WFP Trains Experts For Global Disaster Response

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) graduated the
first class of emergency telecommunications team leaders today after an
intensive two-week training course - the inaugural session of a new
programme for information and communications technology (ICT) managers who
are now set for deployment to difficult and dangerous disaster zones.


"The ability to communicate within hours of a crisis - whether it's an
earthquake, a tsunami or a war - is key to the coordination of relief
efforts. In line with the huge demand for extensive telecoms technology,
ICT workers are often among the first to arrive in a disaster zone," said
Ernesto Baca, Director of WFP's Information & Communications Technologies
Division. "Through this programme, we have developed a specialised
training that specifically addresses the unique needs of ICT 'first
responders'," he said.


WFP has the largest ICT emergency response capacity among United Nations
humanitarian agencies, and is the UN's lead agency for communications in
support of humanitarian workers' safety and security.


WFP's ICT Emergency Preparedness and Response programme - funded by a
partnership between the Vodafone Group Foundation and the United Nations
Foundation - is producing three core outcomes: an emergency communications
deployment guide, a software application and a cadre of ICT leaders trained
to operate in grave security conditions. It aims to double the number of
ICT managers trained and on standby for deployment to the next disaster..
These include staff from UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and
government stand-by partners.


"Effective communication is critical in enabling humanitarian assistance
when disaster strikes. Our aim is to provide training and technology to
ensure aid workers can deliver effective humanitarian relief as quickly and
efficiently as possible irrespective of the environment they have to work
in," said Andrew Dunnett, Director of The Vodafone Group Foundation.


"We learned from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that a dollar spent in
preparation for disaster goes much further than a dollar donated after the
disaster," said Paul Margie, Senior Director of Technology Partnerships at
the UN Foundation. "The goal of this unique public-private partnership is
to strengthen emergency response missions by creating greater technology
coordination, faster response times and more lives saved," he said.


Twenty-one ICT experts participated in the programme, bringing combined
emergency response experience that includes dozens of recent crises such as
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 South Asian earthquake, the 2006
war in Lebanon, and the ongoing crisis in Sudan. The two-week course was
held from 19-30 March at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, among the most
prestigious universities in Italy, which specializes in humanitarian
training programmes.


WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to
an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest
countries. WFP -- We Feed People.


WFP Global School Feeding Campaign - For just 19 US cents a day, you can
help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school - a gift
of hope for a brighter future.

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About the United Nations Foundation


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.
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About the Vodafone Group Foundation


The Vodafone Group Foundation (VGF) was created by Vodafone Group Plc to
support charitable and community work by all Vodafone companies and their
21 Foundations around the world, and to fund selected charitable global
initiatives directly.


Vodafone Group Foundation (VGF) aims to make social investments that help
people across the world to have fuller lives by: Sharing the benefits of
developments in mobile communications technology as widely as possible;
Supporting local communities in which Vodafone's customers, employees,
investors and suppliers live; Protecting the environment.


The Vodafone Group Foundation is extremely proud to have helped more than
1000 charitable partners in less than three years, with donations of over
??37.8 million funding.

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