MapAction is committed to creating data-rich emergency response landscapes. Since 2024, we have taken proactive steps towards this goal using three simple techniques: we listen, we learn and we adapt. Our commitment to support local agencies in the humanitarian data landscape, for example in Africa, is multifold: we’ve supported capacity building for grassroots networks in Uganda and Kenya. We have worked with a dozen African national disaster management agencies in the last 24 months alone – many more since our inception in 2002, offering support on risk modelling, emergency response or capacity building. We’ve also worked with academics, government and NGO personnel. We continue to listen, learn and adapt.
“It’s easy to express an idea with a map,” Giresse Likunde, MapAction’s information management officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, noted late last year. A map can tie together disparate data points and provide a moment of clarity, in the same way a sentence takes letters without meaning and can turn them into a powerful insight.
The question of who has access to or owns these insights – this power – even in the emergency preparedness landscape, has long been shaped by global power dynamics. The major INGOs, international agencies, institutions and donors are headquartered in the Global North; humanitarian response, in turn, is often focused on the Global South. This has traditionally deprived local humanitarian organisations of agency. The question of who has access to and can manage data in the humanitarian landscape inevitably is tied up in this paradox.
At MapAction we are committed to addressing this imbalance; to creating a more equitable humanitarian data landscape. Our approach to localisation is shaped by our partners: we’re committed to learning and understanding their needs. We listen. We learn. We adapt. We address the gaps we are asked to support. Why? Because data can save lives, shape communities and inform the entire response to a disaster.
Through dozens of conversations with local partners and agencies, we are strengthening our understanding of specifically local needs in each place. These conversations help to build trust; our partners must know that we are committed, humbly, to support them with what they identify as a need. Local humanitarian agencies must be data sovereign in choice and capacity: have access to the right data tools, risk models and experienced personnel. “To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge,” said Copernicus. True power.
Early journey: Caribbean and Central Asia
Our journey to support local data landscapes began in the Caribbean more than 15 years ago. For a decade we have worked alongside the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to strengthen data-driven decisions in emergency response in the Caribbean. As CDEMA built institutional capacity across its 19 participating states, we supported when we were asked to. We’ve since conducted more than 50 joint training events and emergency responses side-by-side with CDEMA, including most recently in response to Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica in December 2025. Other recent humanitarian mapping efforts during the annual ‘hurricane season’ have been supported by local MapAction volunteers.
Podcast: Towards disaster resilience with CDEMA in the Caribbean
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At the same time, teams from our 70+ expert information management volunteers worked along the Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR) to co-develop data sovereignty in Central Asia. Over five years, MapAction and CESDRR supported the development of 320 local GIS officers from emergency agencies in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan between 2018 and 2023. Those countries now have officers who can map floods and wildfires as they unfold and inform live solutions. With the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) – the humanitarian assistance department of the 11-member intergovernmental organisation – we co-worked on building capacity in grassroots and national groups in, among other countries, Nepal, Philippines and Sri Lanka.
READ ALSO: “We see real outcomes.” MapAction impact in Central Asia in partnership with CESDRR
Recent focus on Africa
In the last 24 months, our focus returned to Africa. We’ve used GIS to tackle malaria, put unvaccinated children on the map and mapped cholera and ebola outbreaks.
READ ALSO: MapAction streamlining data management in DRC to improve the lives of millions of displaced people
Whether it’s supporting local agencies to understand the needs of 6+ million displaced people in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), health professionals to reach millions of unvaccinated children in Central or West Africa or working with disaster management agencies to map a dangerous hurricane in Mozambique or Madagascar, MapAction is increasingly committed to supporting locally-led data landscapes in Southern Africa.
When local agencies identify gaps in their personnel’s disaster risk management expertise, we enable use of GIS and data management tools. We tailor these tools based on need, demand and circumstances. During the worst emergencies, local disaster management agencies often request our team’s assistance and so we provide surge support and help-decision makers to process the data into solutions. When local disaster management agencies identify risks linked to regular disasters, our expert staff and volunteers support them to create mitigating models for the risks they face. We work with grassroots, national and regional organisations to put data at the heart of emergency preparedness and response. Our team of 70+ volunteers, a collective treasure of humanitarian information management expertise, is at the service of this objective.
