Management of the FEWS NET Data, Learning, and Communications Hub
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is a leading provider of early warning and analysis on acute food insecurity around the world. Created in 1985 by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in response to devastating famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET now operates under the U.S. Department of State to provide unbiased, evidence-based analysis of current and projected acute food insecurity.
FEWS NET analyses support humanitarian response planning as well as resilience and development programming. FEWS NET analysts and specialists work with scientists, government ministries, international agencies, and NGOs to track and publicly report on conditions in the world’s most food-insecure countries.
AIR manages FEWS NET’s Data, Learning, and Communications Hub, which serves the FEWS NET team and the global food security community with the technology platforms and strategies necessary to manage, analyze, and disseminate FEWS NET data, information, knowledge products, and learning.
About the Hub
The Hub fosters collaboration between the multiple stakeholders within FEWS NET and between the greater external food security community. The Hub connects with the larger food security community through the fews.net website and Data Center, the FEWS NET Data Explorer, as well as professional networks and events to meet the project’s objective of sustainably preventing acute food insecurity and staving off famine.
The Hub’s three technical areas include the data management platform, fews.net website platform, and the learning, communications, and documentation workstream.
The Hub:
- Provides and maintains a website platform for the sharing of FEWS NET reporting, data, and analytical tools to international food security and humanitarian communities;
- Improves data quality and management through secure, open, intuitive, and accessible cloud-based tools;
- Supports data sharing within the U.S. Government, across national government agencies, and with other international donors;
- Creates robust data visualizations to turn data and analysis into accessible information that is actionable for decisionmakers;
- Ensures that information is used to foster learning both within FEWS NET and among international partners; and
- Assures compliance of the Hub’s platforms with U.S. Government regulations and standards.
The Data Management Platform
The platform is designed to manage, maintain, and improve the FEWS NET Data Warehouse and Data Explorer. It includes the design and management of new datasets, visualizations, and analytical tools.
The FEWS NET Data Explorer hosts more than 22 million data points across domains related to food security including crop production, markets and trade, and more. These data systems generate maps and visualizations that are available to interact with across the fews.net website.
The FEWS NET Website
The Hub also manages the fews.net website, which houses monthly reports and maps detailing current and projected levels of food insecurity, and specialized reports on weather and climate, markets and trade, agricultural production, livelihoods, nutrition, and integrated food security analyses.
The Learning, Communications, and Documentation Workstream
The Hub’s workstream helps to synthesize and repackage technical FEWS NET work for specific audiences.
- Learning: The Hub creates and maintains learning content and administers FEWS NET’s video library and Learning Platform (learning management system), supporting internal and external audiences to learn about FEWS NET in ways relevant to their roles.
- Communications: The Hub manages FEWS NET’s external outreach activities and internal engagement within the U.S. Department of State. This includes managing the project’s LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram profiles; engaging with high-profile media outlets via press releases and interviews; developing wide-reaching communications campaigns for areas of concern; writing blogs and thought pieces on FEWS NET innovations; hosting external briefings; and more.
- Documentation: The Hub produces end-user documentation for internal and external audiences on a number of FEWS NET Platforms managed by the Hub and other FEWS NET partners. FEWS NET documentation is written in plain language for a global audience and published in our Help Center.