Thais Costa
Data That Matters
The Data That Matters project responded to an urgent need for inclusive data collection in humanitarian aid and emergency response. In humanitarian contexts, people with disabilities and older persons often become invisible due to a lack of accurate and reliable data. The reasons for affecting inclusive data are due to data collection tools and methods being inadequate and not adapted for the needs of people with disabilities, persons with disabilities not being involved in data collection processes, and data not being effectively disagregated and analysed according to people's identified needs.
The project identified multiple dimensions of why this problem exists addressed the issue by developing a survey for inclusive rapid assessment (SIRA) tool. Although the SIRA tool was conceptualised and tested in Mozambique, it is intended to be used by humanitarian actors worldwide.
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This project was initiated by Light for the World, in partnership with the Mozambican Federation of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities, Design Innovation Group, and funded by Elrha - Humanitarian Innovation Fund.
Company/ partners
Output
A survey for inclusive rapid assessment to be used in humanitarian action.
Location
Mozambique
Date
2023 - 2024
The design challenge
The project's objective was to understand the needs of people with disabilities and the elderly and to develop a tool that meets these needs while collecting more inclusive data. The project responded to the identified problem that the data collected is not inclusive and representative of this group of people in humanitarian actions.
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Phase 1 focused on user research, co-design and prototyping of this tool. It was a phase in which we conducted participatory research with people with disabilities and the elderly to better understand their perspectives and experiences. And after that, we also researched with humanitarian actors about the gaps and problems they see in the humanitarian cycle to ensure greater inclusion of these people and to obtain more inclusive data collection. We followed with a co-creation workshop to generate ideas for a more inclusive data collection tool, and we ended this phase with a prototype of this tool, ready to be tested in the field.
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Phase 2 focused on field testing, analysis and publication. At this stage, the prototype was tested in the Pemba and Metuge regions, in Mozambique, with more than 2,000 people. The results were analysed and shared. We continued with some internal meetings to validate this data and reflect on the data collection process and the lessons learned by the interviewers when using the tool. The lessons learned are currently being shared with other humanitarian actors and partners in the protection cluster.
The outcome
The project resulted in a developed and tested survey for rapid assessment tool (SIRA), analyses and disaggregated data from more than 2000 interviewees in Mozambique, key insights on the needs of people with disabilities, and a how-to guide that provides guidance for humanitarian actors on how to develop an inclusive data ecosystem.
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One of the key takeaways of the project, is that SIRA is not just a data collection tool. With this tool we tested and obtained important data that provides information on the prevalence of disability but also the barriers that people with disabilities and older people face in humanitarian assistance. We have learnt that it is not enough to simply disaggregate data, but it is also important that this data has meaning. This is the problem: humanitarian organisations collect data, but in the end, the data is not used and does not inform the improvement of humanitarian services. What is most important is that this data can be used effectively in the sector.
The project aims to disseminate our findings and influence the humanitarian sector by continuing to advocate for the representation, participation and rights of people with disabilities within emergency response programs.
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