While each organization is responsible for its own data, humanitarians under the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) – which brings together United Nations (UN) entities, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) consortia and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – need common normative, system-wide guidance to inform individual and collective action and to uphold a high standard for data responsibility in different operating environments.

for its own data, humanitarians under the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) – which brings together United Nations (UN) entities, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) consortia and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – need common normative, system-wide guidance to inform individual and collective action and to uphold a high standard for data responsibility in different operating environments.

In view of this, the IASC Results Group 1 established a Sub-Group1 on Data Responsibility in January 2020 to develop this joint, system-wide Operational Guidance on Data Responsibility in Humanitarian Action.

The Operational Guidance is divided into four sections:

The first section describes the rationale and approach for the Guidance, offers an overview of data responsibility in humanitarian action, and clarifies the audience and scope of the document.

The second section presents a set of Principles for Data Responsibility in Humanitarian Action.

The third section describes key actions for data responsibility to be taken at different levels of humanitarian response, including specific roles and responsibilities for realizing these actions.

The fourth section is a set of Annexes that offer key definitions, examples of templates and tools for data responsibility, resources and references, and background information on the development of the Operational Guidance.

Given the dynamic and evolving nature of the challenges and opportunities for data responsibility in humanitarian action, this Operational Guidance will be reviewed and updated through a collaborative and consultative process every two years