GeONG Participants

Key actors of the forum

 The Assessment Capacities Project (Acaps) is a two-year project to strengthen global, regional and in-country needs assessment capacities. ACAPS is an initiative of a consortium of three NGOs (HelpAge International, Merlin and Norwegian Refugee Council), which was created in support of the IASC Needs Assessment Task Force (NATF). ACAPS is about providing accessible expertise, timely data and rigorous analysis to inform decision making by national governments and IASC humanitarian country teams in times of crisis. Its strategy is to support in-country capacities both to prepare for and to respond to crises through better coordinated multi-sectoral needs assessments.
The NAFT (Needs Assessment Task Force) is an Inter Agency Standind Committee, based in Geneva, made up of UN agencies and international ONGs. The task group has focused on improving needs evaluation practises through the forwarding of coordinated action between humanitarian actors. The work force will soon edit a guide book on the achievement of coordinated action as well as a list of key indicators to measure, collect and observe throughout a crisis. A framework of needs evaluation is also made available per information collection phase and … The type of framework has implications on the methods used to collect information and the analyses methods to be used.

ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) is a non-governmental organization with headquarters in Paris, founded in 1993. Independent, private and not-for-profit, ACTED respects a strict political and religious impartiality and operates according to principles of non-discrimination and transparency
The programs implemented by ACTED (around 170 per year), in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, aim at addressing the needs of populations affected by wars, natural disasters and/or economic and social crises.

In 2006, 854 million people* in the world still suffer from hunger. There are multiple causes of hunger : natural catastrophes, conflicts, epidemics or poverty.

Action Contre la Faim’s vocation: to act positively in the field and bear witness to people’s suffering. Our objective is to combat this scourge on every front: With emergency operations, meeting the vital needs of the most vulnerable With post-emergency programmes to promote people’s autonomy.

 Aide et Action International. Education at the core of development. Education is the means of acquiring knowledge and personal capabilities. It allows individuals to choose their future and exercise their rights as citizens. However, 75 million school-aged children do not attend, or do not have access to primary school; 775 million adults do not have basic literacy skills. Aide et Action confronts this urgent issue by intervening in 21 countries to lift barriers that obstruct full access to quality education. Aide et Action: an approach of accompanying and reinforcing capacities of local actors. Aide et Action accompanies local actors in planning, developing and evaluating their own development projects.

  Bioforce Training And Careers Advice In Aid Programmes And Health Logistics. The Institut Bioforce Développement Is A Totally Unique Training And Career Advisory Centre. A Non-Profit Organisation Founded In 1983 By Dr Charles Mérieux, Bioforce Has 2 Major Objectives: Maximising The Impact Of Aid Programmes By Training, Careers Advice And Local Development. Increasing The Effectiveness Of Missions In The Public Health Sector By The Re-Enforcing Of Health Programmes And Structures. At All Times, All Over The World, Professionals Trained, Or Backed, By Bioforce Are Actively Caring For And Helping People In Need..

ICRC The International Red Cross Comity is a neutral and independent organisation that endeavours to bring protection and assistance to war and armed violence victims. The IRCC uses GIS tools to plan long term projects and uses cartography to bring solutions to emergencies and follow their progress. The paper, electronic and dynamic map remains a strong link between field teams and the Geneva headquarters.

Since 1986, the International Rescue Committee Comité de Secours Internationaux (COSI)has provided humanitarian assistance in 38 countries, across 88 missions. That's over 3108 tonnes of essential aid to  were transported by 527 volunteers for the benefit of 547,480 recipients around the world.

 Electriciens Sans Frontières is an association based on the 1901 law, bringing together fifteen regional associations, combining the advantages of both proximity and being part of a network. Development is the main field of action; ESF also carries out missions of expertise support for other ONGs and steps in on emergency/post emergency situations.

 ESRI was, in 1969, the first software editor to understand the importance of the geographic dimension to visualise, analyse, understand and make decisions in all domains. Since then, ESRI and its numerous world representatives promote, develop and optimise the use of GISs to make more efficient our day to day choices.
ESRI France was created in 1988 to help companies and organisations who wanted to use the spatial dimension while securing a return on investment.

Hydraulique Sans Frontières Founded in 1990, H.S.F.is an association that supports the projects of development engaged by partners from Developing Countries which can't develop their water resources and as a consequence can't provide their inhabitants with basic services.

 The Information Management & Mine Action Programs (iMMAP), is a pioneering humanitarian organization that has led the way in the effective use of information management practices and principles in service to the world’s most vulnerable populations for more than a decade.
iMMAP’s mission is to be the first port of call for Information and Knowledge Management expertise within the humanitarian community. IMMAP aims to alleviate the suffering of victims of natural disasters and armed conflict by providing decision-support services to humanitarian agencies through the management of reliable, timely and appropriate strategic and geographic information. iMMAP plans on developing a “Nomad” data collection service with CartONG

 Keyobs  is a spin-off company created from the University and the Spatial Centre of Liège. The company was launched in 2001 with the support of WSL, an incubator for young companies dealing with spatial activities. Keyobs offers services and is specialized in cartographic applications for missions dealing with humanitarian, environmental, geological, engineering and sustainable development matters. Most of our activities concern the developing countries. We mean to provide field actors with mapping products tailored to their needs, both an updated and personalized cartographic information and a tool to support communication and decision-making. To achieve this, Keyobs resorts to an innovative combination of expertises in geographic information, geo-sciences and remote- sensing (satellite and aerial imagery). In addition, the company develops personalized Web-Mapping solutions to manage and exchange geographical data through the Internet.

