High-quality baseline population data disaggregated down to local levels are fundamental for many applications, including needs assessment, planning and delivery of public services and response to disasters. In an emergency preparedness and humanitarian context, Common Operational Datasets on Population Statistics (COD-PS) provide information on the size, age/sex profile and geographic distribution of a population. They are a core tool of the United Nations humanitarian system and widely used by both government and non-governmental humanitarian organizations.

This project aims to strengthen the humanitarian data workforce supporting COD-PS availability, quality and usability across the UN humanitarian system. It will also address a critical gap in data interoperability standards for COD-PS data, IDP data and refugee data in operational response settings.

A key part will be establishment of an Inter-Agency Working Group on interoperability of baseline population, displacement, and refugee data (IAWG-Interop) of which WorldPop at the University of Southampton is a part.

Specifically, we are providing: 

• Technical inputs to technical guidance briefs and technical tools to support COD-PS production, management, dissemination, and user-support by UN Humanitarian Country Team field staff (particularly UNFPA, OCHA, IOM and UNHCR).
• Inputs to workshop reports and technical documentation produced from IAWG-Interop ‘deep dive’ workshops.
• Inputs to draft technical standards, data protocols and methods, and tools for the routine integration and harmonization of baseline COD-PS data with internal displacement and refugee data via an Interagency Technical Working Group (IAWG).
• Input into a paper on the application of geospatial disaggregation methods to COD-PS data from Mozambique, Turkey, and Ukraine for a peer-review publication.