“ On Day One, we had people asking when their Blackberries were
going to work. Our immediate response was come that was, ‘Please come back in a couple of weeks, because the service provider is not there yet.’ Two days later, we were providing Blackberry services. It was definitely an eye opener for us. –Martin Kristensson, WFP
”
With all this provisioning of bandwidth and the associated costs, management expected information to be flowing over the new (and expensive) plumbing. Leaders were demanding greater access to what was happening in the field; at the same time, managers were getting involved in tactical decision making with what one person called “the thousand mile screwdriver.” The coordination of data and its translation into decision making—information management—is different from building the communication pathways via which those data are able to flow. The processes that facilitate the flows of data and information over ICT infrastructure have not received the same attention in humanitarian operations as information technology. Senior managers had high expectations of what should be known about the nature of the response. They wanted to know not only strategic details, but also deep tactical operational details: not only how many tons of food had been delivered, where, and by whom but also why one plane had been prioritized over another.
“ The greatest challenges were—we had them in previous emergencies but they came to a head in Haiti—the requests for detailed information about the disaster at all levels at headquarters. –Brendan McDonald, OCHA
”
2. Demand for access to backend office systems. Many of the 1,200 staff on the ground asked for access to backend office data systems, along with maps, imagery, and datasets from their respective headquarters and international partners. Many field personnel spoke of an inability to access large files and important web sites, including the OneResponse portal established by the UN for coordination of information sharing across clusters. One field worker was warned against trying to download a 17MB map file for fear of interfering with the downloads of other staff. Others found that downloads that might take days in the field were made in a matter of seconds once they rotated out of theatre and got to a broadband connection in a hotel in Florida.
“ All the major humanitarian agencies have a very significant
complement of back office applications that are critical to being able to respond...Most people coming to an emergency site have very high expectations for what technology service will be available to them. We don’t doubt that in the next emergency, there will be people with iPads demanding access to their critical back office information over those devices. –Alfred Gilman, WFP
From the perspective of many interviewees, senior managers in headquarters had unrealistic perceptions of how fast certain data could be known. Field staff were already racing to fill gaps in knowledge, and there are indications that requests for data to support the consolidated appeals process (CAP) placed an additional burden on people working in austere conditions. This pressure was augmented by improved connectivity and bandwidth, which enabled senior managers at headquarters to get involved in tactical decisions on the ground through twice-daily conferences. This dynamic weighed on their morale—so much so, that one information manager felt the need to give a speech, both acknowledging the right of management to expect answers to inquiries but also to congratulate the staff on how well they were doing in comparison to the work in the Indian Ocean tsunami.
“ In a disaster response information management and ICT either need to be working seamlessly together or to be considered as a package. –Brendan McDonald, OCHA
”
”
Credit: WFP
31