Europe and Central Asia Report - Feb. 2024

Welcome to the February 2024 edition of the iMMAP Inc. Europe and Central Asia Region (ECAR) Newsletter!

As we forge ahead into 2024, this edition brings you the forefront of iMMAP Inc.'s efforts across Europe and Central Asia, showcasing our commitment to innovation, capacity strengthening, and the empowerment of local communities and actors amidst the challenges they face. Here's what we're highlighting this month:

UKRAINE

???? Enhancing UN Security Operations with Innovative Solutions

?? Empowering Local Farmers with Community-Led Assessment Approach

?? Fostering Data Integrity within Ukraine's Humanitarian Community

?? Monitoring and Verification for Better Transparency and Accountability of Humanitarian Mine Action

AFGHANISTAN

?? Supporting Rapid Response Efforts in Herat Province After Devastating Earthquake

?? Enhanced Tracking of Natural Hazards: Discover the Latest HSDC Features

?? Evaluating the Impact of Humanitarian Aid through Innovative Remote Data Collection

?? Empowering Local Humanitarian Actors through Capacity Strengthening

??iMMAP Inc. Expands its Reach with a New Project Extension to Support Partners at the Regional Level

UKRAINE

Enhancing UN Security Operations in Ukraine with Innovative Solutions

Since the beginning of 2024, iMMAP Inc. in Ukraine collaborates closely with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) to enhance security operations and fortify incident management through innovative solutions. iMMAP Inc. is developing a comprehensive incident database system comprising of three modules to revolutionize data aggregation, automate the secondary data collection process, validate the process and secure access to analytical output ensuring accuracy and efficiency in handling critical data. In navigating Ukraine's evolving security landscape, iMMAP Inc. and UNDSS are demonstrating a commitment to innovation and collaboration, aiming to revolutionize incident management and safeguard humanitarian workers.

?? More on projects in Ukraine.

Empowering Local Farmers in Ukraine with Participatory Rural Appraisal

In the Poltavska Oblast, in Central Ukraine, iMMAP Inc. conducted a rapid assessment using the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methodology, which shed the light on the unique challenges and needs of the local farmers and made significant strides toward sustainable agricultural development and food security. The community-led assessment approach not only deepened our understanding of the rural landscape in Potavska Oblast, but also fostered a collaborative environment. This approach focused on empowering local stakeholders by actively involving them in data collection, analysis and solutions development.

Following the assessment, the iMMAP Inc. team was invited to share crucial findings with partners in the Food Security and Livelihoods cluster (FSL). These findings identified key challenges in the agricultural sector and provided insights to align responses with farmers’ needs and ultimately increase the impact of the humanitarian efforts.

Fostering Data Integrity within Ukraine's Humanitarian Community

As part of the Cluster Support Project funded by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)*, iMMAP Inc. provides training to empower humanitarian partners operating in Ukraine. With a focus on national NGOs, iMMAP Inc. Ukraine is committed to localizing the humanitarian response and strengthening community capacity. We achieve this by building the skills, knowledge, and resources of these organizations. Currently, 77% of the participants are from local entities.

Recently, we added a new training session to our catalog to equip humanitarian actors with knowledge on the key aspects related to data protection and safeguarding of personal information. The first training session was attended by 23 participants from 11 organizations, who expressed positive feedback and confirmed that the session was essential to support their operations.

Overall, since the beginning of the project, the iMMAP Inc’s team has conducted a total of 93 training sessions tailored to Ukraine, attended by 1,394 participants representing 181 organizations, covering key areas such as humanitarian coordination, information management, and UN Cluster reporting.

?? Read More

*This project is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of iMMAP and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Monitoring and Verification for Better Transparency and Accountability of Humanitarian Mine Action in Ukraine

Our Third-Party Monitoring team continues to conduct monitoring and verification visits of the ?activities of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs PM/WRA?Implementing Partners (IP). Throughout Ukraine to collect relevant information through direct observation and triangulation through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with local administrators and beneficiaries.

From October to December 2023, the team conducted 49 field visits to monitor 19 and verify 30 activities in Kyiv, Kyivska, Chernihivska, Kharkivska, Dnipropetrovska, Mykolaivska and Sumska oblasts. To ensure the quality and relevance of partners' activities, iMMAP Inc. also conducted interviews with 81 stakeholders, including mine action operators, local authority representatives and affected community members benefiting from mine clearance and risk education.

