Optimized data collection and app integration to streamline aid distribution
Challenge
Various errors, inconsistencies, and gaps in data collection – due to insufficient training for partners and the use of multiple tools to collect information – limit the optimization of UNHCR’s distribution of non-food items (NFIs) in Ukraine.
Solution
Improve UNHCR’s ability to integrate and compare relevant data by developing an app that efficiently stores and uses information from local authorities, tracks all entities involved in NFI distribution, and automatically generates essential documents, like waybills and stock requests.
Impact
Improved understanding of the number and needs of forcibly displaced people across Ukraine drives more effective planning while automated documents streamline processes, improving overall operational efficiency and enhancing monitoring capabilities.
Project impact
Other information
UNHCR Ukraine managed humanitarian assistance across a complex, multi-partner emergency response with paper-based processes that were slow, error-prone and vulnerable to duplication and fraud. Funded by the Data Innovation Fund, UNHCR Ukraine built the RAIS+ Ukraine Assistance Monitoring System as an add-on to UNHCR's Global RAIS, jointly owned with the Shelter NFI Cluster and covering NFI and shelter distributions, cash interventions, donations and post-distribution monitoring, with built-in cross-organisation deduplication via tax ID. The Progressive Web App works offline, supports role-based access and is multilingual (English/Ukrainian). RAIS+ is now the operational backbone for UNHCR and Shelter Cluster partners in Ukraine, with the NFI Distribution App expanding to Emergency Shelter Kits and construction materials, and a replicable model for digital in-kind and cash assistance across UNHCR emergency operations. Read more about the app.