Humanitarian relief standards as information policy

Abstract

This paper addresses the information policy issue within humanitarian relief organizations of standards as they apply to setting guidelines and self-regulation among the actors in this field. The paper begins with an overview of the context of natural disasters, the nature of humanitarian relief organizations working in the field, and how standards might be applicable. Following, the questions and challenges to the field are then discussed, using spatial information and related technology as a lens to frame these challenges. A group of standards-forming bodies are then described. A section analyzing these standards and their functioning in the domain of humanitarian relief follows the descriptions of standards in the field. A set of operational recommendations and a set of next steps and possible future research suggestions close the paper. IntroductionPolicy challenges are not foreign to the humanitarian relief sector. From well-publicized natural disasters to lesser-known conflicts and emergencies around the world, humanitarian relief is both a big business and one with limited legal oversight of the main players. Standards, as one form of policy, especially when it comes to information standards as well as standards of accountability and performance, are the central subject of this paper. The challenges are many, including a disjointed culture of information sharing and a lack of an accrediting body capable of certifying responsible agencies in their delivery of humanitarian aid. Standards, a more robust understanding of them, anyway, may provide some helpful organization to the often chaotic information policy environment of humanitarian aid.Into this need come nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with money, personnel, resources, and aid to meet the physical and social needs of natural disaster survivors and other intended beneficiaries of humanitarian aid. Governments, multi-lateral groups such as the United Nations (UN), and voluntary groups contribute their expertise. And yet, the world lacks a coherent set of accepted standards under which these and other groups operate in the humanitarian relief sector. PurposeThis paper examines a variety of standards within the humanitarian action sector, including relief and development, to explore how these standards influence information policy of the main actors in the field. As such, the standards under investigation are not limited to those specifically tied to information policy, but also standards of accountability and best practices. The reason for including these other sets of standards is to provide a more complete picture of the sector and to investigate how pervasive issues of information policy are across the family of standards in the humanitarian space. The intended outcome, then, is a discussion and comparison of how information policy issues appear in standards and to articulate ways in which information policy might play an even stronger role for cooperation and information sharing among humanitarian actors.The paper first provides background to the...