IASC Event Geneva: Actionable data for complex humanitarian emergencies (Impact Lab)
Geneva
Actionable data for complex humanitarian emergencies
Years of armed conflict in the Middle East have resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Instability continues to disrupt the flow of resources and has placed severe strain on host nations. Since the onset of the crisis, the international community has provided resources to conflict-affected areas of the region; however, major information gaps regarding the best allocation of resources still exist. With no end to the crisis in sight and resources dwindling, it is now more important than ever that actionable, data-driven decision making steers the humanitarian response effort. The Impact Lab team has been operating in acute and protracted crises for over a decade, most recently near the front lines of the crisis in central Iraq. In this presentation, they will discuss key findings from a 6,500-individual survey they ran over five days in the mid-Euphrates region of central Iraq and their capacity to assist relief agencies with operational data management in the region.
Please join us to learn more about Impact Lab's initiative presented by Eric Foster-Moore (Deputy Director of Operations) and Tom Plagge (Chief Scientist).
Eric Foster-Moore is an economist with a background in impact evaluations and household surveys. He has extensive experience using remote sensing and geospatial tools to innovate around problems in the development and humanitarian sectors. Prior to joining the Impact Lab, Eric spent four years at the World Bank working at the intersection of water, ICT, and disaster risk management. He earned his MS from Oregon State University looking at the impact of large dams on agriculture and migration patterns in China.
Thomas Plagge is an astrophysicist and data scientist whose work focuses on the practical use of data in education, public health, and community development. He was a mentor and co-organizer for the Data Science for Social Good summer fellowship program, which puts teams of aspiring data scientists to work on hands-on projects with governments and non-profits. He earned his PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley based on the analysis of galaxy cluster data from the South Pole Telescope, and worked as a senior researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Data Science and Public Policy.