Capturing land rights before disaster strikes…with just a conversation.
In this episode, Dana Yaari speaks with Ibere Lopes from IOM and Raphael Schoenball from UNDP about their pilot project, LandLedger. Set in a small fishing village in the Philippines, this project used storytelling, AI, and human-centered design to document informal land rights before the next typhoon could force evacuations.
Ibere and Raphael walk through how they earned community trust, built tech around real human stories, and created actionable data that local disaster teams can now use. You’ll hear how their work is setting a new standard for humanitarian data collection—and what it means for vulnerable populations worldwide.
You’ll learn:
Things to listen for:
(00:00) Welcome to Digital Humanitarian, Ibere Lopes & Raphael Schoenball
(01:37) Launching LandLedger in the Philippines
(03:50) Why stories matter more than forms
(05:02) Building trust before data collection
(06:15) Designing tech with the community
(08:06) How LandLedger actually works
(11:41) Field data vs. official records
(13:14) Helping disaster teams go granular
(15:35) Testing an AI voice enumerator
(18:25) Adapting the LandLedger methodology for other use cases
(21:11) Scaling LandLedger to conflict areas
Resources: