OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE INITIATIVE Policy Note and Principles © 2016 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / International Development Association or Acknowledgments The World Bank This policy note was prepared by a team led by Alanna Simpson and consisting of Vivien Deparday, Shanika Hettige, and 1818 H Street NW Robert Soden. Washington DC 20433 The team is grateful for discussion and feedback from Abigail Telephone: 202-473-1000 Baca, Robert Banick, David Lallemant, Cristiano Giovando, Internet: www.worldbank.org Mikel Maron, Steven Rubinyi, and Benson Wilder. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions Rights and Permissions The World Bank supports the free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research, economic and sector work, and development practice are made widely available, read, and built upon. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for researchers, readers, and users, increases their ability to discover pertinent information. The material in this work is made available under a Creative Commons 3.0 By IGO License. You are encouraged to share and adapt this content for any purpose, including commercial use as long as full attribution to this work is given. More information about this license can be obtained at: [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/]() Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the Office of the Publisher, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2422; e-mail: pubrights@ worldbank.org. POLICY NOTE AND PRINCIPLES 01 Foreword The foundation of successful disaster risk management is Since launching the Open Data Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI) information. Yet valuable data is often fragmented across in July of 2011 we have worked in over 35 countries to engage government institutions and the private sector or lost in new communities in the challenges of disaster risk management file formats that don’t facilitate reuse. Furthermore, weak (DRM) and building resilience to climate change. The principles, data sharing arrangements between different actors result case studies, and resources in this Policy Note represent our in high transaction costs and limit the participation of new best attempt to document what works, lessons learned, and communities on the challenge of understanding and managing sources of inspiration that have guided the OpenDRI project over the past five years. We hope that its publication will disaster and climate risk. Open data can contribute to solving stimulate discussion, provoke critical reflection, and contribute these problems but we need to do a better job of making the to a more safe and resilient society. case for it so that we can create lasting change. Affected populations are the first responders during Dr. Alanna Simpson Team Leader, Innovation Lab any emergency, but these citizens are also involved in everyday decisions and policies that influence the risk. We Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery /// /// have partnered with the OpenStreetMap community to World Bank /// /// facilitate participatory mapping processes to help capture local stakeholders knowledge about critical assets in their neighborhoods so that this information can be front and center on the management of disaster risk. Risk information can be highly technical and is quite often difficult to use, interpret or act upon by decision-makers or the public. InaSafe, developed in partnership with AusAID and the Indonesian government, is one tool that helps partners in government make use of available data. However, we need more of open-source tools that can be customized for end-user needs. We can also learn from communication and behavioral sciences as we seek to design and develop new solutions in this space. In the end, all disaster risk management is local. Our efforts to create global models, partnerships, and solutions can fail if they marginalize or disempower local actors or ignore the contexts and processes in which decision-making related to risk occurs. Government counterparts, universities and civil society organizations in the developing countries are our first clients and ultimately the individuals who will make any disaster risk management project successful. 02 OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE Introduction The Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI) was seek to build partnerships with development organizations and launched in 2011 to bring the policies and practices of the global universities to support local efforts with remote mapping and open data movement to bear on the challenges of reducing crowdsourcing. vulnerability to natural hazards and the impacts of climate To ensure that risk information is used effectively to assist change. The OpenDRI project supports World Bank Disaster decision-makers and the public in planning, preparedness and Risk Management Teams and our partners in governments, civil response activities, OpenDRI works with partners to engage society, and international organizations to build local capacity in effective risk communication. Risk information needs to be and long-term ownership of open data projects that are tailored fit-for-purpose and targeted towards the decision-makers who to meet specific needs and goals of their stakeholders. rely on it for guidance, yet communicating this information OpenDRI projects work to improve processes surrounding the in clear and useful ways is challenging. OpenDRI supports the sharing, creation, and communication of risk data. development and implementation of a number of tools and approaches to accomplish this. To increase public access to risk information, OpenDRI engages in dialogue with governments on the