Disaster Relief Communications
When disasters strike, people need food, shelter, blankets and medicine—but without an effective communications network, supplies are left undelivered, and relief workers are unable to do their jobs.
The United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Partnership helps emergency relief workers respond more quickly and effectively and reconnects families separated by disaster. The partnership supports the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN’s lead agency tasked with security communications in disaster response, and Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF), a humanitarian NGO that deploys lifesaving mobile and satellite technology for UN relief missions. Both groups can deploy to anywhere in the world within 48 hours.
With UN Foundation and Vodafone Foundation funding, WFP and TSF teams provide vital telecommunication support to the UN and other humanitarian agencies during emergencies. View some examples of these recent deployments by exploring the interactive map below.
Click and drag your mouse over the map to view other regions.
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STORIES OF IMPACT
Mobile Activism: Make Text, Not War
Area of Involvement: Technology
When waves of political violence swept through Kenya after the December 2007 presidential election, human rights advocates in the country turned to cell phones to help stem the violence.
Rapid Hurricane Response: Haiti
Area of Involvement: Technology
This summer has been a tragic time for Haiti. The country, the poorest in the Western hemisphere, was already suffering from the global food crisis. In August and September 2008, three consecutive hurricanes – Gustav, Hanna and Ike – devastated the island nation.
RESOURCES
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mHealth for Development
Issue Area: Technology
The most recent publication in our series—mHealth for Development: Mobile Communications for Health—outlines the opportunity presented by the burgeoning field of mobile health (mHealth). The publication examines the rapid adoption of mobile technologies by developing countries to improve health data collection - ultimately precipitating improvements in general health and patient care in some of the most remote and resource-poor regions of the world.
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Mobile Phone Banking & Low-Income Customers
Issue Area: Technology
The UN Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Partnership collaborated with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and South Africa’s Finmark Trust to examine the role of mobile phones in delivering banking services to the poor. The study aims to improve the ability of governments, NGOs, and service providers to give poor people access to banking and other financial services needed to relieve poverty, raise standards of living and create economic development.
