Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks

Session title: AI-Enabled End-to-End Disaster Management Systems: Pathways to Interoperability and Shared Impact

Organizer(s): IFRC, NRC, MapAction, ToggleCorp, Development Seed

12 Mar 26 14:00-15:30 UTC+1 (Pleniere E)

SessionAbstract

AI-Enabled End-to-End Disaster Management Systems: Pathways to Interoperability and Shared Impact

The increasing frequency and complexity of disasters demands end-to-end systems that can seamlessly link risk knowledge, monitoring, forecasting, early warning, and response. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing these capabilities - improving hazard detection, closing data gaps, enabling anticipatory analysis, and supporting faster, more targeted decision-making.

Humanitarian organisations such as the IFRC, Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and INFORM together with technical partners such as MapAction, Development Seed, ToggleCorp and Data Friendly Space, are already piloting or deploying AI-enabled tools across the disaster management chain: from geospatial risk assessment and nowcasting to impact modelling, message generation, and operational coordination.

Open source approaches remain vital to ensuring transparency, ethical use of AI, national ownership, and long-term sustainability. Yet despite the proliferation of promising tools, the ecosystem remains fragmented, with limited interoperability and uneven data sharing. These challenges constrain the potential for AI-enabled systems to scale and support the ambitions of Early Warnings for All (EW4All).

This session will explore what an integrated, AI-enabled disaster management ecosystem could look like, and what barriers must be overcome to get there.

Agenda

Part 1
Facilitators will present a structured framework outlining the full spectrum of tools used across end-to-end disaster management systems within a specific country context:

risk knowledge and exposure analysis
hazard detection and monitoring
forecasting and impact modelling
early warning dissemination and communication
preparedness and response coordination

Speakers from IFRC, Norwegian Refugee Council, Development Seed, INFORM and Toggle Corp will give short (5–7 minute) presentations illustrating current tools and AI-enabled innovations within specific parts of the framework. They will highlight practical applications, ethical considerations, and how open standards or open source components support responsible adoption.

Part 2

A central question will guide the discussion:How do we build together, rather than locking in organisational competition, in the development and application of AI-enabled tooling for Disaster Management systems?

This segment will serve as an interactive matchmaking exercise, linking practitioners with technical partners capable of supporting solution development, co-design, or adaptation of existing tools. Participants will also have opportunities for demonstrations and deeper technical inquiry.