23 November 2021
By Diana Klien, Head of Data and Analytics, Technology Division, World Food Programme
When every second means the difference between life and death for those facing famine and conflict, data can be a humanitarian agency’s best ally. That’s why data paved the way for the World Food Programme’s ambitious journey in digital transformation that started in 2017.
19 October 2021
By Sarah Telford, Lead for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Centre for Humanitarian Data
The Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) is an open platform for sharing data across crises and organizations. Launched by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in July 2014, the goal of HDX is to make humanitarian data easy to find and use for analysis. Today, the 18,000 datasets on HDX cover every active humanitarian crisis, from Afghanistan to Yemen. In 2020, HDX was accessed by over 1.3 million people and from almost every country in the world.
20 September 2021
By Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Executive Director of the Global Privacy & Security by Design Centre & Creator of the Privacy by Design Framework
In this Q&A, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, discusses why data privacy and strong data protection are critically important. Dr. Cavoukian argues that if we are to preserve free and open societies, we must preserve the privacy and security of our online communications.
13 August 2021
Steve MacFeely, Director of Data and Analytics, World Health Organization
What distinguishes revolution from evolution? What events or movements in the world of data have been sufficiently disruptive or transformational to deserve being called revolutionary? Although they might seem like abstract questions, when I hear everyone talking about a “Data Revolution”, they are the ones I find myself asking.
1 July 2021
Christina Goodness, Chief, Information Management Unit, UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations
One year and 15 minutes later, I stepped away from the nurse’s table. I waited to see if there would be any vaccine reaction. After a year of remote work and crisis response for COVID-19, I sat there and took a deep breath, listening to the clicking of keyboards as the medical staff recorded the data and murmured amongst themselves.
25 May 2021
By Kyoung-Soo Eom, Chief of Geospatial Information Section, Technology Operations Service, Operations Support Division, OICT
Since the establishment of the United Nations, cartography and geospatial information have been an important component of the Organization. In 1948, the Committee of Experts on Cartography sought to answer two questions:
12 April 2021
By Stefan Lemm, former Head, Military Operations Unit, OICT
Data Privacy and Protection is one of the key aspects of the Secretary-General’s Data Strategy. It is clear that protecting people from indiscriminate data collection is important because it might result in data misuse, for instance, by businesses. But a potentially more dangerous scenario would be that data collected in good faith ends up in the hands of ill-meaning actors who intend to intimidate or even threaten the victim's personal safety.
24 February 2021
By Lambert Hogenhout, Chief of Data, Analytics and Innovation, OICT
Collecting data, organizing it, and sharing it is useful. Ultimately, however, the aim is to create business value. We want to turn data into insights that result in productivity gains, better decisions and/or faster response.
29 January 2021
By Martijn Lampert, Research Director, Glocalities
In this Q&A, Martijn Lampert, Research Director, Glocalities, shares a methodology he and his team used to measure international trust in the UN. He argues that research focusing on the links between values, issues and cultures is key to quantifying qualitative data.
14 December 2020
By Olabisi Shoaga, Political Affairs Officer, Division of Policy, Evaluation and Training, Department of Peace Operations
Over the past few years, there has been a rise in the use of data, particularly quantitative data, to showcase progress and performance during reporting and briefings on peacekeeping. A good deal of the work done in this regard has been in operational support, military operations, conduct and discipline, gender, rule of law and human rights related areas of work.
