Refugee Connectivity: A Survey of Mobile Phones, Mental Health, and Privacy at a Syrian Refugee Camp in Greece

The report, Refugee Connectivity: A Survey of Mobile Phones, Mental Health, and Privacy at a Syrian Refugee Camp in Greece, is the result of 2017 field research by Data & Society, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Signal Program on Human Security and Technology, and Centre for Innovation at Leiden University. Lead authors of the report are Mark Latonero, Ph.D. of Data & Society, Danielle Poole of HHI/Signal and the Harvard School of Public Health, and Jos Berens, formerly of Leiden University.  

IDRG Report 2017

This is the first annual report of the International Data Responsibility Group (IDRG). The report was launched on March 3rd 2017 during the 3rd annual IDRG conference in The Hague, following two successful conferences in 2015 and 2016. The third edition of the IDRG conference comes at a time wherein digital data is starting to fuel international development, humanitarian response, and peace and justice. As those affected by conflict and crisis increasingly rely on technology for their access to information, response agencies are turning to technology to inform their relief efforts. As a consequence, a growing amount of digital data is being captured about people and events in development and humanitarian response contexts.

​

IDRG CONFERENCE 2017

On March 3rd 2017, the International Data Responsibility Group (IDRG) hosted the third annual International Data Responsibility Conference in The Hague, NL. The annual meeting brought together experts and practitioners working with data for crisis-affected communities and the most at-risk populations worldwide. Through presentations by a variety of experts and several interactive workshops, participants explored the potential risks and harms that could be caused by using this data, and ways to prevent these from materialising. 

​The theme for this year's conference was the Potential Risks of Collecting and Processing Digital Data in the European Migration Crisis.

For the conference webpage, click here.

ABOUT THE IDRG

The International Data Responsibility Group (IDRG) is a global network of experts and organisations working on the principles and standards that are required for guiding the Data Revolution in the context of humanitarian action, sustainable development and peace & justice. Its members seek to build an authoritative knowledge platform that enables responsible experimentation on the release, processing and use of data and minimising risks. The IDRG is designed as a networked platform, with a coordinating Secretariat in The Hague. Research and affiliated partners will meet every year to host the Annual International Data Responsibility Conference.

The IDRG was officially launched on 23 October 2015 in The Hague. View this document for more information.

CURATOR

​The IDRG produces an annual report with relevant trends in the field of data use in the context of international development, humanitarian response, and peace and justice. The report is launched every year at the International Data Responsibility Conference and published on this website.
The IDRG maintains a weblog featuring relevant links and reports in the data responsibility space.

CONVENER

In The Hague, the IDRG hosts the annual IDRG Conference. This semi-academic conference allows professionals in the sector to present their latest work in this field, to raise awareness on key issues and to find support and collaborators for oncoming research. Further, it is the place where the IDRG presents its annual report.

FACILITATOR

The IDRG supports a Fellowship Programme, funded by the Municipality of The Hague. The fellowship program allows IDRG partners to send a colleague to a field location to conduct field research, as part of a cohort of fellows from the IDRG partners. The fellows research is aligned with the annual theme of the IDRG, and is aimed at advancing the debate on data responsibility for vulnerable populations.

RELATED INITIATIVES AND EVENTS

​Refugee Connectivity Report

Cross posted from here

By Mark Latonero, Ph.D. of Data & Society, Danielle Poole of HHI/Signal and the Harvard School of Public Health, and Jos Berens, formerly of Leiden University.

Published April 2018

The report, Refugee Connectivity: A Survey of Mobile Phones, Mental Health, and Privacy at a Syrian Refugee Camp in Greece, is the result of 2017 IDRG Fellowship field research by Data & Society, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Signal Program on Human Security and Technology, and Centre for Innovation at Leiden University.

This study's findings are based on 135 surveys conducted in 2017 of adults amongst the 750 residents at Ritsona Refugee Camp in Greece.

Find out more here.

Conducting Mobile Surveys Responsibly: ​A Field Book for WFP Staff

Cross posted from here
​
By United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) in collaboration with IDRG and the Leiden University Centre for Innovation 

Published May 2017

The field book outlines the main risks for staff engaged in mobile data collection and helps promote responsible data collection/storage/sharing in the very complex environment in which WFP operates. 

Mobile data collection is usually faster and cheaper than face-to-face alternatives. It is also safer for field staff. Thanks to mobile technology, WFP and other humanitarian agencies are now able to gather more information than ever before. WFP has been collecting increasing amounts of information by mobile phone as part of its mobile Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM) project: in 2016, mVAM conducted 250,000 surveys in over 30 countries, asking nearly 4 million questions. Mobile technology offers a tremendous opportunity to communicate better with people in humanitarian settings. However, these new capabilities also entail privacy and security risks for people and the communities where mobile surveys are implemented.

