IASC Task Force on Information Management

[Andrew]

Dear IAIMWG members,

You all should be aware that we will be presenting our case for the
formation of an IASC Task Force on Information Management to the IASC
next week (Thursday June 19 2008).

The purpose of the Task Force will be to strengthen the collection,
processing, interpretation and dissemination of information at the
intra and inter-cluster level. More specifically, the suggested IASC
Task Force would provide a forum to discuss issues such as
operationalizing the “information management guidance note” in the
field, enhancing data preparedness for vulnerable countries,
harmonizing technical approaches, developing methodology for cross-
cluster analysis, providing guidance on the role of IM within needs
assessments, and developing a unified training approach for Inter-
Agency IM.

We kindly request that you communicate the following points to your
respective agency focal points so that they are informed on the IM
Task Force proposal and all the work that has previously taken place
with the IA IM WG.

1) The previous work with the ad hoc IA IM WG was very productive in
moving initiatives forward on the 10 recommendations and developing
key guidance documents as noted in the documentation prepared for the
71st IASC WG.

2) One of the most significant outputs of the ad hoc IA IM WG was the
Operational Guidance on Responsibilities of Cluster/Sector Leads and
OCHA in Information Management, which was endorsed by the IASC Task
Team on the Cluster Approach. This guidance was developed with our
agency’s involvement and is a key step in mainstreaming IM in
humanitarian response.

3) The proposal to form an IASC IM Task Force came out of our
recommendations to provide a time limited collaborative mechanism to
move forward the implementation of the IM Guidance note. Our
intention is a 12 month task force that will focus on tangible outputs
such as technical guidelines, training materials, standards etc.

4) No additional resources will be required from agencies beyond
collaborative participation, similar to the ad hoc IA IM WG. Some
donor funding through OCHA will be available for the implementation of
these outputs.

We encourage you to ask your IASC WG focal point to support this
initiative favourably, on behalf of your agency, in the Session 5 on
Thursday19 June. This session will be presented by Alta Haggarty,
Deputy Chief of AIMB, OCHA and she will be available to meet with you
or your colleagues to discuss prior to the session, either Tuesday or
Wednesday which can be arranged by contacting Ana-Maria DonaMaria at +
41 (0) 79 444 44086 . Alta can be reached at her mobile (917)
362-9386.

For more information and distribution to your agency focal points
please find the document "IASC Task Force proposal- Inter-Agency
Framework for Information Management in Emergencies and Progress since
June 2006 v1.2" which has been uploaded to this google group.