A flood affected area(Crisis setting)/ Photo; Courtesy
Children and communities facing conflict, displacement and climate-related disasters are set to benefit from a new global humanitarian partnership between Save the Children and Vodafone Foundation aimed at strengthening emergency preparedness and response.
The partnership was announced on September 24th, during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, bringing together Save the Children’s humanitarian expertise and Vodafone Foundation’s technology and connectivity solutions.
A key part of the collaboration is Vodafone Foundation’s donation of six Instant Network Kits, portable communications systems that can rapidly restore connectivity when conventional networks are disrupted by disasters or conflict.
The kits will be pre-positioned at humanitarian hubs and deployed by Save the Children during emergencies. They will help response teams coordinate operations, assess needs and deliver assistance more quickly.
Vodafone Foundation will provide the technology, training and technical support, while Save the Children will oversee testing and deployment.
“Children must be at the heart of every humanitarian response and as recent crises in our world have shown us, we can no longer just react,” said Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children.
“Communities must be equipped with the tools to better anticipate, withstand and recover from emergencies and technology and better connectivity absolutely plays a vital role.”
The partnership comes as climate-related disasters, conflict and displacement continue to expose millions of children to humanitarian crises.
The Instant Network technology has previously been used by Save the Children in emergency responses, including in Mozambique.
Joakim Reiter, Vodafone Foundation Trustee and Chief External and Corporate Affairs Officer at Vodafone Group, said reliable connectivity can help responders act faster during crises.
“In a crisis, reliable connectivity can make a vital difference – helping responders coordinate more quickly, communities access the support they need and strengthening preparedness for the future,” he said.
The partners will also explore how Vodafone Foundation’s TerraGuard software and Vodacom’s M-Pesa payment system could help humanitarian teams anticipate risks and deliver assistance to families more efficiently.
Vodafone Foundation will further support Save the Children’s Children’s Emergency Fund and join its Humanitarian Network, extending the organisations’ longstanding collaboration into humanitarian preparedness and response.