Climate threats in Southern Africa
Most recently, our work has focused on providing support to the 16-country Southern African Development Community (SADC), specifically building capacity at the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC). SHOC is responsible for the coordination of regional disaster risk preparedness, response and early recovery to support member states affected by disasters.
UN OCHA estimated that thousands of people died in more than 500 natural disasters in the SADC region between 2005 and 2015 alone. Climate change is intensifying the pressure on the limited resources available to local disaster risk management sectors. Madagascar alone was struck by 50 cyclones between 2000 and 2024.
The challenges SADC member states face vis-a-vis climate change are multifold. “Climate change poses a number of risks to SADC goals for regional economic development. Increased frequency of floods, cyclones, and droughts may damage infrastructure, destroy agricultural crops, disrupt livelihoods, and cause loss of life,” notes SADC on climate adaptation.
Understanding how the weather is changing and how disasters will affect communities is key to building preparedness. Data is the key enabler, stretching limited resources into good decisions and responses that serve the affected communities as best they can.
READ ALSO: CoP 28 : Good use of data is key to mitigating the climate emergency
Risk or no risk?
In 2023, MapAction began to work with national disaster agencies on modelling threats and capacity according to the INFORM Risk Index model. These exercises were designed to give local agencies the shared ability to harness and manage data in real time and to anticipate risks from natural disasters like floods, wildfires and droughts. National disaster management agencies in Mozambique, Madagascar and Eswatini now use these models to strengthen preparedness and model future risks. As climate change intensifies, Southern Africa needs data to provide a mitigating shield.
VIEW ALSO: Anticipatory action and the benefits of robust data models
As of 2025, MapAction has been providing training and support to SADC’s emergency operations centre, as well as information management staff from disaster management agencies of the 16-country SADC bloc. In February 2026, MapAction’s Director of GIS Greg Fricz travelled to Nacala, northern Mozambique – where SADC’s emergency operations centre has been situated since 2022 – to launch a new support phase. Working together, MapAction and SADC SHOC will develop a region wide, user-friendly application, based on geospatial and data science processes, that will enable rapid risk assessment for various hazards.
In February 2026, MapAction’s Ant Scott also supported a SADC capacity building event in-person in Antananarivo. Our Head of GIS Greg Fricz was in Zambia in June to meet SADC colleagues. As of May 2026, MapAction also has an Information Management Officer seconded to the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC) headquarters in Nacala, northern Mozambique. This long-term support aims to support the development of GIS and risk modelling strategies for emergency response and preparedness across the region.
MapAction’s African data highway
At the same time, MapAction has been sending teams of humanitarian mappers to support national disaster management agencies in the region during disasters. In January 2026, MapAction mappers supported Mozambique’s national disaster management agency INGD. Together we mapped data to analyse the best possible response to floods that took more than 100 lives. This was MapAction’s sixth support mission in Mozambique in response to a disaster since 2019. MapAction also mapped the entire humanitarian data landscape in Mozambique in early 2025 in partnership with the country’s national disaster management agency INGD.
Only days after this year’s response in Mozambique, another MapAction team flew to Madagascar to leverage data, in support of the national disaster management agency BNGRC, to mitigate the impact of Hurricane Gezani on Africa’s largest island.
Our work with SADC, and more broadly in the region, will continue in 2026 and beyond. Throughout all the work we do, we will continue to listen, learn and adapt.
READ MORE: A volunteer-driven disaster relief model
Facts Only
* MapAction employs a "listen, learn, adapt" methodology to create data-rich emergency response landscapes.
* MapAction has supported capacity building for grassroots networks in Uganda and Kenya.
* MapAction has worked with a dozen African national disaster management agencies in the last 24 months on risk modeling, emergency response, or capacity building.
* Giresse Likunde noted that a map can tie together disparate data points and provide clarity.
* The text discusses the power dynamics where major international bodies are in the Global North, often focusing humanitarian response in the Global South.