value of open data This document describes the approach taken by the OpenDRI through the creation of local working groups and pilot projects team to design and enact impactful and sustainable projects that evolve into long-term locally owned open data projects. with our partner organizations and communities. It is OpenDRI provides technical solutions and assistance for the organized into a series of nine principles, the first 5 of which project implementation in the form of open data platforms. guide our thinking about how risk information should be Such platforms allow for hosting, analyzing and managing created, managed, and used. The final 4 principles shape our data that is necessary for planning decision-making related to relationships with other actors involved in OpenDRI work. disaster risk. Partners can share geospatial data, combine those Following a short description of the principle, we also provide data into visualizations and exchange both the raw data and examples from past OpenDRI projects and suggestions for maps they produce. relevant resources. To engage communities in the creation of accurate and timely If you have comments, suggestions, or an interest in partnering data about the rapidly evolving urban and rural environments with OpenDRI on your project, please contact info@opendri.org in which they live, OpenDRI works with governments and local so we can continue the conversation. communities to utilize simple, collaborative, crowdsourcing mapping tools through community mapping. Community mapping projects mobilize the residents of a place to collect and maintain geospatial data about their built environment and its exposure to natural hazards, providing a dynamic source of infrastructure and risk information. Mapping projects also POLICY NOTE AND PRINCIPLES 03 OpenDRI Principles Disaster risk data should be: Open Data projects in the disaster risk space should be designed to: 6. Engage user 1. Open by default communities 2. Accessible, Licensed, & 7. Develop Strong Documented Institutional Partnerships 8. Prioritize 3. Co-created Open Source 9. Set clear, 4. Locally Owned long-term goals 5. Communicated in ways that meet needs of diverse users 04 OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE Disaster risk data should be: website. Since then, the World Bank has also made numerous other datasets, maps, reports freely accessible to the public. 1. Open by default Most content is released under terms that permit reuse and distribution for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Those seeking to access closed disaster risk datasets will Only in a few select cases, typically when the World Bank is not frequently encounter a variety of arguments, such as privacy the primary owner of a dataset, are further restrictions imposed. or security concerns, as to why such data cannot be released to The World Bank data policy is, therefore, open by default. the public. Too often, however, these arguments are convenient excuses for maintaining the status quo. For example, the vast Further Reading: /// /// majority of data related to disaster risk has no bearing upon individual privacy or public security concerns.In other cases, Why “set the default to open”? Because information is a government organizations are mandated to sell the data they public good. By the Sunlight Foundation create and maintain as part of cost-recovery meaures. In http://theodi.org/guides/impacts-of-non-open-licenses such situations, alternate funding models should be found Some of the Impacts of Non-Open License by the Open Data Institute that support such tasks without creating artificial barriers to http://theodi.org/guides/impacts-of-non-open-licenses widespread access to risk information. United States White House Executive Order: Making Open and Changing the existing license on a dataset can be far more Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information challenging than ensuring that newly created data will be https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/09/ open. We should therefore adopt a strategy of ‘open by default’ executive-order-making-open-and-machine-readable-new- in which data collected or produced during disaster risk default-government- management efforts is assumed to be open, unless there is a specific reason why its release would have negative impacts. Open Data: Unlocking Innovation and Performance With Such an approach is less likely to encounter obstacles than Liquid Information efforts to change existing data management regimes. Plans http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/business- should therefore be in place at the start of any project that will technology/our-insights/open-data-unlocking-innovation-and- produce data to ensure that the data will be open at the end of performance-with-liquid-information the process. Example: The World Bank Open Data Policy /// /// In 2010, the World Bank announced an Open Data Policy and made data contained in the World Development Indicators (WDI) openly available at the http://data.worldbank.org POLICY NOTE AND PRINCIPLES 05 as the initial creator. For more information, refer to: http:// 2. Accessible, Licensed, & creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0” Documented Clear licensing of datasets is necessary to protect both the data Open data should be released in a manner that facilitates the widest owner and potential users. Releasing data with clearly stated use possible. There are a number of best practices established by licensing and terms of use reduces uncertainty and thus increases the open data community that provide useful guidance to OpenDRI accessibility for new users. Many data providers are drawn towards projects. These practices relate to accessibility, licensing, and