​UNDG Guidance Note on Big Data for Achievement of the 2030 Agenda: Data Privacy, Ethics and Protection 

Cross-posted from here

By United Nations Development Group (UNDG), developed by UN Global Pulse with contributions of the Global Pulse Privacy Advisory Group as well as other private and public expert stakeholders.

Published 2017

This document sets out general guidance on data privacy, data protection and data ethics for the United Nations Development Group concerning the use of big data, collected in real time by private sector entities as part of their business offerings, and shared with UNDG members for the purposes of strengthening operational implementation of their programmes to support the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

The Guidance Note is designed to:
  • Establish common principles across UNDG to support the operational use of big data for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
  • Serve as a risk-management tool taking into account fundamental human rights;
  • Set principles for obtaining, retention, use and quality control for data from the private sector. ​​

THE SIGNAL CODE: A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO INFORMATION DURING CRISIS

Cross-posted from here

By Faine Greenwood, Caitlin Howarth, Danielle Escudero Poole, Nathaniel A. Raymond, Daniel P. Scarnecchia​
With reviews (among others) from Jos Berens (Humanity X/IDRG), Gideon Shimshon (Leiden University, Centre for Innovation) and  Stefaan Verhulst (The GovLab at New York University​)

Published: 
January 2017

The Signal Code articulates five human rights to information during crisis:
  1. The Right to Information
  2. The Right to Protection from Harm
  3. The Right to Data Security and Privacy
  4. The Right to Data Agency
  5. The Right to Redress and Rectification ​

In the past decade, humanitarian actors and affected populations alike have integrated advances in information communication technologies (ICTs) and the digital data they produce into humanitarian responses to crises. These crises include natural disasters, armed conflict, other forms of complex emergencies, and political unrest. This adoption and absorption of ICTs and digital data by a diverse ecosystem of actors not only profoundly affects how humanitarian action now occurs, but also fundamentally transforms the very ways that crises unfold in the 21st century and the impacts that these crises have on populations.

However, these operational and technological changes are occurring without an accepted rights-based approach (RBA) for conducting humanitarian information activities (HIAs) in the present era. The authors of this document believe that creating this rights-based approach is essential.

Some in the humanitarian community may assert that the application of an approach based on rights to address the complex issues raised by the intersection of data and information in crises is either limiting or insufficient compared to a more needs-based approach. However, a needs-based approach, when the specific rights relevant to data and information in crises have not been either identified or clarified, is fundamentally impossible.

Therefore, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Signal Program on Human Security and Technology (Signal Program) has created “The Signal Code,” with the purpose of identifying, defining, articulating, and translating existing international human rights standards into the context of HIAs and the use of information, data, and ICTs in humanitarian contexts.

​“BIG DATA FOR DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ACTION: TOWARDS RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE” REPORT

Cross-posted from here

By UN Global Pulse with the support of Leiden University

Published: 
December 2016

​In 2014, Global Pulse established a Data Privacy Advisory Group comprised of experts from public and private sector, academia and civil society from around the world. The members of the Privacy Advisory Group (PAG) engage in regular discussions on the challenges and possible solutions to privacy protective uses of big data for development and humanitarian purposes. 
Between 2015 and 2016, the Group has actively participated in discussions through a series of organised conference calls, small meetings and convened for an in-person two-day expert meeting in The Hague. The meeting was held on the eve of the 37th Conference of Data Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners to advance the dialogue on data governance and responsible use of big data. (Full agenda of the October 2015 PAG meeting in The Hague is available here.)
We are now pleased to publish a brief report on the selected issues and recommendations related to the use of big data in development and humanitarian contexts that emerged from the PAG discussions. Key topics in the report include:
​
  • Fragmentation of the international data privacy and data protection landscapes
  • Risk management and Assessment of Risks, Harms and Benefits
  • Principles of lawful, legitimate and fair purpose and use of data
  • Effectiveness of consent in big data analytics
  • Risks of re-identification
  • Importance of data security
  • Transparency
  • Challenges and opportunities of private-public data collaborations and data analytics

BUILDING DATA RESPONSIBILITY INTO HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

Cross-posted from here 

By Nathaniel Raymond and Ziad Al Achkar (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative), Stefaan Verhulst (The GovLab at New York University) and Jos Berens (Leiden University Centre for Innovation). It was edited by Lilian Barajas (OCHA) and Matthew Easton. 
​
Published: 
May 2016
​
Building data responsibility into humanitarian action is the first UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs think brief to explore what constitutes the responsible use of data in humanitarian response. It was co written by the Signal Program, NYU GovLab and the Center for Innovation at Leiden University.

