QUICK FACT SHEET ON
DATA MANAGEMENT IN EMERGENCIES
POPULATION DATA: REGISTRATION & PROFILING
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Population data is the most important data to find during an emergency.
At the beginning of an emergency, headcounts and estimates based on aerial
photographs or pre-crisis data might be made, but as the emergency progresses, often
there will be a registration or profiling system to get better population data.
Population figures are often the denominators in humanitarian standards and
indicators.
Purpose of registration must be clear
o Is it for distribution of humanitarian assistance?
o Is it for the generation of population statistics?
o Is it for protection purposes?
Ownership of the registration system must be explicitly defined. Some things to consider:
o Who is responsible for the registration system within UNHCR?
o Who are other stakeholders?
o Will WFP use the registration system for food distribution?
o What is the role of the government in registration?
Registration may be:
o Household Level – the name, sex, age / date of birth, identity document
information and other bio data is recorded for the Head of Household. It is faster
than Individual Level registration.
 Household level registration may be a more appropriate choice in an
emergency where there is a large volume of displaced persons and
interventions / distributions will be happening at the household level
and not the individual level.
o Individual Level – the name, sex age / date of birth, and other information on
every family member is recorded at the individual level.
 Individual level registration is a useful protection tool, as you will
have data on all the family members rather than just the Head of
Household.
 Individual level registration can also help prevent fraud and recycling in
distributions.
It is expected that household level registration will quickly move towards individual
level registration in protracted situations, particularly in refugee emergencies
Data on the family, such as area of origin and place of displacement, should be recorded
and basic age/sex demographic breakdown information should be available.
Usually, if possible, it is good to try to identify those persons with specific needs upon
initial registration.
Registration data changes over time as people move, are born and die, so registration
data must be updated either continuously or in large-scale registration verification
exercises.
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For IDP operations, IDP profiling may be a better method of getting population statistics
than registration.
o Often IDP profiling is done using surveys, which use a sample of the
population in order to extrapolate characteristics to the whole population
rather than attempting to exhaustively register all IDPs.
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
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Needs assessments in emergencies are usually done at the community level because
there is not time to gather and analyze the large volume of data that would result from a
household or individual level needs assessment. This means that a data collector would
generally fill out one needs assessment data collection form for each site / camp / village.
GPS coordinates of individual sites should be recorded with the needs assessment data.
P-codes should be used, if available.
Needs assessment data at the beginning of the emergency may mostly be qualitative.
Some quantitative data can be gathered using yes / no questions, questions with closed
lists of multiple choice answers or by simple counting that can be done by the data
collector.
Key informants and direct observation are useful data sources in community level
needs assessment, but you must be careful to ensure age and gender diversity
mainstreaming and that the needs of different groups within the community (including
women, girls, boys and men) are taken into account.
NFI DISTRIBUTION TRACKING
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You should establish a standardized NFI distribution tracking system as soon NFI
distribution begins. If you rely on ad hoc reporting by NGOs, you will not be able to
compile statistics easily or properly, as each NGO may use different, incompatible
methods for distribution reports.
NFI distribution can be done at the community level in an emergency. This means that
you are tracking aggregate distribution figures for each distribution event, but not tracking
which families received what.
NFI distribution can also be done at the household level, which means that you track the
distribution items received by each family.
o Household level NFI tracking is a heavier system than a community level NFI
distribution monitoring system and requires more work to maintain, but it can
help staff ensure that distributions are fair and prevent tensions in the
affected community.
o Household level NFI distribution systems will normally have some relationship or
level of integration with the registration system.
o Ration cards are a useful tool to track who has received what at the household
level.