non-commercial clauses, fearing that others will resell the data they documentation. Taking each in turn: are making available for free. This is a mistake as there is no viable business model in reselling data that is open. More importantly, Accessibility: commercial use can be beneficial, and include activities such as /// /// In this context, accessible data is data that is released in a machine- repackaging, analysis, or custom visualization. readable format, structured in consistent and meaningful way, and Documented: /// /// in a standard data format. Essentially, users must be able to access the data and easily bring it into their own analysis or visualization Users need to understand what this data is and where it came tools. Tables, charts, or maps embedded in PDFs and Word from in order to make effective use of it. Risk information is documents, for example, would therefore not be considered open complex and its limitations and potential uses should be clearly data. The following recommendations provide guidance on how to communicated. Documentation that describes the data source, how it was created, and provides information can also facilitate ensure open data can be made as accessible as possible: peer a fundamental aspect of good science. There are a number Release downloadable data in non-proprietary machine-readable of standards that guide the production of such documentation, formats. For tabular data, this might include .csv files. Spatial data usually referred to as metadata, including OGC , ISO 19115, and could include shapefiles, geojson, geotiff or any of the formats Dublin Core recommended by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Example: GeoNode software /// /// Data provided online should have permanent, individual web GeoNode is an open-source software platform that is frequently addresses where users can download data and access relevant used as part of OpenDRI projects to manage and share documentation including standard metadata. geospatial data. By default, each dataset uploaded to a GeoNode Data owners should also provide well-documented Application has its own unique web-address where it can be accessed, along with standard metadata. All data stored in GeoNode can be Programming Interfaces (API) that software developers can use to accessed through documented APIs as well as downloaded in incorporate the data into their tools and applications common formats including GeoTiffs and Shapefiles. Licensing: Further Reading: /// /// /// /// It is necessary that open data be distributed along with a reference Sunlight Foundation’s Open Data Policy Guidelines to the terms that governs its usage. For many OpenDRI projects http://sunlightfoundation.com/opendataguidelines/ that involve spatial data, a short sentence outlining the license and providing a link to online documentation can be included GeoNode Software http://geonode.org within the“Licensing” and/or “Use Constraints” sections of ISO Guide to choosing an Open Data license 19115-compliant metadata (see next section). For example: http://opendefinition.org/guide/data/ “This data is released under a Creative Commons (CC-BY) License http://opendatatoolkit.worldbank.org/en/essentials. which provides for fair use, requiring only XYZ be attributed html#licenses 06 OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE 3. Co-created 4. Locally Owned Wherever possible, the creation of risk information should be an Wherever possible risk information should be managed at inclusive process. Stakeholders from government, scientific and the scale that it describes. In other words, OpenDRI projects technical agencies that are intended users of the data, and the usually seek to work with local governments to manage city public can all have a role to play in the planning and execution of level data, national governments to take responsibility for activities related to producing risk data. The local knowledge of country level data, and so forth. Other communities, including at risk communities is vital and should also be included. These universities, civil society organizations, and technical agencies approaches have been demonstrated successfully through decades also have a stake in disaster and climate risk information and of participatory GIS and community mapping activities. In recent should be included. This ensures that the primary user base years, the OpenStreetMap (OSM) platform has been used to for this data is involved in its ongoing maintenance. Global develop base maps and asset databases in support of risk modeling and contingency planning work. OSM, which was founded in 2004 data platforms run the risk of marginalizing potential users at in the UK, is now a global project that seeks to create an open- national and subnational levels. Local management of risk data source map of the world that anyone can access and anyone can also contributes to building necessary capacity for its use and contribute to. The fields of Citizen Science and Participatory GIS management. provide rich, if underexplored, opportunities for further research Example: Malawi Spatial Data Working Group and practice related to inclusive approaches to the creation of /// /// risk information. The Malawi Spatial Data Portal (MASDAP) was established /// Example: Open Cities Kathmandu /// in 2012 to address the issues of access to spatial data and to improve collaboration and use of the data by the Government Between 2012 and 2014, the Open Cities project partnered with of Malawi, the public and other key stakeholders. In order the Government of Nepal, local Universities, and local scientific to set up, manage and maintain the technical platform and organizations to support mapping of schools and health facilities its data, a MASDAP working group was created