Support for responsible data management

Description

This two-year project was aimed at structuring humanitarian actors in the responsible management of their program data. Activities focused on two main areas:

• The development, improvement and sharing of resources to help humanitarian actors better understand and integrate the challenges of responsible data management.
• Supporting and strengthening the skills of humanitarian actors in responsible data management.

Provision of a toolbox

CartONG has published a new responsible data management toolbox on its learning corner, co-constructed with a Working Group made up of various NGOs to be as close as possible to the needs. The toolbox is made up of a number of interactive formats to facilitate the understanding of the subject, including tools, templates, decision trees and “capsules” for discovering certain topics. CartONG has also enhanced the existing toolkits in the IM Resource Portal’s Learning Corner by better integrating the responsible data management dimension (in particular the First Steps in Data Management, Mobile Data Collection, Geographic Information Systems and Data Analytics toolkits).

Technical watch and translation of relevant resources

To facilitate the dissemination and use of key resources on the subject, CartONG has also continued its technical watch, selecting resources for publication, and sharing them on the IM Resource Portal and via a newsletter sent every two months. Many external resources of interest were also shared in the aforementioned Toolbox, including also summaries of key elements. French translations of resources of interest have also been produced, such as structuring sectoral documents from UNOCHA and IASC, with also the translation of technical documents from two specialized support NGOs (The Engine Room and ACAPS). In 2023, thanks to a partnership with Clear Global, CartONG also translated and shared resources in local languages. For example, the teaching materials for the training cycle on responsible data management (see section below) have been translated into Spanish, Ukrainian and Arabic, and a practical document from UNOCHA on securing data has also been translated into 9 local languages. All these resources are available on the IM Ressource Partal and the Learning Corner.

Support and training

In 2023, CartONG organized a 5-week remote training course in responsible data management for the field teams of 12 major French-speaking humanitarian NGOs. With a mixed approach, covering the main theory around Data Protection and responsible data management, combined with open discussions, practical exercises and interventions from field experts, the training enabled participants to delve deeper into the subject and improve their organizations’ daily data management practices. Sessions covered:

• The different dimensions of responsible data management
• Focus on Data Protection
• Application of responsible data management concepts
• Current issues (artificial intelligence, disinformation, biometrics, cybersecurity, etc.)
• Sector discussions and structuring the data management sector

CartONG has also helped to lead sector discussions on this subject, whether through exchange days organized as part of the wider project to strengthen program data management practices, or webinars on current issues in the field, such as “The real risks in data protection” and others.

To help NGOs structure themselves in terms of Human Resources by recruiting and training their teams, CartONG has also updated the existing Human Resources pack, and published a study on training practices in program data management.