS Communities

Free Technology

Leveraging Low Cost Solutions for Building Capacity

ICDMC aligned with the HFA

HFA PRIORITY 2: Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and early warning

● Disasters can be monitored by using DMIS;

● layers of data provide common operating picture for decision support;

● information dissemination

● More accurate, timely information

ICDMC aligned with the HFA

HFA PRIORITY 3: Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels

● Online Communities exist for each software solution

● Workshops● Hackathons● Challenges● Webinars● Conferences● university classes.

ICDMC aligned with the HFA

HFA Priority 4:

Reduce the underlying risk factors

● Integrate all systems into training exercises with emergency management officials and locals

● Establish policies and implement technology for best warning systems

ICDMC aligned with the HFA

HFA Priority 5:

Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.

● Use systems for organization integration on information sharing, requirements, decision support, information dissemination, incident reports, logistics, tracking, training, building community of practice

Fran BoonPresents

Future Steps? Suggestions?

What can be done to take this forward?More concerted effort?Ways to measure success?