Training at HIFC. Photo: HIFC/IMS

IMS adds humanitarian information to its portfolio to follow the need for access to viable information on the ground in countries affected by crisis. A well-functioning center in Zimbabwe which works to enhance the flow of verified information produced and disseminated by local media serves as a pilot and working laboratory

In 2007, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, said that "information is very directly about saving lives. If we take the wrong decisions, make the wrong choices about where we put our money and our effort because our knowledge is poor, we are condemning some of the most deserving to death or destruction".

Behind his words, lay a simple, yet hard-learned truth, that humanitarian relief efforts need to connect to people, who are in need of help - to ensure that help gets to those most in need.

Based on experience in many conflict-ridden countries, IMS has developed a strategy for its approach to Humanitarian Information support. In spring 2009, a pilot project was set up in Zimbabwe.

Local media bridge the information gap

At the Humanitarian Information Facility Centre (HIFC) in Zimbabwe, IMS is working with its local partners to bridge the gap between the international relief community, that are the holders of valuable information and local communities that are in danger of being hit hard by emerging disasters.

Local media is to bridge that gap. Local media have established audiences and informants in the community they serve with news. Often, however, they are not tapped into the international channels of information like local UN offices, and vice versa - international agencies are not well-connected to local media. The tragic consequence is that people in disaster zones are forced to resort to international news media for latest news about the situation around them or worse - left with rumours and hear-say to guide them.

At the HIFC, training sessions are organized to aquaint Zimbabwean journalists with sources of information within the international relief agencies, as well as training them in how to  discover the news peg in humanitarian information thereby fitting important information into the news stream without infringing on editorial independence.

Humanitarian information can make a difference

- The pilot shows, that humanitarian information can make a difference. We hope that IMS activities may  serve as a showcase for the relevance of humanitarian information, says Executive Director at IMS, Jesper Højberg.

He stresses IMS' interest in engaging in a dialogue with humanitarian organisations in Denmark and elsewhere as IMS would like to share its expertise and insight and discuss avenues of collaboration.

Collaboration with other international actors

At global level, IMS is part of the international working group Communication with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) which works to establish internationally recognised policies and best practices on humanitarian information in humanitarian interventions.