Impact of U.S. Foreign Aid Funding Cuts

Due to the recent U.S. foreign aid funding reductions and a stop work order issued to the ITOS project Field Information Services (FIS) team is revising our approach to the collection, processing, and dissemination of Common Operational Datasets (COD-AB). We are developing a new workflow to ensure continued access to reliable administrative boundary data, though with a more focused scope. Additional updates will be provided here as our process evolves.

CODs

  • are authoritative reference datasets needed to support operations and decision-making for all actors in a humanitarian response.

  • pertain to a recognized country or territory1.

  • are standardized datasets that are commonly used and referenced by all operations.

  • are of four types2:

  • reflect the local hierarchical administrative structure,2 are annotated with place names and P-codes, and are generally accompanied by a tabular gazetteer.

  • are best available datasets that ensure consistency and simplify the management of key data.

  • are accepted in country3 or in their region by the relevant Information Management Working Group.

  • are catalogued at the COD Portal [LINK SUBJECT TO CHANGE SOON].

  • are disseminated at the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX); COD-AB and COD-EM datasets are also available as live GIS geoservices.

  • enable consistency and harmonization among actors working on humanitarian preparedness and response by providing:

    • a common operational picture of the crisis

    • a geographic framework (P-codes) for data collection, analysis, and visualization.

  • are available in two quality classifications (see COD-AB quality and COD-PS quality):

    • ‘enhanced CODs’ with full quality control, compatibility, and reliability

    • ‘standard CODs’ not yet fully quality controlled.

  • facilitate informed decision making both pre- and post-crisis.

  • reduce duplication of work on baseline data by partnering organizations.

  • strengthen valuable humanitarian networks and relationships.

  • drive API look-up information

1 CODs are generally prepared for sovereign states recognized by the UN Secretariat, but in some cases reflect sub-national territories. For example, there are CODs for Sint Maarten, which is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not for Taiwan, which is not a recognized member state.

2 Previously a ‘Humanitarian Profile’ COD-HP type existed, which presented tabular People-in-Need information derived from Humanitarian Needs Overviews. This information is now provided in country-specific ‘Humanitarian Needs’ (non-COD) datasets disseminated in HDX by OCHA Humanitarian Programme Cycle Tools (HPC Tools). For further information see HPC Tools.

1 Except some COD-CS datasets [????]

For further information see the Common Operational Datasets subsections and additional articles at left.