When the UN and international NGOs put together their respective skills and mean serious synergy,   the results can be rather surprising. Born in 2010 from the extended joint work of UNOSAT experts and practitioners from Geneva-based NGO IMPACT Initiatives and French leading humanitarian NGO ACTED, REACH is a good example of a smart partnership aimed at applying new technology to a centrally strategic humanitarian domain: that of rapid assessment in crisis and disaster areas. REACH’s specific objective is to help fill information gaps before, during and in the aftermath of a crisis using the power of GIS and mobile technology.