We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

World Bank and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to establish joint data centre on forced displacement

World Bank and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to establish joint data centre on forced displacement

Above photo: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and World Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva/ © World Bank/ Brandon Payne

The World Bank Group (WBG) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on October 20 that they will establish a joint data centre on forced displacement to greatly improve statistics on refugees, other displaced people and host communities. The data center is expected to be ready for operation in mid-2018.

It leverages UNHCR’s role as the reference institution for refugee data, combining it with the WBG’s analytical expertise and experience helping national governments improve statistical capacity. 

The new centre will enable a better informed and more sustainable response to forced displacement, underpinning a coordinated humanitarian-development approach.

It will cover refugees, internally displaced persons and other groups as well as host communities. It aims to ensure that population and socioeconomic data are systematically collected and analysed and facilitate open access to forced displacement data, while ensuring the integrity of the legal protection framework.

The data centre is expected to strengthen the global data collection system, establishing common norms, definitions, and methodologies, and support efforts to fortify country systems where necessary.

It will also promote innovations to enhance forced displacement data through satellite imagery, cell phones, and other new technologies.

With almost 90% of refugees living in the developing world, and more than half displaced for over 4 years, there is recognition by the international community that humanitarian interventions need to be complemented by a longer-term development response.

UNHCR and the WBG have been strengthening collaboration under this new approach, which is reflected in ongoing efforts to develop a global compact on refugees for adoption by the end of 2018. Delivering such a comprehensive response requires high-quality, timely data, which was also underscored in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants of September 2016.

Global-level data defines the international agenda, while country-level data informs policies and helps to target aid resources appropriately. More needs to be done to strengthen the collection, quality, access, and use of data. 

The potential impact of enhanced cooperation between the WBG and UNHCR is significant. For example, detailed data, where they were available, enabled the two institutions to prepare reports on the welfare of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, which in turn led to a better targeting of humanitarian assistance as well as the preparation of development projects. In Kenya, it made possible a detailed analysis of the role of the Kakuma refugee camp in the local economy, demonstrating that the presence of refugees had a positive effect overall on economic growth in Northeast Kenya.  

Systematically making data available will allow scaling up of such critical analytical work, which is essential as the WBG and UNHCR collaborate to support both refugees and host communities. Evidence-based information will also be available for use by practitioners and policy makers to improve programs and projects on forced displacement.

“The scale, complexity and speed of today’s refugee crises mean we can no longer afford to respond through humanitarian action alone. It is more important than ever to mobilize resources and plan for the longer term from the beginning.  This is why early access to reliable data for development partners like the World Bank is so important,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

World Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva, added, “When resources are scarce all efforts should be made to get help to those who need it. Improving data and evidence is critical to ensure that these resources are used efficiently and effectively. We have much to learn from UNHCR’s experience, so that we can do more together working in complementary ways to help both refugees and their hosts.” 

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend