Hi Agnes - this is weird.
I can't find you comment in my spam-folder either. I'm using intensedebate to screen the comments but can't find your's anywhere.

Interesting post on the use of technology in the 2011 elections in Liberia http://mobileactive.org/technology-2011-liberian-...

Point well taken - though in Liberia we are cooperating and coordinating and sharing and involving ...

Thanks, Anna. I'm always happy to be corrected, particularly when it means that something works better than what I had expected.

Hi Lynn,
no, we didn't. The problem was that this was the website for the Haiti Red Cross and most donation systems require that you are registered as a Non-Profit in the US, which of course the Haitian Red Cross wasn't. And I don't know enough to set up a secure credit card processing API.

Hi Rick,

apologies for the late reply but I didn't have access to the internet for a few days.

I'm of two minds here:

On the one hand I'm all for transparency and I believe that sharing data between agencies improves the work of every one, on the other hand I see the risk that data could become too politicised which could slow down operational access to information. Basically, what I don't want is for data to have to go through a signoff-process similar to press releases because then I'm pretty sure that what you would see at the end would not be the same that was entered in the beginning.

I think that agencies need to publish their methods for collecting data and the tools they use to do so. That way everyone could learn from everyone else. I also think that data should be shared on an operational level (bearing the confidentiality issues that you have mentioned in mind) but I have conflicting feelings about donor pressure to make the data itself publicly available.

Hi Aileen,

good point - here are a few resources:

OCHA - The Cluster Approach; Information Management http://oneresponse.info/Coordination/ClusterAppro....

Emergency Shelter - Information Management Training: http://www.humanitarianreform.org/Default.aspx?ta....

Emergency Shelter Cluster Field Coordination Toolkit: http://www.humanitarianreform.org/Default.aspx?ta....

Not surprisingly the best roads in Liberia are those, where there are strong commercial interests. The road from Monrovia to Sanniquellie and beyond to the north is actually really good. Why? Because there is iron ore in the mountains and the mining company needs the road to be in good shape. So they are fixing it and you can see progress week by week. There is even talk of plans to pave it - now, that would be crazy! But of course most villages don't have rich iron ore deposits :-(.

I experienced something similar, years ago, when I was in a country which was producing a lot of opium. while the roads were generally not great, I suddenly came to an area where the roads were excellent - they even had two paved lanes! Flabbergasted I asked why that was the case and was told that it basically really sucks, if you have a whole truck full of opium that gets stuck in the mud. So the drug lords improved the roads from where the poppy was grown to the border. Again, there was a commercial interest to get it done.

Nice post - and delivered much more elegantly than mine.

I think the main reason is that roads aren't very "cute". Photos of, alternatively, starving babies or laughing children gobbling down fresh, clean water are much easier to sell. I'm not saying it can't be done but it's a much harder sell.

As I\'m not working for the IFRC any longer, I unfortunately don\'t know what is happening there. You can find the phone and fax numbers of the Haitian Red Cross here. Else, you could just try to send an email to webmaster@ ... .ht. That address used to work.