comprising in the Kathmandu Valley for use in seismic risk assessment. the key stakeholders involved in producing or using risk The project trained over 2,200 university students, government information. Originally, the working group was created officials, or members of community organizations in basic around the Shire River Basin Management Program Technical surveying techniques and the use of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) Team and implementation agencies, the project it originally platform and organized a series of mapping activities around supported. Over time the working group extended to more Kathmandu. Throughout the project, participants surveyed 2,256 general management of the platform at the national level, schools and 350 health facilities, creating a comprehensive map of the health and education infrastructure in the valley. The data was including institutions such as National Statistics Office, Surveys stored and made available to the public through OSM and a new Department, Department of Climate Change and Meteorological organization, Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL) was created at the end Services, Agricultural Development Division, Department of of the project to continue supporting the growth of the Open Data Disaster Management, Water Resources, Universities of Malawi community in Nepal. KLL and the local OSM community were very like The Polytechnic College and Chancellor College. active in supporting the 2015 Nepal Earthquake response. Examples of activities undertaken by the working group include: Further reading: /// /// i) Regular meetings and shared communications ii) awareness Planning an Open Cities Mapping Project campaigns to different stakeholders iii) Conduct trainings and https://www.gfdrr.org/sites/gfdrr/files/publication/Planning-an- capacity building on the usage of MASDAP platform and other Open-Cities-Mapping-Project_0.pdf related tools iv) provide feedback to improve the functionality Good practices in practices in participatory mapping of MASDAP platform v) develop a policy framework for sharing https://www.ifad.org/documents/10180/d1383979-4976-4c8e- geospatial and other required data among all stakeholders, ba5d-53419e37cbcc POLICY NOTE AND PRINCIPLES 07 define minimum metadata and data quality vi) ensure baseline collaborated with the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre data required for post disaster assessments are collated and are to create a “serious game” with an atmosphere of intense available in ready and open to use format vii) the working group interaction, learning and dialogue, combining collaboration and also coordinates and develops the strategy for the collection and competition, and ensuring that participants have to deal with use of the data gathered using community mapping techniques. issues of data sharing, data quality, politics versus evidence In the southern region of Malawi, a sub-group of the national versus emotion in decision making. Through this serious game, forum has been created to focus specifically on issues of data the participants are placed in a simulated situation where access and availability in their area. they take a role representing real life actors such staff of the Ministry of Education, NGO, Ministry of Planning and they have to make decisions such as the prioritization of investments 5. Communicated in ways that on schools balancing tight budgets and the objectives of better meet needs of diverse users education and disaster mitigation. They can take advantage of the information and tools available to them such as the location Risk information is complex and, in most cases, created by and of schools, flooding scenarios but they have a limited amount of for technical experts in the area of disaster risk management. time and have to share limited resources. Yet the hazards and vulnerabilities that risk data seeks to describe are of concern to everyone. There are an increasing Through the interactive activity, as the participants are taken number of tactics that are being developed to include the out of their comfort zone in an active role, they see the risk public in informed policy and planning decisions related to risk. information and its applications in a new light. The risk Where public dollars are going to be invested in the creation information is changed from something that can be abstract of risk information, OpenDRI seeks to explore ways for this and complex to something that is concrete and applicable and information to be accessible and relevant to as wide an audience necessary for effective disaster risk mitigation. as possible. Innovations in the areas of data visualization Further reading: /// /// or serious games, and software tools developed for specific use-cases and audiences can provide new ways for the public InaSAFE to engage with risk science. For instance, the World Bank and http://inasafe.org AusAID have been developing InaSAFE, a tool that analyzes Serious Game Concept and package information in a manner relevant to emergency http://www.bu.edu/pardee/publications-library/2012-archive-2/ planners and responders. The Disaster Risk Financing team of games-climate-task-force/ the World Bank has been developing a suite of tools designed to communicate and analyze risk information in a way relevant to Ministries of Finance. Example: OpenDRI Serious game /// /// In order to convey complex approaches and values such as (a) incorporating risk information into long-term planning decisions (b) the importance of open access to data for decision-making (c) the role of the community in providing up- to-date and accurate data, the usual format using presentations and workshops may not be enough and quickly forgotten. A different approach is to get the