The CEWARN team and representatives of Virtual Research Associates, a US based firm, convened on 30 April 2015 to work on an enhanced CEWARN Reporter tool for data collection and analysis. The CEWARN reporter, which is a software tool that allows CEWARN to receive, categorize and do preliminary analysis of vast amounts of early warning data from member states, has been in use for over a decade.

CEWARN is currently engaged in extensive reviews on the CEWARN Reporter to expand its utility in line with CEWARN’s expanded operational mandate of covering a wide range of conflict typologies and geographic areas.

The latest model of the CEWARN reporter will enable the mechanism to streamline diverse information sources including: community-level data collection through a limited SMS-based crowd sourcing; incident reports and weekly situation reports from partners at local and national levels; media reports and structural data among others. The newer model is also designed to be user-friendly and has state-of-the-art data visualization functions.