What is the HIC_
The HIC is a common service to the humanitarian community working in Iraq and the surrounding countries. The HIC was set up by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), and works under the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI).  HIC operates in cooperation with a number of groups, including UK Department For International Development (DFID), USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) , Vietnam Veterans’ of Amercia Foundation (VVAF),  NCCI, WFP’s FITTEST, UN agencies, and other NGOs.

Why is Humanitarian Information important_
Access to timely and accurate information is essential to making relief efforts more effective. The HIC has been established to provide you with access to that information - and to help you to share your information more widely with the rest of the community.  But access to information is only part of the story.  Our goal is to help the humanitarian community improve the management of information, by making better use of basic  ‘building blocks’ such as place codes and links to mapping.

What does the HIC do_
The HIC provides a range of services and products designed to help you and your organization to work more effectively. These include map products such as  administrative boundaries and thematic displays;  coordination of the UNOHCI Rapid Assessment Process as a baseline platform for reconstruction assessments, and; technical advice to organizations to help them manage data and information more effectively.
We are always seeking to develop more ways to help you, and our staff will be happy to discuss the specific needs of your organization. We are developing new products and services all the time - so if you want to get involved, visit us soon!

How can I find out more_
For a full explanation of how we can help your organization, please contact us - full details are given on the next sections.  We have field offices in Baghdad, Erbil, Mosul and Basra.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Yours,
Andrew Alspach
Project Manager, HIC

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