Information for Sustainable Development (ISD)
Stone Environmental, Inc. helps local and national governments, investors, and nonprofit organizations use information for sustainable development in the following areas:
- • Baseline Data Collection and Multi-Sector Country Profiles
- • Needs Analysis and Implementation Solutions
- • Poverty Mapping and Vulnerability Assessment
- • GIS Database Design, Development, and Management
- • Application Development
- • Monitoring and Evaluation, and Investment Targeting
- • Capacity Building and GIS Training
- • Conflict Early Warning and Event Prevention
- • Environmental and Natural Resource Data Management
- • Multiple Stakeholder Land Use Analysis
Baseline Data Collection and Multi-Sector Country Profiles
To monitor project and program effectiveness, it is essential to develop a baseline of information to see if progress is being made. Stone uses baseline data to profile current conditions, and compares all new data to the baseline to measure change. We have developed methods that portray existing information in a ready-to-use format for identifying current status. Our design anticipates the capture of new program data or ongoing data collection activities to help clients easily complete future evaluations. We have conducted numerous baseline data collection projects concerning natural resource management, environmental trends, and socioeconomic conditions.
Needs Analysis and Implementation Solutions
Where does GIS make sense? A needs analysis is the first step in implementing a Geographic Information System (GIS) in any organization. It is a systematic look at how user groups function and what skills, spatial data, and software tools they need to succeed in their work. At the conclusion of a needs analysis, we provide the organization with the technical and implementation plans necessary to develop a Geographic Information System. In addition to providing this information, a GIS needs analysis fosters cooperation and enhanced communication between user groups.
Poverty Mapping and Vulnerability Assessment
Developing a baseline for understanding what areas are poorest and how to measure progress is an important first step in improving the standard of living of vulnerable populations. The process we use is simple. First we identify and map all the relevant indicators of poverty that are available in a country’s databases. Then we compile and integrate the data sets in a spatial information system. Finally, we analyze the data and create an interactive Geographic Information System (GIS) consisting of social, economic, environmental, and natural resource information. Stone Environmental has been conducting poverty mapping and vulnerability assessments for a number of years and has completed three related projects in Niger for the World Bank and a similar project in Mali for USAID. These efforts provided countries and donors with objective ways to measure poverty to implement better and more equitable investment policies to achieve poverty reduction.
GIS Database Design, Development, and Management
Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is only as good as the data behind it. Our expert database design minimizes the potential for data problems as the demand for GIS use grows in your organization. Our efficient techniques and experienced quality-control standards create high-quality databases that last. We use a variety of tools, including scanning, raster-to-vector, sub-meter horizontal accuracy GPS with data logger, and expert manual digitizing.
Application Development
Decision makers have different application needs and requirements. The data analysis techniques that GIS provides are more powerful and cost-effective when users can apply them repeatedly for varying situations. We make this possible by programming customized GIS tools and applications for our clients. We start by fully understanding the user’s needs and defining the workflow. Next, we develop and test the spatial analysis technique that will form the basis of the application. Then we give a beta version to the client for testing and review. Once the client approves the technique, we develop a flexible, user-friendly interface. Our customized GIS tools and applications empower our clients to efficiently perform complex spatial assessments, giving them more time for evaluating the results.
GIS and database applications are more effective when all interested users can access them. We offer Web-based application programming services to meet this demand. Our team has designed Web-based data management applications for onsite wastewater management (IWIMS®) as well as GIS applications that serve soils data over the Internet.
Monitoring and Evaluation, and Investment Targeting
Many organizations are seeking to improve their ability to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their programs in the areas in which they are working. They are tracking progress against goals, or trying to measure the per capita value of their investments. At Stone Environmental, we use a spatial approach to make this process easier for program managers, providing a visual tool for the rapid assessment and updating of project status. In addition to providing needed information, this saves money and avoids redundancy.
Stone’s approach permits organizations to:
- • Determine the exact location of project activities and show the extent of project activities
- • Evaluate the project’s significance in terms of other co-located projects
- • Evaluate the project’s effectiveness compared to previous projects in the same area
- • View the relationship of the project to factual information, such as population and health; physiography, forestry, and climate; soils and agriculture; availability of water; location of schools, markets, and other significant social constructs; desertification and biodiversity
- • See the investment levels of the project in cartographic form and on an annual basis
- • See the investment level per capita in the project area
- • See the investment level in each sector, e.g., investment per capita/per school by district, by ethnic group
- • See change over time and assess the direction of trends
- • View statistical criteria in a spatial format to show the value of the investment and the progress of the project
- • See overlapping investments
- • Understand the historical effects of investments
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Capacity Building and GIS Training
For all ISD projects, Stone views itself as a collaborator. We always use local project associates and train local participants, and we often affiliate with a local university and NGOs. This approach expands local capability and ensures the continuity of effort that is critical to sustainable development. We have more than 10 years of experience designing customized courses to transfer our knowledge to the users of the systems we help create.
Conflict Early Warning and Event Prevention
Using GIS tools, legacy data, local knowledge, and modeling techniques, Stone is able to provide realistic assessments of the potential for future conflict, and identify how such conflicts might be avoided through targeted investments or interventions. GIS technology allows for the compositing of multiple databases. These data sets include villages, climate, ethnic regions, travel routes, natural resources, and environmental factors, as well as landscape features. Successful modeling and compositing of social, economic, political, military, and biophysical data can provide information and early warning for areas where conflicts may be brewing but not yet be apparent.
Environmental and Natural Resource Data Management
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have the power to integrate data from diverse and crosscutting disciplines as well as from numerous sources. For complex issues with myriad stakeholders, such as natural resource management, GIS analysis is ideal for encouraging productive discussion and increasing the capacity of the public to contribute meaningfully on many levels of decision making. GIS decision support tools are also useful for ongoing resource management and continuous environmental monitoring.
Stone has built many resource management and environmental monitoring information systems in support of environmental regulatory efforts. Our systems have provided the basis for conducting resource assessments and developing fact-driven solutions for many clients.
Multiple Stakeholder Land Use Analysis
ISD can play a significant role in the development of multiple stakeholder profiles for regions scheduled for major infrastructure investments (such as dams) or resource extraction (such as oil or mineral exploration). Frequently there are many people with competing interests vying for the use of a land area. Stone Environmental casts a wide net to completely understand their requirements and the issues that are important to them. Once we fully document these, strategies to mitigate or avoid potential conflicts can be developed.
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