1. AWG IMWG Iraq Assessment Registry
Iraq Assessment Working Group
IMWG
Iraq Assessment Registry
IMWG-AWG Briefing for Clusters and partners
Monday, 7 May 2018

2. Assessment areas in which the AWG should be more active
IMWG
Assessment areas in which the AWG should be more active
Answered: Skipped: 7
Assessment initiatives are not mapped out to ensure complementary of data sources. – 44 %
Responsible: ICCG, AWG
Needs assessment data is not shared/reported in a timely and systematic manner – 50%
Responsible: Clusters IMOs, OCHA
[Source: AWG Survey, Q6, Nov. 2017; ICCG Meeting, April 2018]

3. This is what we hear and/or are asked about…
IMWG
This is what we hear and/or are asked about…
“Is there a place where I can see where partners conducted needs assessments?”
“Are the assessments stored somewhere?”
“Do you keep track of planned assessments?”
“I bumped into another organization conducting assessments in the same place we’ve been”
“I did not know there is an Assessment Registry. That’s great!”.
“I want to conduct an assessment in the following sectors in location x. Do you know if there has been an assessment conducted already?”
“Where should I go to conduct assessments?”
And more…

4. IMWG
Do we have something in place to map out and record assessments and help us answer the questions above?
Do we use it well?

5. Where to find the Assessment Registry?
IMWG
Where to find the Assessment Registry?
The HR.Info country websites come with an integrated assessment registry.
The registry is setup and active in Iraq:

6. IMWG
What is it?
An OCHA-managed platform/service provided to all humanitarian actors.
Provides a way for organizations to share the details and results of humanitarian assessments.
A service so agencies/organizations can discover assessments that have already been undertaken and avoid unnecessary survey fatigue
Tracks locations and sectors that have been well or insufficiently assessed.
The registry allows sorting assessments undertaken by title, location, leading and participating organizations, sectors and assessment status.
AR is a coordination tool which can highlight assessment geographical/sectoral and thematic gaps and overlaps
Provides the link to the assessment reports, questionnaires and data if made publicly available.

7. What goes up on the Assessment Registry?
IMWG
What goes up on the Assessment Registry?
The registry should include all assessments relevant to the humanitarian response.
Information management practitioners should consider issues of data sensitivity before publishing specific assessment reports and open assessment data
Clusters can develop own criteria as to what goes on the AR (Direct observations, field notes, assessments with cluster-endorsed tools and methodology, etc)

8. IMWG Who has access to it?
Users: The assessment registry is public and available to all concerned with the emergency
Admins: Usually cluster IMOs with a registered account on HR.info, where they can log in and start uploading the assessments. In case of lack of an IMO, OCHA IMU unit can support in uploading respective assessments
“Structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier
to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource. Metadata is [sic] often called ‘data
about data’ or ‘information about information’”.3 Metadata are used to summarize basic
information about data, which can make tracking and working with specific data easier. Some
examples include: means of creation of the data; purpose of the data; time and date of creation;
creator or author of the data; location on a computer network where the data was created; standards
used; and file size.

9. Agreeing on data sharing modalities
IMWG
Agreeing on data sharing modalities
Cluster leads are responsible for establishing a data confidentiality and privacy policy within their cluster, which ensures that sensitive, personally identifiable datasets are suitably anonymized.
Not mandatory to upload reports, but useful to upload metadata.
Sensitive data: The disclosure of personal, demographic or other sensitive data in the humanitarian space can have particularly serious ramifications.
Transparency: Few organizations submit their data to avoid quality issues and scrutiny.
Confidentiality: In some operations, data confidentiality is required and cannot shared publically to protect staff and beneficiaries.
Anonymization: Data anonymization is information sanitization encrypting or removing personally identifiable information from data sets.

10. IMWG
How does it work?
The AR sorts assessments undertaken by title, location, leading and participating organizations, sectors and assessment status.

11. Assessment Registry Elements
IMWG
Assessment Registry Elements
List
Table
CSV
Map

12. Roles and responsibilities
IMWG
Roles and responsibilities
Platform as good as the reporting that goes in it.
Partners conducting assessments share needs assessment data (planned, conducted) and/or reports with clusters.
Clusters compile needs assessment data and reports.
Cluster IMOs upload sector-specific needs assessment data/reports on AR
OCHA IMOs upload multi-sector needs assessment data/reports on AR
OCHA provides technical support as needed
OCHA produces monthly dashboard and circulate it with IMWG, AWG, ICCG and partners on a regular basis.

13. IMWG
Outputs
Monthly Dashboard

14. IMWG Outputs Cluster Severity and PIN for HNO Overall assessment
Assessments are used to develop cluster indicators to populated the needs comparison tool NCT to identify severity by location, which feeds into the cluster oval PIN.
Overall assessment
Overview for HNO
Assessments are used to develop cluster indicators to populated the needs comparison tool NCT to identify severity by location, which feeds into the cluster oval PIN.

15. Partners cannot report - role of cluster IMOs and OCHA IMOs
IMWG
Limitations
Without systematic sharing of info from all agencies, the registry is offering an incomplete picture.
Only goes to district level (since the sub-district level data has not been agreed)
Partners cannot report - role of cluster IMOs and OCHA IMOs
No global/regional/national criteria available on what to upload

16. Analysis: Provide opportunities to increase joint analysis of data
IMWG
Advantages
Info gaps: Overview of locations/sectors that have been well or insufficiently assessed.
Analysis: Provide opportunities to increase joint analysis of data
Coordination Tool: finding out what other assessments have been conducted by partners in the area you are considering for an assessment
Access to Info

17. IMWG
Resources
Guidance:
Iraq Assessment Registry:

18. AWG IMWG Questions? Reem Nashashibi, nashashibi@un.org
Iraq Assessment Working Group
IMWG
Questions?
Reem Nashashibi,
Alexandra Lazau-Ratz,