participants to learn through experience by putting them an active role. The OpenDRI team 08 OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE Open Data projects in the disaster risk space should be designed to: Build With Not For http://www.buildwith.org, a guide to civic 6. Engage user technology by Laurenellen McCann communities Digital Development Principles http://digitalprinciples.org/ During the planning phases of an open data project, program designers should identify target user groups for risk information and understand their needs. Engaging potential users to 7. Develop Strong understand their priorities and what they would find more Institutional Partnerships useful prior to project implementation can help prevent challenges from occurring later on. Target groups may include Reducing climate and disaster risk and building resilience is a challenge governments, local NGOs, universities and the scientific that involves all of society. It’s therefore desirable to treat the process community, and development partners as well as existing open of creating, managing, and using risk information the same. The data and technology communities in the area where the project design of a successful and sustainable open data project requires the will take place. Once the data is released, it is good practice to development of strong networks of local partners. Potential partners support the activity and growth of activities and projects that include different branches of government, community groups, can use the newly opened data. universities, and the private sector. Cultivating relationships between local partners can contribute to the sustainability of open data efforts Example: Code for Resilience and create possibility for new and unexpected activities beyond the /// /// Code for Resilience is an international fellowship program that time horizon of an individual project. In some countries, international supports partnership between technologists and governments programs such as the Open Government Partnership can also to meet the challenges of building resilience to disasters and provide additional resources or legitimacy to a local open data project. the impacts of climate change in the 21st century. Code for Partnerships can help facilitate the transparent communication of Resilience fellows spend 6 months working with governments activities, sharing of knowledge and results, and coordination that on open source software solutions to address problems can reduce duplication of efforts across different sectors of society. identified by local stakeholders. These extended partnerships Such practices help to build the necessary consensus for undertaking ensure opportunities for iterative solution design and that risk collective action related to reducing risk and preparing for and information can be made actionable for local decision-makers. responding to disasters. Further Reading: /// /// Example: Sri Lanka OpenDRI Project /// /// Code for Resilience http://codeforresilience.org/ OpenDRI has been working in Sri Lanka since April 2012 to increase access and meaningful use of risk information in the country. The User Centered Design Basics http://www.usability.gov/what- core of the partnership has centered around the development of an and-why/user-centered-design.html online database, RiskInfo , which is based on the free and open-source POLICY NOTE AND PRINCIPLES 09 tool GeoNode. Riskinfo is managed by the Disaster Management 8. Prioritize Center (DMC) and hosted on servers provided by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). It acts Open Source as a metadata catalog, data download portal, and map visualization Where possible, open data projects should also seek to engage platform for DRM data in the country. with open source software. A common misperception about Several national government agencies including the Disaster open source is that its primary benefit is the lack of licensing Management Center, the Survey Department and the Census fees. In practice, the main advantages tend to result more Department have been involved from the beginning in the design and from participation in active and collaborative communities management of the project. Over the course of the project, other key that grow up around open source software and create expertise national agency have been regularly consulted for inputs and updated within the government, private and academic sectors with on the progress and results of work. These partnerships have provided the ability to customize and extend software to suit specific the initiative with a strong ownership within the DMC, an important use cases. Without licensing and cost constraints, it is also credibility, and a legitimacy to interact with the local government. The national agencies also provide staff from the local offices to support easier for contributors to just start trying and iterate towards the project and build their capacity through their involvement in more complex use cases as well as to spend more resources the project. on capacity building. When investing in software development or purchase, it makes sense to first investigate whether a Community mapping efforts in several parts of the country have also comparable open source exists and the activity levels of its contributed to the development of new risk information, which is developer and user communities. also made available through RiskInfo and has created opportunities to broaden the number of partners involved in the project, including Example: InaSafe /// /// universities, local community groups, and technology organizations. Over 60,000 buildings including location and structural characteristics The InaSafe platform is an open source tool that is used to have been mapped using the