Uptake Grant - The Humanitarian Data Exchange: Critical Decisions, Key Results and The Road Ahead

Abstract

OCHA launched the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) in 2014 with the goal of making data easy to find and use for analysis. HDX has been able to scale and secure funding in ways that other technology-focused innovations in the humanitarian sector have not. When HDX was launched in 2014, it held almost 900 datasets. By early 2020, that number had skyrocketed to over 17,000. The data covers every active humanitarian crisis, from Afghanistan to Yemen, and has been shared by hundreds of organizations, from ACLED to WFP. This case study illustrates the decisions and key results of the past six years that have informed the direction of the platform and contributed to its success.