Challenges in Humanitarian Information Management and Exchange: Evidence from Haiti Response

There is a growing recognition of the critical role information management can play in shapingeffective humanitarian response, coordination and decision-making. Quality information, reachingmore humanitarian actors, will result in better coordination and better decision-making, thusimproving the response to beneficiaries as well as accountability to donors. The humanitarianresponse to the 2010 Haiti earthquake marked a watershed moment for humanitarian informationmanagement. Yet the fragmented nature of the response and the use of hierarchical modelsof information management, along with other factors, have led some observers to label theHaiti response a failure. Using an analytical framework often found in humanitarian emergencies,this study analyses challenges to information flow in the Haiti case and the implicationsfor effective humanitarian response. It concludes by offering possible paths for overcoming suchchallenges, and for restoring the value and utility of humanitarian information management andexchange in humanitarian relief settings