projects

Data-driven modelling for protection prioritisation

Completed
A group of people face a screen on which a map is displayed.
Programme
UNHCR Innovation Incubator
Fund
Data Innovation Fund | Incubator
Start Date
Total Project Cost
USD 84,858.000
Country
Guatemala
Project Team
UNHCR Guatemala , UNHCR Data, Identity Management and Analysis (DIMA) Americas

Challenge

UNHCR Guatemala lacks an evidence-based methodology to prioritise communities most in need of community-based protection, affecting its ability to reach and respond to the most vulnerable populations, who tend to be widely dispersed across different contexts.

Solution

The design and construction of an evidence-based community intervention prioritisation tool that allows for a more objective, systematic, and reproducible prioritisation approach. A participatory design methodology facilitates input from the people UNHCR serves, community leaders, local authorities, and experts.

Impact

A customizable online tool that is easy to use in different contexts, settings, and operations and that will enable UNHCR to better understand the situation of communities. This will support the prioritisation and tailoring of interventions, improving outcomes for the most vulnerable communities.

Project impact

1
open-source statistical severity index tool developed & deployed, available for use
4
analytical vulnerability dimensions analysed, combined into a single index
2
country operations tested the tool: Guatemala & Costa Rica

Other information

UNHCR Guatemala lacked an objective, evidence-based methodology to prioritize community-based protection interventions. Funded by the Data Innovation Fund, this project developed A2SIT (Admin 2 Severity Index Tool), an open-source R Shiny application that allows non-technical staff to build statistically robust composite severity indices at municipal level, following JRC/OECD international standards. The tool combines four dimensions – threats, vulnerabilities, response capacity and human mobility – and has already been replicated in Costa Rica, where it is being integrated into multi-year operational planning. Openly available on GitHub and the UNHCR R Studio server, A2SIT is replicable globally and opens the door to interagency applications, including interoperability with JIAF for HNO and R4V severity and PiN calculations. For more information, read our webstory.