1.2 Role of the Information Manager
The Information Manager Officer (IMO) is responsible for developing and implementing an information management strategy, which ensures that:
- All parts of the CO report critical data on a timely basis;
- Information reaches everyone in the CO who needs it;
- Information management gaps are addressed;
- New information and data requirements are identified to support the management in decision making and early action;
- Information is gathered from internal sources, external peer agencies, government, donors, UN agencies, implementing partners and any other relevant sources and organises the information in a way that could help the management in decision making;
- Useful and timely information about the emergency and CARE’s response is provided to all key CARE international and external stakeholders (including donors, host government, beneficiaries, UN, clusters and peer agencies);
- Information requests are responded to in a timely manner;
- Coordination meetings are attended as needed;
- A filing and a repository system is put in place to allow easy access to information and data.
Information management needs are routinely underestimated in large emergencies and this has a detrimental effect on the overall effectiveness of the response. In particular, if there is no Information Management Officer (IMO) in place, the Country Director will quickly become overwhelmed by information requests and/or critical information needs will not be met. Therefore, in any large emergency the CO must put in place adequate, dedicated information management capacity as soon as possible. Once an IMO is in place, the Country Director should only approve communications, not prepare them. If the CO does not already have an appropriately skilled IMO, the deployment of an IMO should be requested immediately from the CARE International Roster for Emergency Deployment (CI RED).
Annex 42.1 Terms of Reference for Information Management Officer