The Centre is based in The Hague, the Netherlands. The location offers OCHA and partners the opportunity to work in a neutral setting where a new culture can be created around data collaboration. The Centre is located in the Humanity Hub, a dedicated building for entities working in social sector innovation.

We believe that it is important to maintain a decentralized model for how we engage partners with data support and this requires geographic distribution of OCHA staff and consultants. The Centre and the HDX platform rely on the support of home-based consultants for infrastructure development, data science and standards work, and user research and visual design. We also have OCHA staff based in New York and Geneva.

We have Data Labs in Nairobi, Kenya and Dakar, Senegal.

  • The Data Lab in Nairobi, Kenya has been operating since November 2014. The team is focused on increasing data sharing among partners across East Africa and providing services such as data cleaning and interactive visualizations.

  • In November 2016, we created a second Data Lab in Dakar, Senegal to speed up the flow of data across West Africa. The team is focused on integrating data systems, conducting user research and increasing adoption of the Humanitarian Exchange Language.

To learn more about HDX, click here; to learn more about HXL, click here.