Impact of Information Management Systems in Disaster Management: a Case of Reliefweb
Abstract
Information plays an important role in almost every human activity. There is a common saying, “information is power”. This is more apparent during a disaster or a crisis, where the availability and dissemination of information determines life-saving activities.
This study looked at the processes of information management (collection, processing, analysis and dissemination and archival) of information and how this aids in humanitarian response to a disaster. Specifically, the study was designed to determine the impact, if any, of ReliefWeb in disaster management, with a special focus on the drought in Kenya 2014-2017. ReliefWeb is a specialized integrated services offered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to give information as when humanitarian crises occur.
The objectives of this study were to identify ReliefWeb users and establish the extent to which they made decisions based upon the information ReliefWeb provided. The study also sought to establish the reliability of ReliefWeb to its users.
Reviews of relevant literature focused on definition of information management in terms of knowledge management and management information systems. It also examined humanitarian information management and the process on sharing information in disaster management. The study also examined previous evaluations of other Information Management Systems.
Qualitative and quantitative data was obtained from forty five humanitarian workers from different United Nations agencies, Non-Governmental organizations, and donor community. Questionnaires, key informant interviews and reviews of relevant documents were used to collect the data. The qualitative data was analyzed using thematic categorization. Descriptive statistics was used for quantitative analysis with the measure of frequency used to generate relevant percentages and frequency counts. In addition, the researcher had an interview with an editor from ReliefWeb to gain an understanding of how the website functions.
Key findings showed that there are more users satisfied with the information from ReliefWeb than those dissatisfied. User registration was however cited as tedious since it did not incorporate options to integrate with popular tools like Gmail or Facebook. By providing evidence and new ideas, ReliefWeb act as a catalyst in influencing program and policy improvement. It also establishes a level of attribution towards making decision directly through activities and outputs of information intervention especially on complex matters such as drought.
The study recommends that ReliefWeb should incorporate options to integrate its user registration with popular tools like Gmail or Facebook; It should identify its users changing information interests, especially the need for changing information type with the recent growth in the need for data as opposed to prose; It should also make their website multi-lingual whereby the content is available in more than one language, thereby increasing the diversity of the audience and lastly it should be at the forefront of technological advancements to ensure they are relevant in meeting the needs of the user.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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