WASH One-day Training: Information Management for WASH Co-ordination

1. WASH One-day Training:Information Management for WASH Co-ordination Prepared by Paul Currion for UNICEF, Global WASH Cluster Lead, with support from ECHO

2. Session One: COURSE INTRODUCTION

3. Our Learning Objectives‏ Explain how information adds value to co-ordination (particularly the Cluster approach) through the ‘Virtuous Circle’ of information management Assess what information is needed by the WASH Cluster, where that information can be found, and how it can be used Manage WASH Cluster data effectively (including dealing with security issues) based on good practice Be aware of global WASH IM tools, and develop information products that support co-ordination applying Create successful dissemination strategies, overcoming common obstacles to information sharing

4. Your Learning Objectives? Are there any other learning objectives you can think of? What are your expectations in attending this training? Write these down on a flipchart page and “park” them.

5. The Cluster Approach • In what ways is the cluster approach different from previous co-ordination? • In the cluster approach, what are the critical elements of successful co-ordination? • How might the cluster approach influence how and why we share information?

6. The Role of Cluster Leads Establishment and maintenance of appropriate humanitarian coordination mechanisms Coordination with national/local authorities, State institutions, local civil society and other relevant actors Participatory and community-based approaches Attention to priority cross-cutting issues (e.g. age, diversity, environment, gender, HIV/AIDS and human rights)‏ Emergency preparedness, planning and strategy development Can you give examples of each sort of activity from your own experience? Who is responsible for co-ordination in your country, and particularly co-ordination of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene issues?

7. Principles of Partnership Equality Transparency Result-oriented coordination Responsibility Complementing

8. Partnership in your country • How are these principles working in your country? • How would you strengthen them in your own work? • How does the Cluster approach fit your environment? • Which mechanisms or institutions may be unique to your country?

9. What is information? What different types of information do you Receive, Work with, and Distribute?

10. What information do we have? Are these “information” or “information products” - and what's the difference? Could you receive any of this information in the form of a different information product? What do you do with each of these types of information, and how do you use it?

11. Session Two: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION IN CO-ORDINATION

12. What is Information Management? How would you define: “information management”? Consider: Relationships Processes Objects Events Outputs Impacts

13. Information Management A definition: “Information management is the range of processes by which information is handled by individuals and organisations. These processes aim to define, collect, process, analyse, present, distribute and record information. The combined result of these processes is to make the work of the organisation more effective.”

14. Key Things to Remember • Information Management is active, not passive – a range of processes over time, not a single event. • These processes deal with information from raw data collection through to dissemination of final outputs. • IM should make the organisation more effective – if it doesn’t, then why expend resources on it?

15. The Virtuous Circle of IM Data Process Collect Information Activity Share Apply Knowledge

16. Why do we need information? Are you information managers? Why do you need the information you’ve listed? How do your activities change when you receive new information?

17. A message from Bangladesh The ability of the WASH cluster to gather information, to extract and process it, in the form of maps and analysis documents and to feed this to WASH cluster members was singularly the most powerful achievement. The ability to undertake this information processing and packaging rapidly and to hold this up to agencies as a mirror to confront them with the realities of coordination or lack of is crucial in order to influence their decision making. Richard Luff, WASH Cluster Co-ordinator

18. What do these maps show us? Review two maps showing: The incidence of diarrhoea after Cyclone Sidr The availability of health care in Bangladesh These maps show different things - but if we compare them, what do they tell us? What might the diarrhoea map tell us from a WASH perspective?

19. Adding Value to Co-ordination Provide useful information products Help end users to understand the situation Act as an ‘honest broker’ Develop a common overview of the situation Increasing accountability - verify and monitor Provide systematic approach in chaotic situation.

20. How does information management add value to co-ordination? Review the IDP matrix from Batticoloa: How does this product add value to co-ordination process? Without this product, would agencies have any way of collecting this data? Is there anything missing from the spreadsheet that would increase its value? What other ways do information managers add value?

21. How to add value to co-ordination Data collection Data processing Information sharing Creating a knowledge base

22. Session Three: MANAGING DATA

23. What is Data made of? TIME element - i.e. the date or duration of the event SPATIAL element - i.e. the location or passage of the event ATTRIBUTE elements - i.e. the substance of the data Why are each of these important?

24. An Example of Data 123 displaced families = ATTRIBUTE arrived in Barisal = SPATIAL On 1 December = TIME

25. Where does data come from? What key data do you work with? What data do you already have access to? Where does your data come from – internal or external sources? What forms do you receive data in? Do you have to adapt them to make it useful? Are there any patterns to the your sources – in particular, are they mainly internal? Does ease of access influence what data you use?

26. An Example of Data Mining Review the Shelter District Summary and consider: What are the key things that this spreadsheet (from the Emergency Shelter Cluster) shows us? Which of the columns spreadsheet are also useful for WASH Cluster? Where did the data in those columns come from? Is there any data that we do not have a source for? There’s a lot of information useful for Shelter co-ordination – what other data would you like to see from the point of WASH?

27. Making Assumptions About Data Review the note on Latrine Repair Costs and consider: What was the key proxy indicator for latrine damage? What assumptions were made about that indicator, and were they correct? What other assumptions might have been made, and how would they affect our calculations? How could these costings be improved?

28. Comparing Data for Analysis Review the 2 maps - Unions unsuitable for tube wells and Diarrhoea in Bangladesh. How might we compare these two? How would you use them to support co-ordination? Are there any WASH-related issues in your country which would benefit from this sort of analysis?

29. Are you (Data) Prepared? Review the Minimum Datasets sheet. Are there any essential WASH baseline datasets in your country that are not on this list? Who holds them and how accessible are they? If they do not exist, how might we develop them? How might we be better prepared for the next emergency, in terms of data and information?

30. What are Data Standards? What do you understand by the term ‘data standards’? Can you give examples that are used in daily life? What are the characteristics of these standards? Who produces them, and who uses them? What are they used for? Why are data standards important, and why have they developed?

31. Why do we need Data Standards? • To share data within and between organisations • To compare different sets of data to improve analysis • To capture the critical attributes of transactions for accountability

32. How do Data Standards work? • Standards are common languages for discussing and sharing data. They can make your organisation: • More efficient, saving time and money • More effective, improving quality and accuracy

33. Introducing Geocodes Are geocodes used in your country, or are there any equivalents? Why are they useful? In what situations might they be used? How might humanitarian organisations make use of geocodes? What obstacles to their use might exist in your country?

34. Why we use Geocodes Almost all data has a spatial element – geocodes enable us to use this for analysis Geocoding allows us to compare data from different organisations more easily Geocoding overcomes common problems of different spellings of place names, different languages, and name changes

35. A Filing Cabinet for Everybody Government Agencies NGOs UN agencies

36. Where’s Your Filing Cabinet? How do you store information in their organisations? What do all these different types of storage have in common? Are they accessible? If not, why not? Why secure information?

37. Why Secure Information? Security – making sure that sensitive information is dealt with appropriately Integrity – making sure that nobody tampers with information without somebody noticing Backup – making sure that if things go wrong, there is an alternative

38. Session Four: THE INFORMATION WE NEED

39. The information we need? Focus on demand rather than supply – what do people need to know? Are there any constraints on what information is actually available? How will you prioritise what information is most important for the operation?

40. What information would you need to know for effective WASH co-ordination? • What does that information tell us, and what decisions would it support? • At what level the information is likely to be found, and what form you would expect to find it in? • Given that we have limited resources, are there particular datasets which we should prioritise?

41. Who has the Information we need ? Internal External Remote Personal

42. What about other Clusters? • Health • Camp Management • Shelter • Education • Protection • ALL?

43. Ways of Sharing Information 1 What different ways do you share information? Are we sharing at all points along the scale? If not, what types of information sharing might fit? Do different organisations use different methods of sharing information? Are we using the full range of options available to us? If not, how might we address that?

44. Ways of Sharing Information 2 Who do you share information with? Are there patterns to your information-sharing? What do these patterns show about networks in your country? Does this help us to identify which organisations have useful information, or might need help accessing information? Are there weaknesses in the network - and ways in which those weaknesses could be addressed?

45. If you don’t share information…

46. Benefits of Sharing Information Creates a shared understanding of the situation Enables organisations to make projects more effective Makes wider range of resources available to organisations Builds relations between organisations Contributes to a culture of openness and accountability Helps to optimise the allocation of resources

47. Factors that prevent sharing What factors might prevent information sharing in the field? What solutions might we find to address these constraining factors?

48. Data Security Issues Privacy Security Sensitivity Confidentiality Quality

49. Session Five: TURNING INFORMATION INTO PRODUCTS

50. RULE #1: START AT THE END, AND WORK BACKWARDS What decisions will this product support, and who will be making those decisions? If you’re not sure, how can you find out? Will the product provide them with information that they already have? If yes, will it add value to that information? If no, through which channels can you acquire this information? Do you have access to these channels? If not, how can you get access?