Mercy Corps – International Development Project

In January 2014, Mercy Corps, a nonprofit international development organization, contracted with us to conduct a GIS needs assessment and deploy preliminary GIS operations for a USD $60 million DFID-funded water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) program in three urban centers in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We conducted a rapid GIS needs assessment to investigate and refine the understanding of Mercy Corps DRC’s program needs, capacities and constraints relative to GIS. Based on the assessment, we established the preliminary infrastructure and management framework for GIS operations and provided a data management plan and workflow procedures for the maintenance and continued development of GIS operations.

Additionally, our team assisted Mercy Corps in meeting its short-term needs for GIS capabilities during the Inception Phase of the program through acquisition of data, targeted geospatial analysis, and cartographic production. Ongoing GIS operations will continue to help inform and improve the integration of numerous components including socioeconomic impact, governance and market development strategy design, WaSH-related behavior change, and conflict and gender-based studies. GIS will also play a significant role in supporting the engineering technical component including the development of a GIS-based asset management system, hydrogeological and water quality studies, identification of critical underserved areas, and structural design and engineering.