Digital Humanitarian
Digital Humanitarian
Podcast Description
Disaster response is at a turning point. Traditional humanitarian tools - paper logs, slow coordination, limited scalability - can’t keep up with the growing scale and pace of global crises.
And as political instability reduces available resources, it's more critical than ever to adopt bold, technology-driven solutions.
Digital Humanitarian takes you to the front lines of disaster relief, where innovation isn't optional - it's saving time, resources, and lives.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a range of topics including technology in disaster response, community engagement in humanitarian efforts, and the challenges of coordinating aid in crises. Episodes like the LandLedger pilot project highlight the role of AI and community-led data collection, while discussions around the LA wildfires emphasize the importance of rapid coordination among organizations to house displaced families.
Disaster response is at a turning point. Traditional humanitarian tools – paper logs, slow coordination, limited scalability – can’t keep up with the growing scale and pace of global crises.
And as political instability reduces available resources, it’s more critical than ever to adopt bold, technology-driven solutions.
Digital Humanitarian takes you to the front lines of disaster relief, where innovation isn’t optional – it’s saving time, resources, and lives.
Capturing land rights before disaster strikes…with just a conversation.
In this episode, Dana Yaari speaks with Ibere Lopes from IOM and Raphael Schoenball from UNDP about their pilot project, LandLedger. Set in a small fishing village in the Philippines, this project used storytelling, AI, and human-centered design to document informal land rights before the next typhoon could force evacuations.
Ibere and Raphael walk through how they earned community trust, built tech around real human stories, and created actionable data that local disaster teams can now use. You’ll hear how their work is setting a new standard for humanitarian data collection—and what it means for vulnerable populations worldwide.
You’ll learn:
- How community-led design builds trust and better data
- Why AI-powered transcripts are changing the speed and depth of disaster prep
- What it takes to scale tech in low-connectivity, high-risk environments
Things to listen for:
(00:00) Welcome to Digital Humanitarian, Ibere Lopes & Raphael Schoenball
(01:37) Launching LandLedger in the Philippines
(03:50) Why stories matter more than forms
(05:02) Building trust before data collection
(06:15) Designing tech with the community
(08:06) How LandLedger actually works
(11:41) Field data vs. official records
(13:14) Helping disaster teams go granular
(15:35) Testing an AI voice enumerator
(18:25) Adapting the LandLedger methodology for other use cases
(21:11) Scaling LandLedger to conflict areas
Resources:
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