Swiss Government appoints two Aussie agencies to improve Humanitarian aid in Somalia

In a bid to develop a first-of-its-kind data platform what will monitor humanitarian and development programs in Somalia, the Swiss Government have appointed Australian digital marketing agency G Squared and software company Station Five.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), part of Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibilities for coordinating international development and delivering humanitarian aid, has an office in the Horn of Africa which aims to improve the performance of its programmes and enhance stability, reduce poverty and improve wellbeing.

Following a global tender process, Sydney independents G Squared in partnership with Station Five, have been awarded an initial four-year contract to design and build the data visualisation platform, with an option for the contract to be extended for an additional four years.

The first of its kind dashboard will display real-time analytics such as identification of risks, reporting on the impact of positive and negative activities and mapping stakeholder effectiveness to enable timely and effective decision-making for the SDC, other donors as well as implementing partners and authorities.

G Squared will create the user experience and interface design for the platform, which will receive, verify, store and display data that will be collected by a remote monitoring provider, with Station Five managing the engineering and data science of the platform.

George Pappas, director at G Squared said: “The appointment of two Australian businesses, by the Swiss Government’s SDC, to develop a first of its kind data visualisation platform to assist in the planning and delivery of effective humanitarian and development programmes in Somalia, is certainly one of the more unique projects we have been involved with. We’re honoured to have been chosen for this project, which aims to make a tangible difference to the lives of Somalis for many years to come.”

Lambros Photios, CEO at Station Five added: “Winning this tender against significant international competition, including global consultancies, is a testament to the technical expertise and strong design thinking capabilities that exist in Australia. Despite being far from both Switzerland and Somalia, we’re already working with SDC’s teams on the ground to ensure we build a data platform that provides its users with real-time analytics that will help them to make fully informed and timely decisions.”