Mission with NetHope – West Africa

GISCorps supporting NetHope with mapping information and communication needs in West Africa

In October, GISCorps was contacted by Crisis Informatics expert Jennifer Chan and began providing initial support for NetHope to support their NetHope Ebola Response Project. By November a team of 5 GISCorps volunteers – German Whitley, Liz Dow, DeAnna Hohnhorst, Melodie Grubbs and Katie Mayr – was recruited to join project team coordinator Carol Kraemer with weekly data/map updates and field maps as well as additional support with other visualizations such those created in Tableau. Volunteers are assisting with locating information and communication technology needs in Ebola affected regions of West Africa, currently Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Along with other Digital Humanitarian Network members such as Standby Task Force and Statistics without Borders, GISCorps volunteers have been working alongside other amazing volunteers and humanitarians to assist with getting important information to decision makers as well as field crews. Each map produced represents countless hours of work and dedication from not just GISCorps volunteers but from all those involved with the hope of connecting patients, health care workers, volunteers, and members of humanitarian organizations with each other and the resources they need to fight Ebola.

Recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, NetHope announced its partnership with Facebook, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Cisco, EveryLayer and Inveneo to “expand their support for effective communications capabilities to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and promote sustainable recovery in the region.” Read more here.

GISCorps Volunteers working on NetHope Mission:

From left: Carol Kraemer, German Whitley, Katie Mayr, Liz Dow, DeAnna Hohnhorst, and Melodie Grubbs (no photo).