The Power of Open Humanitarian Data
There is a wealth of publicly available humanitarian data that most NGOs never use. OCHA's Humanitarian Data Exchange, UNHCR's refugee statistics, World Bank poverty indicators—these datasets can provide crucial context for your program data and strengthen your donor reporting.
The challenge? Connecting them to your own data without a data engineering team.
Key Datasets for NGOs
Here are some of the most valuable open datasets for humanitarian organizations:
OCHA Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)
Over 20,000 datasets covering crises, displacement, food insecurity, and more. Regularly updated and freely accessible.
UNHCR Refugee Statistics
Detailed data on refugee populations, asylum seekers, and stateless persons by country and year.
World Bank Open Data
Poverty rates, health indicators, education metrics, and economic data for nearly every country.
FEWS NET Food Security Data
Early warning data on food insecurity and famine risk across vulnerable regions.
The Integration Challenge
Raw data from these sources comes in different formats, uses different geographic codes, and updates on different schedules. Connecting them to your own beneficiary data requires:
- Data harmonization — aligning geographic identifiers, date formats, and metrics
- Regular refresh pipelines — keeping external data current
- Contextual mapping — linking external indicators to your program geography
This is exactly what Horizon Aid's data connectivity service provides.
From Data to Insight
Once external datasets are connected to your program data, new questions become answerable:
- Are food insecurity trends in our district worsening or improving?
- How does our beneficiary profile compare to regional displacement patterns?
- What context can we add to our donor impact report?
These are the questions that turn good programs into compelling funding proposals.
Explore how Horizon Aid can connect your data to the world's best humanitarian datasets. Learn more about how it works.