This paper identifies the critical issues humanitarians face as they strive to responsibly use data in operations. It also proposes an initial framework for data responsibility.

MAPPING AND COMPARING RESPONSIBLE DATA APPROACHES

Cross-posted from here

By Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory @NYU  (GovLab)

Published: 
July 2016

New report by Jos Berens, Ulrich Mans and Stefaan Verhulst: “Recent years have witnessed something of a sea-change in the way humanitarian organisations consider and use data. Growing awareness of the potential of data has led to new enthusiasm and new, innovative applications that seek to respond to and mitigate crises in fresh ways. At the same time, it has become apparent that the potential benefits are accompanied by risks. A new framework is needed that can help balance the benefits and risks, and that can aid humanitarian organisations and others (e.g., policymakers) develop a more responsible approach to data collection and use in their efforts to combat natural and man-made crises around the world.

The report we are releasing today, “Mapping and Comparing Responsible Data Approaches”, attempts to guide the first steps toward such a framework by learning from current approaches and principles. It is the outcome of a joint research project commissioned by UNOCHA and conducted in collaboration between the GovLab at NYU and Leiden University. In an effort to better understand the landscape, we have considered existing data use policies and principles from 17 organisations. These include 7 UN agencies, 7 International Organisations, 2 government agencies and 1 research institute. Our study of these organisations’ policies allowed us to extract a number of key takeaways that, together, amount to something like a roadmap for responsible data use for any humanitarian organisation considering using data in new ways.

We began our research by closely mapping the existing responsible data use policies. To do this, we developed a template with eight broad themes that determines the key ingredients of responsible data framework. This use of a consistent template across organisations permits us to study and compare the 17 data use policies in a structured and systematic manner. Based on this template, we were able to extract 7 key takeaways for what works best when using data in a humanitarian context – presented in the conclusion to the paper being released today. They are designed to be broad enough to be broadly applicable, yet specific enough to be operational and actually usable….(More).

“BIG DATA FOR DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ACTION: TOWARDS RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE”

On 23-24 October 2015 UN Global Pulse & Leiden University will host an international expert meeting on “Big Data for Development and Humanitarian Action: Towards Responsible Governance” in The Hague. This event comes at the margins of Privacy Week in Amsterdam. It is also being organised as part of the annual meeting of the UN Global Pulse Data Privacy Advisory Group.

The meeting will take the next steps in facilitating a high-level dialogue on responsible data use: It brings together government representatives along with top public, private, civil society, and academic experts in policy and data governance. The agenda of the meeting will be dedicated to the opportunities and challenges presented by big data in development and humanitarian sectors. The discussion will concentrate on finding solutions that could inform the design of parameters for responsible use of big data in these contexts. 

DATA GOVERNANCE PROJECT

Following the Responsible Data for Humanitarian Response conference 24-25 February 2015 in The Hague, a multidisciplinary expert group convened at Leiden University's Living Lab for the launch of the Data Governance Project.

The Data Governance Project is a collaboration between The NYU GovLab, Leiden University's Centre for Innovation, Leiden Centre of Data Science and the World Economic Forum Data-Driven Development initiative. The Project focuses on designing operational governance mechanisms for responsible data sharing and use to promote public good. 

​Big Data Framework

Cross-posted from here

By Leiden University, Data & Society, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the Engine Room and all participants of the Big Data for Peace Summer School in The Hague.

Published: 
2015

The framework is meant to be a reference for anyone involved in a data-driven project in the context of human rights advocacy, humanitarian action, sustainable development or peace & justice. By walking through it at the start of a project, we hope that users can draft a more informed data strategy based on the questions provided.  

INTERNATIONAL EXPERT MEETING: RESPONSIBLE DATA FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

On 24-25 February 2015 the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with Leiden University and other partners organised the conference Responsible Data for Humanitarian Response. This expert meeting brought together senior management (responsible for innovative practice) in the field of humanitarian response from public and private sectors as well as academia and INGOs/NGOs. The programme split into two parts. Day 1 focused on addressing the data deficit in humanitarian response and the necessity of human-centered design. On day 2 the proceedings zoomed in on data governance. 

​​JOIN OUR INITIATIVE

The International Data Responsibility Group is open to additional partner organisations.
​Connect with our team by email to know more about the possibilities.



MEMBERS
​