Every three months, the GO team invite members of the RCRC Movement to hear about new features and use cases for the platform. This session included a summary of what we are learning from the GO study, which focusses on our members’ needs and ideas for the future of the platform. We also heard from Australian Red Cross, one of our biggest supporters, and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, who have one of the biggest IM teams in the RCRC Movement. As usual, we also shared info on new and soon to be released features, bug fixes and general site improvements. Read on for a summary, the slides and an edited recording from the two sessions.
GO study
As explained in more detail previously, we are conducting an extensive member-centred consultation on the future of the platform. The first step, a survey of our users, provided us with data on who uses the platform (3/4 of whom are from National Societies, mostly focussing on Disaster Management), their actions (which range from sharing assessments, accessing information to linking domestic IM systems to the GO API) and some of their ideas for improvement.
We are now reaching the last stages of the GO study process, with detailed consultations with user groups and management concluding in August. As a result of the insights we have gathered so far, guided as well by the IFRC’s Agenda for Renewal, we have developed some prototypes which reflect a greater emphasis on National Society actions, see screenshot below.
If you still wish to contribute at this stage, you have until 17th August to input your preferences for navigational improvements to the platform here.
Flash update
A new feature designed to share early analysis and data on emerging crises by the IFRC was developed and released on the platform in August. The Flash Update replaces the ‘informal update’ email messages sent usually by IFRC Regional Offices to the network, as well as trusted partners.
The system is designed to be simple enough to make it easy to use, as well as providing a consistent structure, ability to add as much detail such as maps, assessment reports and forecasts as available. Alongside the ability to re-use data from across GO, it is another significant step towards more structured data collection, analysis and sharing across the IFRC.
Users of the feature, particularly IFRC Regional Offices, are encouraged to read and contribute to the guidance shared through the GO wiki here.
Making GO faster and easier to read
As well as introducing new features on the platform, we constantly strive to make the platform better and easier to use.
We made a number of small — but important — upgrades to enable faster loading of surge data, more tools for formatting text, and more informative email notifications.
One of the recurrent questions we get around GO are the different permission settings for information which may be sensitive. As part of the rollout of the GO wiki, we have explained these here.
Enabling Red Action
Our favourite part of the briefing is hearing from our National Society users. This briefing we were delighted to welcome two of our key users, who explained how GO plays a fundamental role for their life-saving work in critical but different ways.
The Australian Red Cross is one of GO’s biggest supporters. Hayley Payne, International Response Officer, joined the briefing to explain how GO provides easy access to information, reporting and analysis, enabling AusRC to demonstrate the power of the Movement to their stakeholders and partners. GO is the key source for the AusRC international team to keep updated on emergency operations across the globe, enabling evidence-based resource prioritisation decisions. In short, Hayley described GO as a ‘life-changer’ for her work.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent are one of the most impressive actors in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. Wafaa Al-Shalati, Head of Reporting in the Information Management team, explained how GO provides a way to share plans, maps, sitreps, data and dashboards on SARC’s efforts to tackle the impacts of COVID.
SARC used GO’s field reporting system to provide monthly updates to the IFRC network on the evolving situation and its response in Syria, including analysis of the trends and response by government, UN and other humanitarian actors.
DREF on GO near launch
Finally, we shared an update on the final touches of the work to bring the DREF process on to GO, from request to operational update through to final reporting. This new digitised process of one of IFRC’s flagship programmes will benefit from many of the prior investments and developments we have made on GO, including the simple form interface, automated mapping and simple export functionalities.
Once the steps of requesting, updating and reporting are brought on to GO in September, we aim to then surface DREF data with improved data visualisations to help explain the impact of our National Societies enabled through DREF support, as well as link data streams from across the site, including impact forecasts, 3w activities and operational learning from past operations.
A final thanks once again to the entire collective effort for their tremendous work and commitment — from National Societies donating their precious time and resources to help improve workflows to our incredible GO team of developers, designers, information architects and analysts.
