HUMANITARIAN INFORMATION CENTRES (HIC)

The Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) is a common service, endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in February 2003. On behalf of the IASC, OCHA acts as steward of HICs. In May 2008, the most recent version of the HIC's Terms of Reference was endoresed by the IASC.

The mission of the HIC is to support the humanitarian community in the systematic and standardized collection, processing and dissemination of information with the aim of improving coordination, situational understanding and decision making. In undertaking this mission, the HIC will complement the information management capabilities of the national authorities, as well as in-country development and humanitarian actors, in order to optimize the response and meet the needs of the affected population. The HIC will only be deployed in new complex emergencies or disasters where IM demands exceed the capacity of the Member State(s) and the IASC. In fulfilling its mission, the HIC will be guided by the principles of humanitarian information management and exchange in emergencies: accessibility, inclusiveness, inter-operability, accountability, verifiability, relevance objectivity, humanity, timeliness and sustainability.

Mobilization of HIC

1. The HIC is a tool for, and is mobilized on the request of, the UN Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC). It may also be mobilized by the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) when she/he considers it necessary.
2. Mobilization of a HIC will commence on the occurrence, or early warning, of a sudden-onset disaster or complex emergency in which early information indi­cates that a HIC might be needed. It is the responsibility of OCHA to advise the RC/HC on the appropriateness of dispatching a HIC in response to a particular emergency.  
3. The presence of the following indicators may make a HIC mobilization appropriate:
   1. GDACS Red Alert indicating that a disaster has potentially a high humanitarian impact and the affected region has high vulnerability to natural disasters; 
   2. a rapidly changing humanitarian operational environment in an ongoing or new complex emergency; 
   3. a large number of new humanitarian actors entering the operational area; and/or
   4. a poor or degraded information management and communications environment.
       

Dispatch of HIC

4. OCHA, in light of the development of the situation in-country, is responsible for making the decision to dispatch a HIC. It is the responsibility of OCHA to develop appropriate procedures to support the mobilization and dispatch of a HIC, including its alignment with other OCHA emergency response tools and IASC common services, such as the Joint Logistics Centre.
    

Stand-down of HIC

5. OCHA, in light of the development of the situation within a country, can make the decision to stand-down the HIC before it is dispatched.  This decision is to be made in consultation with the RC/HC.

 Termination of HIC mission

6. Once dispatched, a decision to terminate the HIC’s mission can be taken by OCHA, in consultation with the RC/HC and the HIC Manager. This decision may be taken in the event that the evolving situation in the affected area of concern indicates that the continuation of a HIC is no longer warranted.[2]
    

Transition of HIC

7. The HIC should consider a variety of transition strategies, including handing-over to one or a combination of the following organizations: OCHA, UNDP, National Government Institutions, or private sector,, whilst ensuring the data is preserved for re-use by humanitarian, recovery and development actors. The selection of the appropriate organization for transition should be made by the RC/HC, in close consultation with OCHA as the entity responsible for administering the HIC, as well as Cluster/Sector Leads. 
8. Triggers for transition should ideally be defined pre-deployment, but at the very least, within the first month of deployment. The HIC should closely monitor the stage of the disaster and evolve accordingly. Triggers are essentially the reverse as for deployment with the addition of adequate capacity on the ground within clusters/sectors for managing information and the adequate availability of IM resources (see- Operational Guidance on the Responsibilities of Sector/Cluster Leads and OCHA in Information Management).

Products and Services

9. As a client oriented entity, the HIC provides a range of information products and services for the humanitarian community with the aim of improving coordination, situational understanding and decision making. These products and services should be appropriate to the phase and needs of an emergency. In providing such products and services, the HIC is to ensure that they meet a clearly defined need and are user focused. In addition, all products and services are to be prioritised based on the information needs of decision makers.
    
10. Products. The major role of a HIC is to facilitate access to information products (i.e. act as a ‘knowledge broker’). Whilst in some cases, such as thematic map production, the HIC is the sole creator of a product; the HIC will usually facilitate access to products produced by other organizations, or compile information into a single product based on inputs from multiple organizations. In order to provide access to such products, the HIC will make them available in electronic and printed media tailored to specific field conditions, with particular consideration given to humanitarian communities’ access to the internet. The following specific products are produced or made available by a HIC:
    1. Who Does What Where (3W) /Contact Directory Information;
    2. meeting schedules, inter-cluster situation monitoring matrices and similar coordination products provided by OCHA and collaborative partners;
    3. ad hoc products that support work within clusters/sectors and across clusters/sectors such as: gap location and trend reports, survey of surveys, situation reports, media reports, and service/product catalogs based on stakeholder information needs;
    4. baseline standards such as p-codes, naming conventions and forms are maintained and proactively promoted to insure sharing and collation of information within and between cluster/sectors; 
    5. mapping products such as; general orientation maps and atlases, thematic maps, satellite image maps, and custom cartographic products;
    6. Geographic Information System (GIS) data and spatial data derived from satellite imagery and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) (as provided by partners); and
    7. Website to support dissemination of partner and HIC products.
        
11. Services. The HIC will provide both a physical and virtual space for the exchange of information and interaction among humanitarian responders.  Specific services that will be undertaken by a HIC are highlighted below.
    1. Facilitation of the interoperability of information between and within cluster/sectors through the adoption, maintenance and promotion of standards for “Minimum Common Operational Datasets” and the use of metadata for sharing information, while proactively liaising with multi-cluster/sector organizations.
    2. Distribution, maintenance and promotion of OCHA’s “Minimum Common Operational Datasets” . These datasets are not intended to be the only datasets needed or used in a response; rather they are common datasets which will be found in a HIC by humanitarian partners if such data is available. 
    3. Maintenance of a data repository for the humanitarian response, with the responsibility of organizing and disseminating information and raw data if provided by partners.
    4. Provision of technical information management advice on survey design for needs assessments and surveys if requested by a cluster/sector.
    5. Provision of custom advice and solutions for cluster/sector-specific systems.
    6. Provision of technical information management training as requested by humanitarian partners, including national authorities.
    7. Provision of limited large format printing to support group coordination and planning.
    8. Provision of electronic dissemination means, such as ListServs (email groups) and Web portal/collaborative spaces, where clusters can post, modify and delete their own data.
    9. In consultation with the ETC, if required and where appropriately feasible, provide internet access to the humanitarian community.  This service, if provided, should do no-harm to local internet service providers.