How NRC is Using CKAN to Improve Humanitarian Data Management

A refugee camp in Chad. A humanitarian worker walks through the camp, phone in hand, collecting critical data on displaced families. Somewhere else, another team member is doing the same—except they’re using pen and paper, later transcribing notes when they find internet access.

Now multiply this across 40+ countries. The result? Scattered, inconsistent data, making it harder for teams to coordinate, respond to crises, and secure funding.

That’s why the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) turned to CKAN—to bring structure, clarity, and interoperability to humanitarian data.

In the world of humanitarian aid, access to accurate, up-to-date data is often the difference between timely intervention and missed opportunities. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) knows this well. Operating in over 40 countries, NRC works to protect and assist displaced communities affected by war, natural disasters, and crises. But with field teams collecting data in diverse, often challenging environments—sometimes on paper, sometimes on mobile devices—data fragmentation was a real issue.

That’s where CKAN comes in.

As humanitarians, we need flexible solutions that integrate easily. CKAN’s open-source approach made it the right choice for us, allowing us to connect with other essential tools like KoboToolbox while keeping costs low and adaptability high. — Nadine Levin, Data Product Manager at NRC

At our latest CKAN Monthly Live session, NRC showcased how they’ve used CKAN to centralize their data efforts, improve collaboration across teams, and ensure critical datasets don’t get lost in the ever-shifting humanitarian landscape. Their CKAN instance, NRC Exchange, is already making a significant impact.

The challenge: data silos and fragmentation

Before NRC Exchange, humanitarian workers across NRC's global network struggled with disconnected, inconsistent datasets—some stored in spreadsheets, others handwritten in notebooks, all updated irregularly and often lacking metadata to verify accuracy. Without a single source of truth, field staff working in low-tech conditions had to piece together scattered information, slowing decisions when speed mattered most.

Each country is moving quickly to address crises, and a situation in Afghanistan looks very different from one in Colombia. This led to fragmented information and inefficient data discovery, said Nadine.

Whether it was responding to a crisis or securing funding, the lack of a reliable system created bottlenecks at every turn. NRC needed a solution that was flexible, scalable, and built to last—one that fits into their workflows without adding complexity.

The solution: CKAN-powered data centralization

NRC turned to CKAN as the backbone for their data infrastructure. Why? Because it offered:

• A robust metadata schema to add context to datasets.
• Permissions and access control to protect data integrity.
• API interoperability, allowing for seamless integrations with other tools.
• A strong open-source community to support long-term sustainability.

Instead of over-engineering a complex system from scratch, NRC leveraged CKAN’s core functionality and focused on under-engineering—keeping it simple and practical. The result? In just six months, NRC launched a fully operational data portal serving 8,000 staff members across 40+ countries.

Key features & impact

With NRC Exchange, staff can now:

• Find and access critical datasets faster – Instead of searching through spreadsheets in scattered folders, teams have a single source of truth.
• Ensure data quality and governance – A structured metadata schema ensures that datasets are validated and properly documented.
• Enhance collaboration – Field teams and headquarters are working with the same trusted datasets.
• Automate and scale – CKAN’s API and integrations reduce manual work, saving time and reducing errors.

One of the most impactful CKAN-powered features at NRC is its integration with Power BI. Using CKAN’s API, NRC pipelines data into Power BI dashboards, eliminating the need for manual updates. This means whenever a dataset updates in CKAN, reports and dashboards automatically reflect the latest data—a game-changer for humanitarian decision-making.

Strengthening field data collection with KoboToolbox

Beyond centralizing existing data, NRC is also solving field data collection challenges with KoboToolbox, a widely used open-source survey tool for humanitarian work.

Before, survey data was manually entered, leading to human errors like typos and inconsistencies. Now, our integration with CKAN transforms and uploads datasets directly into KoboToolbox, making it easier to aggregate results and reducing the risk of mistakes, said Nadine.

Many field staff previously had to manually type in office locations or taxonomies, leading to errors and inconsistencies. Now, CKAN automatically pulls verified datasets into KoboToolbox, ensuring clean, structured data from the start.

We were inspired by a script from HDX and developed a Python script to pull CKAN datasets into KoboToolbox as global variables, Nadine explained.

This means field teams can now create surveys with pre-verified data—saving time, reducing errors, and improving consistency.

What’s next?

As NRC navigates an increasingly challenging funding environment, the need for flexible, cost-effective, and sustainable technology solutions is more critical than ever. Their CKAN instance is more than just a data portal—it’s a data preservation tool, ensuring vital information doesn’t disappear when teams, budgets, or priorities shift.

Looking ahead, NRC plans to expand their CKAN-KoboToolbox integration and explore additional automation and interoperability opportunities. Their work serves as a powerful example of how open-source technology can transform humanitarian operations—not just by making data more accessible, but by making organizations more resilient in an unpredictable world.

Learn More

Want to dive deeper into NRC’s approach? Check out our last CKAN Monthly Live session.

And if you’re considering CKAN for your own humanitarian or nonprofit data needs, NRC’s journey proves that open-source, community-driven solutions aren’t just about saving costs—they’re about building something sustainable, adaptable, and future-proof.