Turning humanitarian evidence into timely, actionable knowledge
Humanitarian decision-making depends on access to evidence that is accurate, contextual, and usable. Yet across the sector, valuable research, evaluations, lessons learned, community insights, and operational data often remain fragmented across institutions, reports, databases, and thematic areas.
Through its Evidence Mapping and Living Synthesis Infrastructure, ICHA is strengthening how humanitarian knowledge is identified, organized, interpreted, and translated into action. This work provides a structured system for mapping existing evidence, identifying knowledge gaps, and continuously updating insights as new information emerges.
By bringing together research, data, policy analysis, field learning, and practitioner knowledge, the infrastructure supports more informed decisions across preparedness, anticipatory action, response, recovery, resilience-building, and policy development.
What the infrastructure enables
Evidence Mapping
ICHA systematically identifies and organizes available evidence across key humanitarian themes, including disaster risk management, climate action, health emergencies, localization, migration, humanitarian innovation, data governance, and community resilience. This helps decision-makers understand what evidence exists, where it is located, and how it can be applied.
Living Evidence Synthesis
Rather than treating research as a one-time output, ICHA supports a continuous synthesis process where evidence is updated as new studies, field findings, policy shifts, and operational lessons emerge. This ensures that humanitarian actors are working with knowledge that remains current and relevant.
Knowledge Gap Identification
The infrastructure highlights areas where evidence is limited, outdated, or insufficiently contextualized. These gaps inform future research priorities, policy engagement, innovation testing, and partnership development.
Evidence-to-Policy Translation
ICHA packages synthesized evidence into accessible knowledge products that support advocacy, strategic planning, program design, and institutional decision-making. This strengthens the link between frontline humanitarian practice and policy action.
Why it matters
As crises become more complex, humanitarian actors need evidence systems that are adaptive, inclusive, and locally grounded. Static reports alone are no longer enough. The sector requires knowledge infrastructure that can keep pace with changing risks, emerging technologies, climate shocks, population movements, and evolving community needs.
ICHA’s Evidence Mapping and Living Synthesis Infrastructure responds to this need by creating a dynamic bridge between research and real-world humanitarian action. It enables humanitarian actors to move beyond scattered information toward structured, timely, and practical insight.
Our approach
ICHA applies a multidisciplinary approach that combines research, data analysis, community knowledge, policy review, and operational learning. Through this approach, evidence is not only collected but also interpreted, contextualized, and translated into formats that can inform action.
This infrastructure supports:
- Better use of existing humanitarian evidence
- Stronger alignment between research and operational priorities
- Faster identification of emerging risks and knowledge gaps
- Improved policy and advocacy products
- More accountable, evidence-informed programming
- Locally grounded learning for humanitarian decision-making
Building a living knowledge system for humanitarian action
At its core, this work reflects ICHA’s commitment to ensuring that evidence does not sit on shelves but actively shapes decisions, policies, and practice. By investing in evidence mapping and living synthesis, ICHA is helping build a humanitarian knowledge ecosystem that is more responsive, more inclusive, and better equipped to support communities facing crisis.
Call to action
Explore ICHA’s evidence products, research insights, and knowledge resources to support more informed humanitarian action.