Reconstructing Public Administration after Conflict
Box VI.4 Sahana’s innovative use of ICTs for humanitarian relief Sahana is an integrated set of pluggable, Web-based disaster management applications that provide solutions to large-scale humanitarian problems in the aftermath of a disaster. Its objectives are to: –– Help alleviate human suffering and save lives through the efficient use of ICTs during a disaster; –– Bring together a diverse set of actors—including Government officials, emergency responders, NGOs, spontaneous volunteers and victims themselves—to respond effectively to a disaster; –– Empower the victims, responders and volunteers to help themselves and others; –– Protect victim data and reduce the opportunity for data abuse; and –– Provide a free, open-source solution available to everyone.
Sahana has developed the following open-source software: –– Missing Person Registry, helping to reduce trauma by effectively finding missing persons; –– Organization Registry, coordinating and balancing the efforts of relief organizations in the affected areas and connecting relief groups to help them operate as one; –– Request Management System , registering all incoming requests for support and relief, tracking requests until fulfillment and helping donors match their activities to relief requests; –– Camp Registry, tracking the location and numbers of victims in various camps and temporary shelters set up around the affected area; –– Volunteer Management, coordinating the contact info, skills, assignments and availability of volunteers and responders –– Inventory Management, tracking the location, quantities and expiry of supplies stored for use in a disaster; and –– Situation Awareness, providing a GIS overview of the situation at hand for the benefit of the decision makers.
The system is available for free for anyone to download and customize based on individual requirements. Source: Sahana website (http://www.sahana.lk/)
platform, donors, NGOs and suppliers are better able to (i) determine which items are needed most where and by whom, (ii) identify available supplies and (iii) coordinate the logistics of their delivery, thereby increasing efficiency when responding to emergencies. • Télécoms sans Frontières (TSF) builds emergency telecommunications systems in the field to support humanitarian relief operations. TSF has a permanent monitoring center that can deploy specialized teams anywhere in the world in less than 48 hours. Typically, the teams install small but powerful mobile satellite communications to help NGOs and other partners coordinate logistics and related matters. • MapAction is an NGO that specializes in using satellite earth imaging, data processing and mapping to assist relief missions by supplying up-to-date, real-time maps of disaster areas. MapAction is also part of a consortium called RESPOND that is committed to making geospatial technologies more accessible to the humanitarian-aid community by improving access to maps, satellite imagery and geographic information. 119