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SUMMARY:The Syria series  ‘War\, disasters and data: the need for an evi
 dence-based humanitarian response’ - Talk by former Médecins Sans Front
 ières (MSF) and World Health Organization\, Middle East field epidemiolog
 ist - Jesse Berns
DTSTART:20151111T160000Z
DTEND:20151111T170000Z
UID:TALK62466@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Charlotte Sausman
DESCRIPTION:Jesse Berns\, Data Collection Lab Director\, will discuss rece
 nt Impact Lab projects and findings from the front lines in Lebanon\, Iraq
 \, Jordan and Syria. She will discuss the utilisation of 'better' technolo
 gy and data in conflict and disaster settings and how these can help impro
 ve humanitarian response.\n\nThe Impact Lab\, a data science and developme
 nt organization\, focuses on providing high quality\, actionable data for 
 NGOs\, funders\, and government entities. The Impact Lab increases the int
 ernal capacity of these organizations by providing the methods and tools t
 o better collect\, store\, and analyze data. We have worked around the wor
 ld with entities large and small including The World Bank\, Medecine Sans 
 Frontieres\, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Our team has backgrounds in r
 esearch at institutions like the University of Chicago\, the University of
  California at Berkeley\, and Harvard.\n\nIn the humanitarian context\, we
  are providing methods and tools typically found in the for-profit sector\
 , with the intention of shifting the current paradigm of response decision
  making to one which is driven by quality data\, and not the current anecd
 otal model.\n\nOur recent humanitarian aid-related projects have included 
 community-level data collection projects for several NGOs working in Iraq\
 , Syria\, Jordan\, Yemen and Lebanon. Impact Lab provided technical suppor
 t to the field staff\, as well as facilitating the use of a mobile data co
 llection platform that allowed field\, coordination\, and headquarters act
 ors 'real-time' analytics from the field during the data collection. The m
 ethods support and tools provided by the Impact Lab facilitated rapid\, da
 ta-driven programming in low resource and acute conflict settings. Program
  managers and administrators were able to cater their response to the actu
 al community needs.\n\nThe Syria Series is organised by Dr Adam Coutts and
  Professor Chris Hill.\n
LOCATION:S1\, Alison Richard Building\, POLIS
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