NGO data project: Partnering for development research

Over the past year, the IGDC’s ‘Working with NGO data for more inclusive development’ project has brought together a range of researchers and organisations to explore the opportunities and challenges of secondary non-governmental organisation (NGO) data, and identify priority areas for future research.

Including perspectives and experiences of NGOs and other stakeholders has been a key priority throughout this project. During a research trip to Kingston, Jamaica, the team met with representatives from a range of local and regional organisations to discuss secondary data in the context of disaster risk and resilience research.

Through a series of workshops, we have explored diverse perspectives around this topic. The first workshop welcomed interdisciplinary speakers including Sara De Jong (Department of Politics), Ruth Kelly (Centre for Applied Human Rights/ActionAid) and Shabina Sadiq (The Leprosy Mission) and colleagues from across the University of York to discuss the opportunities and challenges of researcher-NGO partnerships.

At the second workshop, we were joined by partners from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRC), the Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Reference Centre (CADRIM), ODI and Environment Systems to discuss potential datasets and priority areas for future research.  

Based on the research findings and workshop outcomes, we are excited to be developing a further project to explore how novel secondary analysis of data supported by the IFRC can inform research and practice associated with community resilience to natural hazards in the Caribbean, in collaboration with our partners.

The IGDC team would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has been involved with the project and to the ESRC for providing funding.