NRC Crisis Learning Initiative

STOP
Reporting
START
Responding.

The humanitarian sector has extensive libraries of frameworks, guidance notes, emergency response protocols and anticipatory action strategies. What is missing is software that turns those principles into something a field team can use.

CLEAR builds that infrastructure.

Input Signal · 06:14 UTC
Flood displacement indicators converging across 3 data sources in Blue Nile State
Satellite · Field Report · Social Media
Crisis Detection Engine
Anomaly confirmed — displacement surge exceeds 2000 threshold. 47,000 estimated affected.
Alert Triggered
Situation Analysis · Field Interface
Sub-national breakdown ready. Market access data, population vulnerability index, nearest NRC assets.
Under Analysis
Emergency Response Console
Recommended action: Pre-position cash distribution team. Similar event 2022, 72h window before route closure.
Action Ready
Rapid Cash System
Vulnerability mapping complete. MEB calculated. Cash distribution protocol ready.
Estimated ready: 04:30 hrs
The Problem

The data exists.
The frameworks exist.
The gap is everything in
between.

01

The Insight-to-Action Gap

Conflict monitors, weather forecasts, displacement monitors — field teams have them all, in separate tabs, in different formats, none of them talk to each other. By the time someone pieces it together, the window for early action has closed and conditions have deteriorated. This gap today is still measured in weeks.

02

From Syntax to Systems

Preparedness frameworks, anticipatory action protocols, early warning strategies, the sector has a rich vocabulary for what needs to happen. It lacks the software to operationalize it. Good principles stall when there's no system to execute them.

03

After-the-Fact Reports

Most humanitarian data systems are designed for retrospective analysis: what happened, who was affected, what was done. CLEAR is built for the moment before, providing actionable insights when there is still time to change the outcome.

From signal to briefing
in under 48 hours.

Sudan is CLEAR's first operational context, one of the largest and fastest-growing displacement crises in the world, with over 14 million people forced from their homes.

The live interface aggregates conflict monitoring, displacement tracking, and field data at sub-national level — delivering near real-time actionable insights to NRC emergency teams.

Alpha — Live in Sudan
"The challenge isn't data scarcity, it's delivering insights at the right time, to the right people, in a format they can trust and act upon."
CLEAR Initiative, Humanitarian Landscape Report 2025
96
platforms mapped in the humanitarian tech landscape, none fully closing the insight-to-action gap
72H
from crisis detection to cash distribution in rapid response mode
10M+
people displaced in Sudan alone — CLEAR's first operational context, live in alpha
3yr
initiative horizon to scale from NRC pilot to sector-wide open infrastructure
96 platforms in the ecosystem.
Most warn, report, or coordinate.
CLEAR decides.
Capability Typical Early Warning Systems Humanitarian Data Platforms CLEAR
Crisis detection Single-hazard signals Aggregated reports Multi-source, real-time anomaly detection across climate, conflict, displacement
Level of analysis National / global Cluster-level summaries Sub-national, operational — built for the team on the ground
Output format Bulletins, dashboards Situation reports Live updates with actionable insights and course-of-action recommendations
Timing Periodic updates After-event coordination Anticipatory or near real-time, designed to intervene before peak crisis impact
Decision support Coordination summaries GenAI Emergency Response Console with action plan recommendations grounded in impact forecasting and past response patterns
Use of AI Rule-based alerts Basic automation Responsible AI throughout — explainable, small and specific models, human-in-the-loop at all critical decision points, bias mitigation
Data integration Single-source feeds Manual data aggregation API-first, 4-layer architecture — ingestion, processing, governed storage, and access — across satellite, social, field, and climate sources
Data infrastructure Siloed, org-specific Shared reports only Federated data marketplace with shared feature repository and model registry — reducing duplication across the sector
Data sovereignty Vendor-controlled Platform-dependent Federated governance, cloud-agnostic architecture, data sovereignty considerations at each step
Open source Open-source codebase with community contribution model — built to be owned by the sector, not a vendor
Sustainable build Grant-dependent tools Institution-funded Consortium model with shared costs, open infrastructure, and a roadmap toward sector-wide adoption over 3 years
Collaboration Data sharing agreements Cluster coordination Built with and for the community — open, multi-org data ecosystem, umbrella API connecting existing platforms, building the sector's missing integration layer
Rapid response link Referral only Integrated end-to-end insights with automated vulnerability mapping and response decision support
Community voices One-way alerts Feedback surveys only Lightweight, contextual feedback integrated into alerting, analysis, needs assessment, and monitoring.

Community voices at every step.
Without the survey burden.

CLEAR integrates affected communities into alerting, situation analysis, needs assessment, and monitoring through lightweight, contextual feedback mechanisms embedded into field operations. This means real community voices inform what's analyzed, how it's prioritized, and what actions matter most.

How It Works
Four integrated components.
One continuous insight loop.
01 — Detect

Crisis Detection Engine

AI-powered real-time monitoring across satellite imagery, social media, climate feeds, and field reports. Anomalies trigger automatically, analysts verify and enrich the signal.

02 — Understand

Situation Analysis Interface

Once an alert fires, the field interface pulls together what matters: who's affected, where they are, which routes are open, how markets are holding. Complex data made readable on one screen.

03 — Decide

Emergency Console

Draws on standards, SOPs, past responses to similar crises and current field data to give coordinators a clear picture and suggested next steps.

04 — Act

Rapid Cash Distribution

Detection triggers assessment. Assessment informs targeting. Targeting enables cash to move. The goal is to close the gap between a signal and money in someone's hand.

Built for the
Field.
Not the Report.

CLEAR is an open ecosystem designed to serve the whole sector. If your organization works in early action, crisis response, or humanitarian data, we want to hear from you.

Get Involved Read the Initiative Brief