Originally created to track and broadcast information about LRA attacks and other activities, the Crisis Tracker aggregates information on violent activity throughout the Mbomou Uele border region in central Africa.

Invisible Children staff and partners on the ground in central Africa work together with local communities and crisis mapping experts at our headquarters to collect and verify reports of attacks sent via Invisible Children’s Early Warning Network. We triangulate this data with reports from other credible sources and first-hand research conducted by Invisible Children and peer organizations. Information is then rapidly disseminated to humanitarian and security actors, conservation experts, and local partner organizations via the Crisis Tracker email and WhatsApp alert system and uploaded to a secure, online crisis mapping portal.

In addition to the near-real-time online platform, incident reports are aggregated into “daily” emails sent to a secure list of stakeholders. In collaboration with local experts, our crisis mapping analysis team distributes monthly, quarterly, and annual security briefs to key stakeholders in the region and policy makers. Equipped with reliable data, information, and expert analysis, they are able to make better decisions for preventing violence and providing communities with vital services. In addition, we are innovating new methods for feeding our analysis back to affected communities via the Early Warning Network and WhatsApp. 

In addition to tracking violent activity, the Crisis Tracker database and reporting system is also used to collect information on illicit wildlife trafficking, track missing persons who were abducted by armed groups and remain in captivity, and coordinate the reunification of former armed group captives with their families.