In September 2018, we relaunched the LRA Crisis Tracker as simply the “Crisis Tracker.” Along with the new name, this relaunch included several new features and functions.

These updates were made possible by the generous support of the American people, through a partnership between Invisible Children and USAID. See the highlights below.

The LRA Crisis Tracker becomes the Crisis Tracker

We created the LRA Crisis Tracker in 2011 to record the movement and violence committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in central Africa. It was and is the first and most comprehensive database of LRA activity.

But, today, the LRA is just one of many violent threats to communities in this region, and in the last few years, we have been using the tool to record and track information on violent incidents beyond those committed by the LRA. With that in mind, we have changed the name of the tool to the Crisis Tracker in order to more accurately reflect the scope of the tool’s reporting. The Crisis Tracker can now be found at crisistracker.org.

Enhanced conflict analysis made possible with USAID support

In late 2017, Invisible Children began a partnership with USAID to, among other things, improve conflict analysis in the border area between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan. Thanks to that partnership, we’ve been able to make technical improvements to the Crisis Tracker and expand the data collection networks that feed into the tool.

New functionalities for improved analysis and collaboration

Invisible Children and its partners are now able to safely and securely share more information with regional stakeholders through a new password-protected section of the Crisis Tracker. New areas of information:

+ Profiles of individual returnees from armed groups. These profiles allow for improved analysis of escape trends as well as improved coordination between organizations working to reunite returnees with their families.
+ Local Community profiles. To the extent that we have the information available, the profiles include not only GPS coordinates, but community characteristics such as the presence a regional market, the presence of transhumance pastoralists, whether it is a mining town, etc.

+ Expanded incident reports. With password protection, we are now able to share additional details on recorded violence, including information on the impact on vulnerable populations.
+ Improved information-sharing capabilities. As part of the update, each incident page now includes a link to email the Crisis Tracker team so that stakeholders can provide or request additional information.
+ Attacks by a wider range of armed groups. Due to the need to ensure the safety of our staff and partners, the public version of the Crisis Tracker does not display attacks by armed groups other than the LRA and unidentified armed groups. Users with access to the password-protected portion of the website will be able to see detailed information on attacks by a wider range of armed groups, including anti-balaka, ex-Seleka, South Sudanese armed groups, and others.

Improved usability and design still in progress

As many of the new features within the gated portion of the site are still in beta, we have invited a small number of key regional stakeholders to access these features. As we develop these new features and receive feedback from beta users, we will continue to make improvements to the design and usability of the site. These additional updates will be made over the coming months.

We are excited and grateful for the opportunity to enhance this innovative and groundbreaking tool in partnership with USAID. We look forward to continued collaboration with our partners and other stakeholders as we work to improve the safety of communities throughout central Africa.

For questions or comments on the Crisis Tracker and its new features, please reach out to us at [email protected]

The Crisis Tracker is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to Invisible Children.

The contents of this webpage are the sole responsibility of Invisible Children and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

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