In addition, iMMAP Inc. will continue to monitor the progress of IP’s certification, including equipment importation, and accreditation for various tasks assigned by the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA). This certification will determine other ongoing mine action activities that are currently pending.

?? More about the?TPM Project

Vacancies

AFGHANISTAN

Supporting Rapid Response Efforts in Herat Province, Afghanistan After Devastating Earthquake

iMMAP Inc. responded quickly to a severe earthquake that struck western Afghanistan's Herat province on October 7, 2023, affecting more than 43,000 people. Within 48 hours, iMMAP Inc.?deployed two Information Management Officers to support the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other local partners in their earthquake response efforts. Our team used advanced and standardized data collection methods to meticulously gather essential information. They focus not only on quantifying damage and assessing immediate needs, but also on understanding the nuanced dynamics of affected communities.?

iMMAP Inc. Afghanistan staff completed their six-week mission in late November 2023 and continue to support partners remotely.

?? Learn more about our work post Herat earthquake here.

Enhanced Tracking of Natural Hazards in Afghanistan: Discover the Latest HSDC Features

Launched in August 2023, the Humanitarian Spatial Data Center (HSDC)?provides in-country partners with detailed information and risk analysis through map layers and dashboards. These resources include data across the country on earthquakes, floods, landslides, and avalanches?which can be overlayed with data on population, buildings, services, infrastructure.

iMMAP Inc.’s HSDC has two new key features, the Near Real-time Earthquake? and Flood Forecasting Dashboards.

The Near Real-Time Earthquake is an innovative feature that uses the US Geological Survey (USGS) data. It includes updates on earthquake epicenters and magnitudes within one hour of occurrence, ShakeMaps that estimate the number of people and buildings exposed, and combined ShakeMaps and epicenter locations for long-term risk analysis.

Meanwhile, the Flood Forecasting feature is tailored to offer dynamic and in-depth insights into flood risks, including river flood levels and discharge data, and to estimate the impact of flooding at both the basin and district levels.

These new features will enable humanitarian actors in Afghanistan to better prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of natural hazards. Building on its commitment to excellence, the iMMAP Inc. team will continue to advance and tailor HSDC to further meet the needs of our partners working in Afghanistan.

?? Learn more about HSDC?: https://hsdc.immap.org

Evaluating the Impact of Humanitarian Aid in Afghanistan through Innovative Remote Data Collection

Our Remote Primary Data Collection (RPDC) projects in Afghanistan aim to assess the impact and effectiveness of humanitarian aid using innovative remote data collection technology. This approach involves crowdsourcing, tapping into a dispersed network of individuals across the country who provide their perceptions through short questionnaires sent to their mobile phones. We then analyze how the aid is utilized and how it benefits program participants to generate reports and recommendations for clusters. Our goal is to enhance the design of interventions that effectively assist people in need.

In 2023, we completed three targeted RPDCs on Water Sanitation and Hygiene, (WASH), Child Protection, and Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), with plans to expand to other clusters in the future. These RPDC activities provided detailed, in-depth insights and recommendations to humanitarian actors in the country, guiding them in providing targeted assistance to the Afghan people.

Empowering Local Humanitarian Actors in Afghanistan: Our Ongoing Commitment to Capacity Building

To continue supporting localized humanitarian responses and empower local communities, our team organized seven four-day training sessions on Information Management (IM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in 2023. These trainings enabled local humanitarians to better understand and effectively use data. As a result, 164 humanitarians from 36 national organizations have been trained to collect, analyze, and process data to generate insights for their organizations and programs.

To enhance partners’ ability in using ReportHub, an online platform developed by iMMAP Inc.?and accurately reporting data, iMMAP Inc. also provided training to both national and international humanitarian actors within the country. A total of 264 humanitarian professionals across 132 organizations attended 25 specialized training sessions in 2023 to harness ReportHub’s full potential.

iMMAP Inc. Expands its Reach in Afghanistan with a New Project Extension to Support Partners at the Regional Level

iMMAP Inc.’s ongoing 22-month project in Afghanistan, which began in March 2022, has been extended for an additional 18 months until June 2025. The project, titled? “Information Management for Disaster Risk Reduction and Response in Afghanistan“, will continue to provide information management services to humanitarian partners in the country.

With this extension, iMMAP Inc. will expand its reach beyond Kabul to the regional level. This will strengthen the knowledge and capacity of local partners to use data effectively and respond better to the country's growing humanitarian needs.

?? Read more about this project.