The
Vodafone Group Foundation and United Nations Foundation
Announce Rapid Response Communications Program
An Initiative to Bring Technology to the Front
Lines of
United Nations Emergency Response
New York, (October 4, 2006)—The
United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation) and
The Vodafone Group Foundation (VGF), announced
today a five-year plan that offers the latest
telecommunications technology to support United
Nations (UN) emergency response missions worldwide
through funding to Télécoms Sans
Frontières (TSF), a humanitarian NGO equipped
to deploy rapid response telecom teams within
48 hours of a disaster anywhere in the world.
The UN Foundation and VGF will provide approximately
$2 million to TSF over five years making the teams
available in coordination with two UN agencies,
the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA).
"There is an urgent
need for food, water, shelter, protection and
medical help in emergencies," said Ann M.
Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. "None
of these things are possible without quick and
reliable communications. Rapid communications
saves lives."
“As demonstrated recently
in Suriname and Indonesia, this program will provide
reliable telecom services so responders can more
effectively do their jobs and save lives in the
first days of an emergency,” said Jan Egeland,
Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
“This is the kind of successful public-private
partnership we need as we confront increasingly
challenging emergencies around the world.”
Through the Rapid Response
Communications Centre, up to four TSF teams will
deploy with the UN to natural disasters and humanitarian
crises anywhere in the world. These teams of telecom
experts will be among the first to drop into emergency
areas and will rapidly establish and maintain
emergency telecommunication centers that provide
UN, NGO and government responders with reliable
voice, Internet, fax, and video connections using
satellite, WiFi, and GSM equipment. Relief workers
rely on these centers for response and relief
assessment, logistics, and coordination.
“Vodafone is committed
to changing lives in communities across the world,”
said Andrew Dunnett, Director of the Vodafone
Group Foundation. “The partnership with
UNF and TSF enables us to share our charitable
funds, our expertise and our technology. We look
forward to its transforming effect and the tangible
benefits it will bring to some of the most needy
and desperate situations on earth”.
“This collaboration
is a perfect example of how the United Nations
Foundation can foster public-private partnerships
that pair valuable resources, knowledge, and experience
of organizations with the lifesaving work of the
UN,” said UN Foundation President Timothy
E. Wirth. “This initiative offers the UN
the ability to respond quickly to humanitarian
needs in a smart, cost-effective way.”
“We are pleased to
be a part of this partnership to continue our
work with the UN,” said Jean-François
Cazenave,” Co-founder and President of TSF.
“Today, new technologies, the miniaturization
of components and the increasing development of
satellite networks enable highly mobile teams
to respond to emergency communication needs in
all circumstances, anywhere in the world.”
VGF-UNF funded teams have
already deployed four times to assist the UN in
2006. First, the UN deployed TSF in May to support
a response mission after torrential flooding in
Suriname. Second, the UN deployed TSF teams to
Indonesia in June in response to a massive 6.2
earthquake. Third, the UN deployed TSF in August
to support the UN humanitarian mission under the
UN’s Emergency Telecom Cluster in Lebanon.
Finally, the UN deployed TSF again in August to
reestablish telecom services to support the UN
humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic
of Congo following the disarmament that allowed
humanitarian assistance to resume and the displaced
population to return to their homes.
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The UN Foundation was created
in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted
Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support
UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds
and implements public-private partnerships to
address the world’s most pressing problems,
and also works to broaden support for the UN through
advocacy and public outreach. The UN Foundation
is a public charity. www.unfoundation.org
The Vodafone Group Foundation
was created by Vodafone in 2001 to support charitable
and community work by all Vodafone companies and
their Foundations, as well as funding selected
charitable global initiatives directly. It is
a charitable Foundation with its own board of
trustees. To date, the Foundations have invested
a total of over GBP 60 million in social investments
globally.
