A GEOSPATIALLY DISTRIBUTED E-REFUGEE CAMP TECHNOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CARIBBEAN SMALL ISLAND STATES
Keisha Gaspard-Chickoree
Faculty of Engineering, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad
Email: keisha.chickoree@open.uwi.edu
Abstract:
As a result of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, the country has seen a mass exodus of persons into neighbouring Caribbean Small Island Developing States, SIDS, such as Trinidad and Tobago and Curaçao. These SIDS do not have the infrastructure or local policies to implement a traditional refugee camp within their shores. Findings have shown the many disadvantages to existing or traditional refugee camp settlements. However, as forced migrants continue to pour into these Caribbean states, a technological framework is necessary to capture, manage and connect forced migrants to food and shelter using Geographical Information System, GIS, enabled web technology. Thus, the Geospatially Distributed e-Refugee Camp, GDEC, framework aims to define a burden-sharing model between non-profitable organizations and the government utilizing a free and open source software approach to foster citizen participation and rapid development. The framework is developed using well-defined and tested software development methodologies – Lean Startup Methodology and Rapid Application Development. It analyzes existing technologies used by the UNHCR to represent migration and related GIS data on the web. GDEC is a digitized spatial representation, using a service oriented architecture, of forced migrants housed across the island, the volunteers, safe zones and other relevant stakeholders within the system. This camp, though electronic and distributed, adheres to the standards set by the UNHCR and Sphere for refugee camp settlements. The framework will allow SIDS to roll out a software solution rapidly to meet the urgency of the refugee problem.
Keywords: Caribbean small island developing states; Electronic refugee camp; Forced migrants; GeoForms registration; GIS web technology;
https://doi.org/10.47412/BFXS7614
