SIPRI and the Mapping Institute facilitated a workshop in Kiev, Ukraine on 27 January as part of a project funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DfID) and administered by the World Bank. The workshop introduced the alpha version of new data platform developed to help the Ukrainian Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons (MOT) target and coordinate peacebuilding and recovery initiatives in the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Participants provided feedback on the functionality of the data platform and suggested governance structures that would increase its effectiveness as a coordination mechanism.
In addition to serving the MOT's information and coordination needs, the platform will enable national and local Ukrainian government agencies, the donor community, implementing agencies and other key stakeholder groups to share and analyse data. One of the platform's most innovative features is its ability to map identified needs (i.e. damaged infrastructure, reduced access to public services, unemployment) against the projects designed to address them. Feedback obtained at the workshop will be incorporated into the beta version of the data platform, to be launched in April, and its sustainability plan, which will be developed in the months thereafter. For more information, please contact Gary Milante.