OpenStreetMap platform through develop scenario-based impact assessments. The software this work. International coordination with groups such as the State provides a user-friendly, rigorous way for decision-makers Department’s Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU) and the to understand and engage with risk information. The tool Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team helped to secure up-to-date was developed through a long-term partnership between the imagery and quality assurance of the incoming data. OpenDRI Sri Government of Indonesia, the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Lanka’s success in developing partnerships across ministries, at various Disaster Reduction (AIFDR), the Global Facility for Disaster levels of government, and with non-governmental actors has helped to contribute to sustainable, broad-based, improvements in how risk Reduction and Recovery and the World Bank for use within the information is managed and used in the country. Indonesia Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). Because the tool is open source, it has since been customized for use in a Further Reading: number of other contexts including the Philippines and Malawi. /// /// Open Government Partnership Further Reading: http://www.opengovpartnership.org /// /// The How and Why of Nonprofits Contributing to Open Source Open Data Charter http://opendatacharter.net/ http://www.nten.org/article/the-how-and-why-of-nonprofits- Climate Services for Resilient Development Partnership contributing-to-open-source https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/09/fact- sheet-launching-public-private-partnership-empower-climate- Open Source Software Licenses resilien https://opensource.org/licenses 10 OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE Recommendations for effective sustainability of Geonode 9. Set clear, projects are also offered along with monitoring and evaluation long-term goals methods that ensure long term success built on solid open data principles. More information can be found at: www.opendri.org/ Investing in open data can result in many benefits, including resources increased public participation in decision-making, decreasing duplication of investment in data and information products, Further Reading: /// /// encouraging peer-review of science, and facilitating non- traditional partnerships. Indeed, open data projects should be World Bank Open Data Readiness Assessment designed to encourage as many of these things. However, it http://opendatatoolkit.worldbank.org/en/odra.html is important that specific and measurable goals be defined at Open Data Watch: Monitoring the start of the project. These may change over the course of http://opendatawatch.com/monitoring/ the project as the result of new learnings or newly articulated priorities, but having clearly defined and agreed upon targets prior to initiating activities will help manage expectations and support clear communication between project partners and stakeholders. Further, it is important to recognize that open data projects are fundamentally about affecting behavior and relationships. Meaningful change related institutional and individual interaction with risk information is a significant undertaking. Too often, interventions in this space take the form of short, discrete activities without a broader vision or operational theory of change. Sustained engagement is required for open data projects to achieve success. Example: OpenDRI Analysis Tool /// /// The OpenDRI analysis tool provides a common reference methodology and guidelines for implementation of OpenDRI projects. After the initial engagement with government’s DRM experts through which project goals and user needs are defined, a typical next step is an in-depth assessment of technological capacity and data availability. This guide provides templates for conducting IT assessments interviews with stakeholders, as well as reference data models to understand potential gaps in existing risk related datasets. A report is then generated describing the status of available resources with respect to desired implementation, offering options for proposed investments needed to achieve project goals. The OpenDRI analysis tool finally provides clear practical guidelines and checklists for developing efficient Geonode projects through which risk related data is aggregated, managed and shared. POLICY NOTE AND PRINCIPLES 11 OpenDRI Publications Open Data for Open Data for Crowdsourced Resilience Initiative: Resilience Initiative: Geographic Planning an Open Field Guide Information Use Cities Mapping in Government Project OPEN DATA FOR RESILIENCE About OpenDRI The Open Data for Resilience Initaitive (OpenDRI) is a project of the Global Facility for /// /// Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). Launched in 2011, OpenDRI seeks to bring the philosophies and practices of the global open data movement to bear on the challenges of reducing vulnerability to natural hazards and the impacts of climate change. OpenDRI has been active in over 35 countries around the world in efforts to improve the sharing, collection, and communication of risk information. About GFDRR The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is a global partnership /// /// that helps developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerabilities to natural hazards and adapt to climate change. Working with over 400 local, national, regional, and international partners, GFDRR provides grant financing, technical assistance, training and knowledge sharing activities to mainstream disaster and climate risk management in policies and strategies. Managed by the World Bank, GFDRR is supported by 34 countries and 9 international organizations. WWW.GFDRR.ORG