3 Steps to Data Readiness with the Nigerian Red Cross
If you’ve read our team’s previous blog on what we did in 2020, you’d have seen that we are supporting the Nigerian Red Cross, a partner to the British Red Cross.
Background
At the beginning of 2021, the British Red Cross started supporting Nigerian Red Cross implementing a Disaster Management Programme across several states in Nigeria, preparing communities for disasters. This programme originated from the experiences of the 2018 and 2019 Nigeria flood responses and the observations of opportunities to enhance the Nigerian Red Cross response to emergencies like these.
During both the 2018 and 2019 flood responses the GIS and Information Management Team at the British Red Cross supported the Nigerian Red Cross with guidance and products, including maps, dashboards, needs assessments, survey design and mobile data collection.
To strengthen the Information Management capacity of Nigerian Red Cross in this new Disaster Management Programme, the GIS and Information Management Team was brought in to support the development of Nigerian Red Cross’ ability to respond to and manage emergencies through data-driven decision making.
How could this support be structured to make it easy to understand? What steps should be taken? To answer these questions, we looked to the IFRC Data Readiness Toolkit.
What is the Data Readiness Toolkit?
Data readiness is the ability to use quality and timely information in humanitarian operations and programmes.
It is where a culture of data exists; where data and processes are responsibly and effectively used and managed; and then finally, used for decisions, with analytical thinking and processes embedded into both design and implementation.
The American Red Cross developed the Data Readiness Toolkit with support from IFRC Data Literacy and Information Management teams to help guide Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies on their data journey — working out where they were at in a framework and then building from there.
The framework is highly adaptable: it is presented as being tied to disaster response yet could equally be applied to other humanitarian sectors!
The toolkit outlines foundational steps Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies can take to support data driven decision making under three pillars to build Information Management capacity for disaster response:
- Data Literacy: National Societies have the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and social structures required to use data.
- Data Preparedness: National Societies have the ability to use and manage data-related tools, methods, and strategies responsibly and effectively.
- Data Driven Decision Making: National Societies have the ability to use data for decisions, having reliably integrated analytic thinking into both design and implementation
By enhancing existing knowledge on each of these three pillars, the Nigerian Red Cross will be able to conduct more effective needs assessments and provide a more appropriate emergency response, through better coordination amongst leadership and those implementing.
What is our approach?
The initial step we took to support Nigerian Red Cross (NRCS) build their Information Management capacity was the creation of several proposed objectives and user stories. We use user stories to identify what the staff and volunteers currently do and where their priorities for capacity development are. This process meant that we were not proposing solutions before fully identifying the goal state the NRCS wanted to achieve:
Objective 1: Co-creation of an assessment process to ensure that assessment information is processed and used for decision making within 7 days of an emergency
User stories:
- “As an Information Manager, I would like to effectively create an assessment form and be able to retrieve, clean, analyse and visualise the data”
- “As an Information Manager, I would like to be able to present assessment data analysis reports and visualisations to leadership, to enable decision making that plans for and delivers an effective response”
- “As an Information Manager, I would like to be able to identify any bias to questions, or limitations in the assessment, as well as any gaps in the assessment or data”
- “As an Information Manager, I would like to know and understand the wider Movement Information Management initiatives, as well as those of external agencies and the cluster system response where relevant”
Objective 2: Nigerian Red Cross has template assessment forms & template reports that are ready to use in an emergency response situation, and provides enough information to support decisions
User stories:
- “As a branch staff or volunteer I would like to understand the basics of data and be able to collect it effectively”
- “As a branch staff or volunteer I would like to be able to plan fieldwork activities for assessments”
Objective 3: Information Management focal point(s) can appropriately and effectively manage assessment information for the Nigerian Red Cross.
User story:
- “As an Information Management focal point, I would like to be able to appropriately and effectively manage assessment information”.
What next?
We then looked at how we could achieve these objectives, using the Data Readiness Toolkit.
The Data Readiness Toolkit focusses on a self-assessment and then identifies areas to enhance. However, we approached this the other way around, by working with the Nigerian Red Cross to review their data challenges and the priorities they had already identified from past disaster responses.
We used the framework to create a “shopping list” of capacity building options linked to user stories under each of the three Data Readiness Framework pillars. These options are now being implemented. More blogs to follow!
Data Literacy
- Nigerian Red Cross will hold a Missing Maps Mapathon to map programme areas onto OpenStreetMap, by tracing buildings and roads using aerial imagery. This will support the showcasing of map data as information.
- After the Mapathon local Nigerian Red Cross branch volunteers will conduct community mapping as part of a Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (VCA). Community infrastructure, capacities and vulnerabilities will be mapped using the mobile data collection tool KoBo Toolbox, to create a detailed neighbourhood map by and for the community. Any open data will be added to OpenStreetMap, sharing crucial geographic information about points of interest available to responders if a disaster strikes.
These activities help build a data culture by supporting staff and volunteers to recognise the value of data and to promote data skills which can be applied to disaster responses. This falls under the “Data Literacy” component of the Framework.
Data Preparedness
- Nigerian Red Cross will build capacity and cement knowledge in mobile data collection and survey design (including question types, skip logic and validation criteria among others) to enable an effective response from rigorous data. The use of mobile data collection during the VCA helps embed this knowledge in a non-emergency setting.
- Nigerian Red Cross will be introduced to concepts about humanitarian information analysis for emergency needs assessments. Staff and volunteers will be provided with the tools to effectively analyse information and help leaders make data-driven decisions from needs assessments — removing the “noise” from critical information and identifying gaps in response information.
These activities fall under the “Data Preparedness” component of the Framework. They build capacity through the effective use and management of data-related tools, methods, and strategies
Data Readiness — Use data for decisions
- After needs assessments have taken place, data needs to be analysed and presented in a variety of formats, for example, in dashboards and maps. Nigerian Red Cross will increase its capacity through familiarisation with common analysis and visualisation tools, creating new products, enhancing existing products, and introducing templates into workflows.
- Nigerian Red Cross will create these products and test them with decision makers who will use them during disaster responses, enabling them to interpret information, and empowering them to make decisions based on that information.
These activities fall under the “Data Readiness” component of the Framework which encourages the use of data for decisions.
Throughout the lifecycle of the programme, the Nigerian Red Cross with the British Red Cross will use the framework to identify options for continually building Information Management capacity. These three pillars are a continual learning loop, ultimately building greater data literacy in the Nigerian Red Cross!
We look forward to sharing experiences of each of the steps in future blogs!
The Data Readiness Toolkit and framework can be found here: https://preparecenter.org/toolkit/data-readiness-toolkit/
For more information about the IFRC approach to emergency needs assessments see the website here: https://www.ifrc.org/emergency-needs-assessments
With thanks to the Nigerian Red Cross with whom we are working with in the programme and the American Red Cross with support from IFRC data literacy and Information Management teams for developing the Data Readiness Toolkit and Framework.
