This award supports a March 2006 workshop in Nairobi, Kenya to plan a research agenda on the use of state-of-the-art information systems in international emergency response efforts. Each year millions of people are affected by humanitarian emergencies ranging from sudden natural disasters to slow-onset and complex political emergencies that present long-term threats to the welfare and stability of entire regions. After the Indian Ocean tsunami, relief efforts poured in from around the world. Yet many of these efforts were ineffective, due to the lack of human and technological infrastructure in support of coordination and cooperative effort. The issues to be addressed in this workshop include theoretically based and practically applicable operational models, process standards, information management frameworks, and technology platforms. Workshop participants will include U.S. researchers and graduate students led by the University of Washington's Interdisciplinary Program in Humanitarian Relief, a consortium of 26 regional NGOs active in emergency preparedness and response, experts from Africa led by faculty at Moi University and representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Research on these information systems within the complex environment of humanitarian relief will help us understand the effective use of similar systems in related areas of government, non-profit and commercial sectors. In addition, the application of advanced systems to humanitarian relief will mean a more effective use of the considerable funding directed towards these efforts.
