The Lifelines CommunityHumanitarian Decision-Maker

Asset 29GIST PPT

SUPER POWERS

Strategic vision across program capacities, context needs, and evolving trends
Influence to shape organizational priorities, budgets, and policies and to engage with a broad range of stakeholders
Learning-driven, constantly gathering new information to shape their understanding of complex crises
Pragmatically focused on real-world outcomes, preferring proven solutions over flashy innovations

Motivation

Humanitarian Decision-Makers are driven by a commitment to improving humanitarian outcomes through data and effective use of technology.

Goals

Improve humanitarian outcomes through resource allocation decisions that ensure effective use of technology – while securing more funding for program implementation
Identify interventions that are evidence-based, scalable, and efficient to meet urgent needs while building long-term resilience.
Ensure their team is protected in-country and avoid unnecessary risk in their investments, ensuring that any use of new technologies or approaches are justified and meet actual needs
Align with global trends in data-informed crisis response

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Humanitarian Decision-Makers allocate resources and make strategic choices that shape humanitarian programs. They work across crisis response and resilience-building, often holding leadership roles in large NGOs, UN agencies, or government bodies. While they may not be technical experts, they recognize the importance of data and emerging technologies in improving efficiency, scalability, and outcomes. They are driven to ensure new tech investments are effective, but navigating the landscape of Earth science approaches can be complex. With dwindling budgets, shifting donor priorities, and pressing humanitarian needs, they balance risk, innovation, and impact.
Hum Decision Maker Trimmed
“We’re constantly asked to do more with less. I don’t need flashy dashboards; I need solutions that can prove they work, align with donor expectations, and fit into our workflows without adding complexity. Earth observation has potential, but I need partners who understand the realities we’re navigating.”

They engage with Earth observation by…

gathering insights from their teams – many of whom may be Data Driven Humanitarians – who interpret Earth observation data and translate it into actionable insights, and scaling tech-powered programs. Rather than experimenting with emerging tech for its own sake, they prioritize tools that can be integrated into existing workflows and rapidly prove their value.

Challenges

Growing crisis & rapidly shrinking funding

They must navigate budget constraints (including those spurred by current events such as USAID effectively being dissolved), shifting donor priorities, and increasing humanitarian needs, while also balancing addressing short-term needs with building long-term capacity

Humanitarian Decision Makers often need to approve proposals or allocate resources without deep technical understanding of emerging technologies.

Finding and vetting the right technical partners can be time-consuming, and many organizations lack in-house expertise and full-time staff to facilitate the process.

Humanitarian Decision Makers may face internal resistance to adopting new technical tools, or they themselves may not be familiar with satellite tools and data, making it difficult to assess which technologies are worth investing in.

Donors are often more excited about new, hype-driven tech rather than the most impactful solutions, forcing decision-makers to advocate for what actually works.

Even when they see value in new approaches, many Humanitarian Decision Makers in large organizations face bureaucratic inertia and internal skepticism about adopting new approaches.