Strengthening Aid in Ukraine: iMMAP Supports Localization through Information Management & Capacity Building

iMMAP and CARE have partnered to enhance the humanitarian response in Ukraine. While CARE operates as a first-line actor delivering direct humanitarian aid to people affected by the war, iMMAP provides information management products and services enabling informed decisions to greater impact the support of people in need.

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Wednesday, May 31st, 2023Alix Joly

CARE Ukraine is a representative office of the international humanitarian organization CARE International, which works worldwide, contributing to saving lives, defeating poverty, and achieving social justice. In response to the conflict in Ukraine, CARE expanded its activities to help those affected by the war. As a new actor in the country, CARE prioritizes a locally led response and partners with civil society organizations, women's rights organizations, national and international NGOs with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine's humanitarian aid covers areas such as protection, gender-based violence, shelter, food, cash assistance, water, hygiene, and sanitation, with projects covering almost all regions of Ukraine. 

iMMAP is dedicated to supporting and strengthening CARE’s humanitarian response in Ukraine. Our experts conducted three training sessions, in Ukrainian, on using the Kobo toolbox, MS Excel and Power BI to CARE’s Implementing Partners (IPs). Through a series of training, humanitarian workers have been equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to collect, analyze, visualize and manage data more efficiently and ultimately make more informed decisions. These training sessions are particularly valuable for all new local NGOs emerging in Ukraine, as they allow them to develop data management capabilities and improve the quality of programs. 

"This workshop gave me understanding how to check and analyze data more easily with PowerBI tools. After participating in this training, I can create simple infographics to analyze the sets of data we have. Participants from our partners organizations also have a very positive impression of the training. They were faced with the challenge: how to organize and analyze the large data sets they began to collect during the implementation of humanitarian programs. And this workshop helped them overcome this challenge."

Ivanna Salyha, CARE Ukraine Accountability Officer

By investing in the capacity of local NGOs, iMMAP is facilitating the localization of humanitarian response and knowledge acquisition among new actors in the humanitarian community in Ukraine. Realigned to the Ukrainian context, training sessions and materials, deployment of tools, and other iMMAP services are available for partners both in English and Ukrainian. This helps national organizations to obtain new knowledge and skills in assessments and data management to operate effectively.  

Combining local knowledge, resources, and capacities into relief efforts results in a more culturally appropriate, sustainable, and empowering humanitarian response that fosters resilience and self-sufficiency. This approach ensures that interventions of CARE IPs are aligned with the needs and priorities of affected communities. 

Furthermore, iMMAP supported CARE with the development of information management tools to collect and effectively visualize information. Customized tools help to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data collection in the field as well as to minimize manual effort and provide real-time data updates and map visualizations.  

Overall iMMAP's mission in Ukraine is to contribute to a more effective and coordinated humanitarian response by providing a wide array of information management services to humanitarian and development organizations. iMMAP has been identified as a reliable partner to streamline IM materials utilized for decision-making and mobilize national resources to strengthen coordination on national level. 

Within the Cluster support project funded by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, iMMAP enhances the assessment cycle, critical analysis and capacity strengthening to enable Clusters and cluster partners to work independently and provide data-driven humanitarian response activities.  

By providing critical information management support, iMMAP has helped other organizations to deliver aid more effectively, reach more people in need, and build their capacity in response to emergencies. 

iMMAP provides information management capacity building to Humanitarian Organizations in Ukraine

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Ukrainian context

Humanitarian needs across Ukraine increased drastically following the escalation of the conflict into a war on February 24th, 2022. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 17.6 million people – 49 per cent of the current population- need humanitarian assistance and protection. This includes 6.3 million internally displaced people, 4.4 million returnees and 6.9 million people who remained home since February 20221. 

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, providing humanitarian support to those in need remains a critical challenge. While direct aid delivery is vital, effective coordination and information management are equally essential to ensure that resources reach those who need them most. Information management is the cornerstone of humanitarian response as it helps humanitarian organizations identify the needs of affected populations, target resources appropriately, and coordinate actions with other organizations and government agencies. It also helps to prevent duplication of efforts, ensure accountability, and provide feedback to donors and affected communities. In addition, information management systems can enable humanitarian actors to monitor and evaluate their interventions, track progress, and adjust their strategies accordingly. This is where organizations like iMMAP play a critical role, turning data into information and creating knowledge for decision-makers operating in conflicts.