* MapAction commits to creating an equitable humanitarian data landscape through localisation.
* Local humanitarian agencies require data sovereignty, access to tools, risk models, and personnel.
* Work in the Caribbean involved supporting CDEMA for a decade and conducting joint training events and emergency responses with them.
* MapAction supported the development of 320 local GIS officers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan between 2018 and 2023 with CESDRR.
* Work in Central Asia included co-working with the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) on capacity building in Nepal, Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
* In Africa, MapAction used GIS to tackle malaria, map unvaccinated children, and track cholera and Ebola outbreaks in the last 24 months.
* MapAction supported local agencies in the DRC regarding the needs of displaced persons.
* In Southern Africa, support focused on the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC).
* MapAction worked with national disaster management agencies in Mozambique mapping flood responses and mapped the humanitarian data landscape in Mozambique in early 2025.
* MapAction supported the national disaster management agency BNGRC in Madagascar following Hurricane Gezani.
* MapAction provided training and support to SADC's emergency operations centre and information management staff in the SADC bloc.
* MapAction mappers supported Mozambique’s INGD in January 2026 by mapping data for flood response.
Executive Summary
MapAction is committed to creating data-rich emergency response landscapes by listening, learning, and adapting. The organization supports local agencies in the humanitarian data landscape, demonstrated by capacity building for grassroots networks in Uganda and Kenya, and supporting numerous African national disaster management agencies with work on risk modeling, emergency response, and capacity building. A core commitment is addressing power imbalances by fostering localisation, based on the principle of listening to and adapting to the needs of local partners. The organization emphasizes that data is crucial for saving lives and informing responses, arguing that local humanitarian agencies must be data sovereign by having access to necessary tools and expertise.
The organization’s journey involved early work in the Caribbean with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and co-development of data sovereignty in Central Asia with the Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (CESDRR). This included supporting the development of GIS officers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Recent focus has been on Africa, utilizing GIS to map malaria, vaccination status, and disease outbreaks like cholera and Ebola. In Southern Africa, MapAction supports local agencies in understanding the needs of displaced populations and developing risk models related to climate threats, particularly for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The organization also provides surge support and data processing assistance to local agencies during emergencies, such as mapping flood responses in Mozambique and Hurricane Gezani impact in Madagascar.
Full Take
The narrative frames the struggle over humanitarian data as a contest between global power structures (Global North vs. Global South) and local agency. The stated method—listening, learning, and adapting—is positioned as an ethical corrective to historical imbalances, suggesting that true power resides in local knowledge, which is encoded in geospatial data. The emphasis on data sovereignty shifts the focus from mere data collection to control over interpretation and management of risk.
The pattern suggests a critical dependence: local actors are enabled to exert agency only when external structures are modified to recognize their existing capacity. The transition from supporting externally defined projects (Caribbean, Central Asia) to actively building sovereign capacity aligns with a shift in the paradigm toward recognizing local expertise as primary knowledge sources. The specific focus on climate threats in Southern Africa and risk modeling via the INFORM index suggests an attempt to use objective data science to counterbalance unpredictable environmental pressures that often exacerbate existing power asymmetries.
The underlying implication is that if data remains centralized or externally managed, it reinforces the historical dynamic where external actors define the response parameters rather than local agencies defining their own needs and capacity. The focus on empowering local personnel (GIS officers) directly addresses the claim of "true knowledge," suggesting a resistance to top-down data governance. The work in Southern Africa, specifically linking climate change to disaster preparedness through GIS modeling, suggests that addressing environmental risk is not just technical but fundamentally an issue of equitable resource distribution and self-determination for affected communities.
What assumptions are being reinforced? The assumption that external intervention, even well-intentioned, can resolve data power imbalances without fundamentally altering the relationship between North and South in humanitarian action. What perspectives are missing? The specific mechanisms by which local partners translate "listening and learning" into tangible shifts in institutional policy or funding are not detailed; the focus remains heavily on operational support rather than systemic change. How does this localized data sovereignty translate into sustained political leverage against larger international actors who hold the majority of the financial and decision-making authority?