Humanitarian Archive Emergency Registry
Humanitarian knowledge is disappearing – often quietly, and often for good. Across the sector, funding cuts, conflict, and failing digital infrastructure are leading to the loss of operational records, beneficiary data, protection documentation, evaluations, and institutional memory. In particular, archives held by local and national organisations – especially in fragile and low-income settings – are the most vulnerable, and the least protected.
This is what we’re calling the Humanitarian Archive Emergency. A key first step to address this emergency is to identify what knowledge exists, and what’s at risk. This public registry allows us to collectively assess scope and scale of humanitarian archives, records, and datasets.
About the coalition
The Humanitarian Archive Emergency (HAE) is a global coalition led by the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Wellcome Trust, and supported by a coalition of partners, including Elrha. As part of this initiative, a consortium led by Key Aid Consulting and the Institute of Development Studies is conducting a global diagnostic of humanitarian archives, records, and datasets at risk.
This work aims to identify which bodies of humanitarian knowledge are most endangered, understand the threats driving that risk, and assess what would be lost if preservation action is not taken. It is not an inventory exercise or a data rescue intervention: it is the evidentiary foundation on which any informed, equitable response must be built.
