David J. Saab, Edgar Maldonado, Razvan Orendovici, Louis-Marie Ngamassi Tchouakeu, Kang Zhao, Annemijn Van Gorp, et al. (2008). Building global bridges: Coordination bodies for improved information sharing among humanitarian relief agencies. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 471–483). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Information is a critical component to improved inter-agency coordination during disaster response. Coordinated information and communication technologies deployments as well as coordinated information management processes are important tools in the provision of this information. However, multilateral agency coordination faces many challenges, which has sparked the formation of coordination bodies. This research examines three such bodies and describes their organizational arrangements as well as identifies common challenges they face to effective coordination. It finds that the bodies differ on a variety of dimensions including funding mechanisms, autonomy, and number of members, which will likely have implications for the strategies they employ. Also, the coordination bodies identify a lack of standardization, capacity and information availability and analysis as challenges to improved coordination.
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