Who We Are

Our ambition and identity

Our vision

Improved protection and wellbeing of forcibly displaced persons and those affected by forced displacement is achieved through coherent implementation of evidence-informed humanitarian and development action and inclusive policies.

Our mission

To enhance the ability of stakeholders to make timely and evidence-informed decisions that can improve the lives of affected people.

Our identity

Act as a catalyst to transform the data landscape on forced displacement and to help achieve its long-term vision. Jointly institutionalized in the World Bank and UNHCR, the JDC brings together the staff, resources and capacities of both organizations. It works to enable sustainable change for affected populations by improving the evidence-base for national policy, development, and humanitarian operations. Ultimately, the JDC will also serve as a global public good addressing the needs of both affected governments and populations, while ensuring results are made widely available.

Our principles

To help achieve our vision and mission, get results and create impact, we have outlined the following principles to guide our work.

• Innovation and sustainability to continuously seek new methods, tools and approaches to improve efficiency and effectiveness of outputs and work to scale up successful innovations to produce more sustainable change in the long term.

• Protection and diversity to do no harm during the implementation of activities and be sensitive to the experiences of different population groups and subgroups (e.g. age, gender and diversity).

• Capacity development to strive to improve capacity of national and international stakeholders to sustainably improve the quality and usability of data on forced displacement.

• Breadth and representation to enable broad coverage in terms of regions, displacement situations, and institutions.

• Data ethics to respect the individuals and communities behind the data by striving to responsibly acquire, use, store and share data and analytical outcomes.

• Partnerships and coordination with a broad range of actors, through inclusive and transparent means, to help strengthen quality and relevance of outputs, minimize duplication, and increase buy-in, in particular with affected states, to heighten impact of data and results.

Our management

The JDC benefits from a multi-stakeholder, two-tiered governance structure, including a Management Committee and a Strategic Advisory Council.

The Management Committee meets on an annual basis to oversee the work of the Center including reviewing & endorsing its annual budget and work program as well as other issues of strategic relevance. Membership includes representatives from the World Bank, UNHCR, JDC donors and hosting countries Kenya, Uganda, and Pakistan.

The Strategic Advisory Council meets in advance of Management Committee meetings. The Council collects a broad group of stakeholders who have shown interest in the JDC’s mandate, including governments, national statistics offices, humanitarian and development partners, civil society organizations, academic institutes and private sector partners.

How we work

The JDC offers different types of support and guidance to activity implementation teams. In most cases, this entails a combination of the following:

• Financial investments covering full or partial costs of proposed activities as relevant;

• Technical guidance and support in order to ensure high quality outputs and useful outcomes, to allow learning from expertise, and to streamline processes;

• Strategic advice to initiate and develop activities that are relevant to shape policy dialogue and inform programs;

• Partnership building and coordination to identify and connect partners to enhance project outcomes, capitalize on synergies and increase impact.

Partnerships outside its parent institutions are an integral part of the JDC modus operandi. Our partnerships materialize through a range of modalities including:

Strategic partnerships to achieve common objectives (e.g. with the Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics [EGRIS] to include forcibly displaced persons in national surveys and systems, or with development partners at national/regional level to facilitate more effective use of results);
Knowledge and experience exchange for mutual benefit and to promote learning (e.g. with academia in our annual research conference and thematic workshops or global technical experts for guidance on complex methodological challenges);
Implementation arrangements for concrete deliverables within activities (e.g. working with National Statistical Offices for data collection or qualified partners for capacity building);
Coordination for enhanced outcomes and impact (e.g. with interested governments and stakeholders, such as civil society and development partners, to enhance responsible microdata access).