About Flowminder

Flowminder is a non-profit foundation that specialises in the analysis of anonymised mobile phone data, satellite imagery, and household survey data for humanitarian and international development purposes.

Flowminder was the first organisation to respond to a large-scale infectious disease epidemic (the Haiti cholera outbreak in 2010) using mobile operator data.

Flowminder’s researchers were the first to show that mobile operator data can predict the spatial spread of an infectious disease.

Our mission is to enable decision makers to access the data they need to transform the lives of vulnerable people, at scale.

We are striving to create a world in which decisions that can improve the lives of vulnerable people are based on the most appropriate evidence.

We partner with decision makers and key stakeholders in national and international data systems to produce high-quality data, strengthen capacity, develop new methods and tools, and leverage novel data sources to improve the lives of vulnerable populations.

Flowminder provides information to governments, non-governmental organisations, inter-governmental organisations, and researchers. The foundation has developed sustainable partnerships with numerous mobile network operators in low- and middle-income countries.

Our multidisciplinary team of experts includes epidemiological researchers, data scientists, software developers, and humanitarian practitioners.

Flowminder's strategy to support the COVID-19 response

Flowminder seeks to improve access to mobility data for improved decision making. To enable scaling of the production of insights from mobile phone data, we seek to enable MNOs and others to produce relevant data and analyses.

We have a three-tiered strategy:

  • Providing publicly available instructions, code and materials to enable MNOs to produce aggregates, and subsequently, MNOs / governments / external parties to produce relevant insights from these aggregates.

  • Providing remote support to the MNOs, governments and external parties to facilitate their work.

  • Providing in-depth hands-on analytical, technical and logistical support to a limited number of countries where we are able to access data directly.