A former SCID student, now working for the United Nations Risk Management Unit (RMU) in Afghanistan, has been in touch to share news on a resource which is likely to be of significant interest to many SCID students. The RMU was established in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2014, is the second of its kind in the UN system, and is based on the original RMU which was established in Somalia (which this former SCID student has also worked for). The Unit aims to help all UN agencies improve accountability, and to better identify and manage programmatic and institutional risks. The Unit also works with Donors, NGOs, and Afghan Civil Society.

One of the key areas RMU Afghanistan has been working on over the last 8 months is what they call ‘Collaborative Monitoring’. The idea is that in recognition of the fact that access to a number of areas is decreasing – primarily due to insecurity – there is a greater need to find effective / creative ways to enable monitoring of projects. The Collaborative Monitoring website was established as one way in which to monitor and manage some of the risks present. It is an open source resource for practitioners, aimed to capture and share information and documents. The site is focused on the context of Afghanistan, however draws from material which can be applied more generally. It is located here:

http://collaborativemonitoring.com/