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Open Briefing X Riskline: Travel and country risk portal for grantmakers and nonprofits

1 July 2022

Open Briefing has partnered with Riskline to provide grantmakers and NGOs a comprehensive travel and country risk portal at exclusive nonprofit rates.

Features

Destination reports 🌎

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and the expertise of experienced analysts, the heart of the portal is regularly-updated reports for more than 225 countries and territories around the world. These detailed threat assessments include an overview of the security and travel safety situation in a country, and detailed analysis of the political, terrorism, conflict, unrest, crime, natural, health, and local transport risks. The reports also include specific safety advice for female and LGBT+ travellers and those dependent on technology and communications during travel.

Country-level reports are enhanced by city safety reports for more than 250 global cities. These reports include city-specific threats and other local knowledge. Both the country- and city-level reports include easy-to-understand risk levels – from 1 Low to 5 Extreme. Reports are regularly updated based on major developments and the overall risk reassessed shortly afterwards. All reports are also reviewed and reissued annually.

Other key features of the risk portal include:

Risk maps 🗺

Country maps help users visualise high-risk areas and recent security and travel alerts, while the city maps illustrate local information and advice down to the street level.

Risk alerts ⚠️

Risk alerts provide concise reports of immediate threats in locations of interest. Each alert contains essential intelligence, practical advice, and precise geographic data about risks to safety or impacts on travel plans. Users can also choose to receive email or in-portal notifications for updates for specific countries or regions of interest.

Risk advisories 📄

Risk advisories are frequently updated and provide detailed assessments of complex local developments, ongoing security situations, and upcoming events, including political and security crises, persisting travel disruptions, and major upcoming events, such as elections.

COVID-19 risk ☣️

Detailed information on local restrictions and entry and exit requirements for 225 countries and territories plus infection risk levels for the country and any cities covered by city safety reports.

Daily Brief 🗞

Full and enterprise plans also include the Daily Brief email, which contains the most-important security and travel updates of the last 24 hours and information on critical events planned for that day.

Plans

Grantmakers and nonprofits with an annual turnover of less than £10 million receive an additional 25% discount on the usual plan fees. Plans start at less than £6 per user a month.* All plans are for 12 months and plus VAT for UK clients.

Please contact us for a demo and information on pricing as well as details of how we can help integrate the portal into your risk assessments and travel procedures. More information is also available in our mini site at https://riskline.openbriefing.org/.

* For the Enterprise plan at the community rate. Payable annually.

A simple approach to protecting your information: Part 1

17 June 2022

In the first part of our new series on information security, we set out a simple approach to help you archive, back up or destroy a lot of the information that may be causing you concerns. You can then focus your energy (and limited resources) on rolling out appropriate security measures for the most valuable and sensitive information that you work with.

A guide to insurance for NGOs operating in violent environments

18 May 2022

Insurance is an important form of risk management for NGOs that might not be able to bear a significant unplanned financial loss resulting from a security or medical incident in the field. Yet, engaging with brokers and insurers to purchase the right insurance policies can be a confusing and sometimes frustrating process. To help, we have republished our guide from 2018 and included Arabic, German, Spanish, and Portuguese translations kindly provided by the volunteers at Charity Translators.

We’re hiring! Senior safety and security consultants [Closed]

27 April 2022

Due to a significant increase in demand for our unique support, Open Briefing is looking to recruit one or more senior consultants to our safety and security team. Your work with Open Briefing will include conducting security audits and designing security risk management frameworks for our NGO and foundation clients, and peer reviewing risk assessments and other products produced by colleagues in the safety and security team.

Open Briefing appoints new director of safety and security

14 April 2022

We have appointed Peter Wood as our new director of safety and security. Pete was until recently the head of global security for Oxfam and previously served as an officer in the British Army.

A new quick reference card for foundations supporting grantees in attacks and other emergencies

15 March 2022

Progressive grantmakers are increasingly keen to foster the safety and resilience of their grantees in the face of increased attacks, harassment, and censorship. As has been shown in Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, grantmakers' resources, connections, and influence, mean that they are also frequently called upon to respond to serious attacks and other emergencies affecting their grantees. To support grantmakers in these roles, we have distilled our experiences supporting the safety and resilience of foundations and their grantees around the world into a quick reference card.

We’re hiring! Could you be our new director of safety and security? [Closed]

9 March 2022

We are recruiting a director and safety and security. You will be leading an international team of consultants providing security mentoring and capacity building to organisations and activists under threat in violent environments and closed civic spaces. You will be liaising with international foundations and high-profile nonprofits in the human rights, environmental, and humanitarian worlds. And you will be central to the organisational culture and strategic planning needed to grow our organisation in a sustainable manner.

The Defender’s Protocol is now available in Ukrainian

4 March 2022

There is an urgent need for concise and effective security resources to support activists and journalists in Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. In response, Open Briefing has published its Holistic Security Protocol for Human Rights Defenders in Ukrainian. Now available in 23 languages, the Defender’s Protocol helps civic actors at risk advance their physical safety, digital security, and wellbeing and resilience.