Dear Colleague,

A warm welcome to the Food Security Cluster.

You are joining a team of Information Management officers from 30+ activated responses, contributing to an extensive breadth and depth of experience and knowledge.

Your role as Information Management Officer (IMO) will be varied and diverse; however, at its core you will build and maintain the foundations required for an effective and efficient response harnessing and delivering data and information that is reliable, comprehensive, and up-to-date. You will work in tandem with the Cluster Coordinator and be the focal point for all data related matters for your partners.

Managing information during a humanitarian emergency is a crucial part of an operation and is one of the core Food Security Cluster (FSC) functions; being the basis for decision-making at both country and global levels. Information Management (IM) requires capturing, compiling, analysing and presenting data in a format designed to assist analysis, decision-making and action within the context of a humanitarian crisis.

This Handbook provides an in-depth overview of the key tasks required to undertake the role of IMO and is a living repository that will be updated regularly by the global Food Security Cluster (gFSC).

The Handbook is divided into core themes that will provide a one-stop shop for relevant information and materials, including both internal products, guidelines and links to official external materials for your perusal.

Key links will be highlighted in orange while all internal materials will be provided to you through the Toolbox / Annexes at the end of the respective section.

Each core theme will commence with a short introductory summary and will include a breakdown of the respective sub-sections.

Please be aware that this handbook is intended to cover IMO-specific topics only; other thematic areas that are general but fundamental for the IMO to be familiar with (e.g. humanitarian structures, cluster functions, etc) are covered by the Cluster Coordinator Handbook (1.1. CC Handbook contents page available here) and will be referenced accordingly. Therefore please familiarise yourself with the CC Handbook which is complimentary to the IM Handbook and will provide more detail on the coordination and structural workings of the humanitarian response.

Good luck fellow IMO!