Medair's mission is to seek out and serve the most vulnerable people affected by crises, particularly the forgotten men, women, and children who live in difficult-to-access regions in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.Medair is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), with internationally recruited staff who are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need.

 Established in 1989 by engineers and doctors from CNES initially with a view to preparing for Europe’s self-sufficiency in manned Space flight, MEDES’s aims rapidly became clear: to develop Space medicine and capitalise on Space research in order to improve healthcare. MEDES actively undertakes research programmes and produces medical and technological reports, for operational activities as well as for developing bioengineering and Space medical engineering. To do this, the institute calls upon the combined scientific and medical expertise of its members.

MSF is a not-for-profit NGO with its headquarters in Brussels. MSF Belgique is a full-fledged operation center. Its main aim is to contribute to life protection and the alleviation of suffering with respect for human dignity, all the while bringing care to those in need and endeavouring to help them become independent of others again.

The free collaborative OSM maps are particularly useful in the context of humanitarian action, particularly for areas where basic cartographic data is rarely updated. It is a web project to create an open and free map of the world, entirely built thanks to volunteer contributions with GPSs, air imagery, and the gathering of existing sources of public geographic data. The humanitarian OpenStreetMap [HOT] team is a new initiative aiming at implementing the open source principles and activities in the humanitarian and economic development contexts. 

Planet Action gives support to local projects linked to climatic change by providing geographic information (satellite imagery) and technology to NGOs, universities and research centers. They also help the organisations in their research and analysis. Planet Action helps increase public awareness and keeps watch on field evolutions thanks to Spot Image earth observation.

Rongead's aim is to support to local projects linked to climatic change by providing geographic information (satellite imagery) and technology to NGOs, universities and research centers. They also help the organisations in their research and analysis. Planet Action helps increase public awareness and keeps watch on field evolutions thanks to Spot Image earth observation.

La direction regionale de l'Europe, des Relations internationales et de la Coopération de la region Rhone Alpes  mission implementation programs European regional and European cooperation, Policy Development International (Asia, Americas & Sub-Saharan Africa and Mediterranean), management of a regional delegation in Brussels

 Groupe URD is a research, evaluation and training institute. Their area of expertise is humanitarian action and post-crisis reconstruction. They are specialised in project quality with for example the setting up of the “Compass” tool and use cartography and spatial analysis for these evaluations. Their aim is to help improve practices and consequently improve the situation of crisis-affected people. From 1993 to 1997, Groupe URD was an NGO discussion group which focused on linking emergency and development aid. After 1997, it broadened its horizons in response to the numerous theoretical and operational challenges faced by the aid sector in crisis and post-crisis contexts.
Today, Groupe URD works on themes which are specific to each operational sector (Nutrition, Water and sanitation, Protection, Urbanism, etc.) as well as on cross-cutting issues such as aid quality, the environment, disaster risk reduction and prevention and LRRD. Their work is aimed at humanitarian operators, donors, international and national institutions, United Nations agencies and NGOs.

   Humanitarian Master of the the Savoie University : ONGs often recruit professional capable of analysing emergency situations and setting up aid programs attuned to the populations living the crisis. There are two key aspects to this. Firstly, the understanding of the context (geopolitical, anthropological, linguistic…) and its stakes; Secondly, the setting up of humanitarian projects, with its financing research, mission administration and NGO management. The proper training of the future workers in the domain of technologies of information management is essential. The Savoie University will share their experience on Learning Management Systems and how to go from training to learning.

UNHCR :The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems  worldwide.  

 UNOCHA is the arm of the UN Secretariat that is responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort. OCHA's mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate for the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention; and facilitate sustainable solutions. 

UNOSAT is the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme, implemented in co-operation with the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the European Organisation of High Energy Physics (CERN).

  WFP/Logcluster is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded. Born in 1962, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. We work towards that vision with our sister UN agencies in Rome -- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) -- as well as other government, UN and NGO partners. In 2010 we aim to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. Around 10,000 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.
The Logistics Cluster GIS (geographic information systems) team provides logistical decision-making support tools to the humanitarian community during emergency operations through the acquisition, compilation and dissemination of timely and accurate geographic information on the status of logistical assets and infrastructure.
The activities of the GIS team focus on 4 areas:
• Logistics emergency preparedness and tools development
• Field operational support
• Trainings and partnerships
• Dissemination of geospatial information to the humanitarian community