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September 2009, Issue no.3

IN FOCUS: Elections and technology to give voice to Afghanistan

A crossroads between the East and the West, Afghanistan is now living one of its most critical historic chapters in an attempt to achieve democracy. In this arduous period and since 2002, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts from the humanitarian community have been providing the needed technology to make communications possible in one of the largest UN operations in the world with over 7,000 staff members from UN agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the country.  In a moment when elections and technology meet, getting their voices heard is surely a passport of hope for many Afghans.
 
The second presidential election in Afghanistan under the present constitution was held on the 20th of August 2009 and it certainly represents a significant step in the Afghan people's effort to take control of their future. More than 30 presidential candidates and more than 3,000 provincial council candidates ran for office, including a record number of women. Despite the challenges and personal risks, many Afghans did vote, although the turnout was lower than in the previous presidential elections of 2004 due to the continuing violence and fear.

 

Afghanistan continues to suffer from more than 30 years of war and internal conflict, and consequently the majority of the country’s infrastructure has been destroyed, damaged or has limited capacity. Electric power services are also limited, even in main cities such as Kabul and Kandahar, whilst smaller cities have no access to electric power facilities. Despite recent progress, millions of Afghans still live in severe poverty, they cannot meet their minimum food requirements, the education level is low and the landscape is suffering from environmental damage.

WFP Afghanistan has very strong technical capacity with experts supporting a wide range of Information Technology and Telecommunications activities.

>>>more inside InfobITs

Dear readers,

Meet William Brindley,Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of NetHope.

Founded in 2001, the  umbrella group of 27 of the world’s leading NGOs shares information technology and knowledge in humanitarian, relief and conservation work - and collaborates increasingly with the private sector - to better leverage their resources to help the planet’s neediest people.

A former top Citibank executive, Brindley joined NetHope three years ago. He shared his views with Wavelength about how NetHope can work more closely with WFP and other UN agencies…and about IT’s future role in making the world a better place.

>>>follow this link for the full interview


The Wavelength Team

ictemergency@wfp.org

 Behind the scenes: WFP Afghanistan national team

Mirwais Shinwary, the head of ICT based in WFP Country Office Kabul, is currently chairing the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster in Afghanistan. Mirwais, an Afghan national, has over 16 years of experience in the field of Information Communication Technology. Before joining the UN World Food Programme in 2002, he worked for UNDP/UNOPS in Pakistan when he was living in Peshawar and Islamabad as a refugee, a fate he shared with over a million Afghans, from 1993 to 2002.
Since joining WFP, he has been working in the field of ICT starting with the 2002 emergency operation in Afghanistan. He has also supported other emergency operations, most recently the Myanmar response in 2008.

 

Kalim Sadat, ICT officer based in Kabul, completed 8 years with WFP Afghanistan on 20th of August this year. Until recently he was based in the field office of Mazar-I-Sharif, in the north of the country, where he was first deployed in the beginning of  2002, right after the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan.  Before arriving in Mazar that winter Kalim had lived, studied and worked in several places in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

>>> read about Kalim’s journey from his birth village in Wardak to the assignment with WFP here

Voices from the field...
 

•  Oscar Caleman takes the ICT EPR Training to Afghanistan

•  More from Oscar’s mission to Kabul: see the pictures!

Daily challenges of an EPR graduate

“Living conditions are good but our life is mainly the office, working almost 7 days a week and not much alternatives....however, I believe that the Afghanistan operation is a great example of Interagency cooperation and interaction among the different UN partners....'' says Muhanned A. Al Huniti, a Jordanian National working with UNHCR in the country’s capital Kabul.

Muhanned has been working in Afghanistan since February 2009 as Officer in Charge of Telecommunications for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).  Previously, he had been with UNHCR office in Jordan for 6 years, also working with the Iraq operation's office based in Amman, and before that he was working as  Web Designer in the private sector in Jordan.

>>> read the full interview

Field stories

Ekue is giving us some tips for a good weekend in Ethiopia... 

 

•  A weekend in Kebridehar 

 

•  Anyone for basketball?

 

 

 Photo Galleries

•  Ethiopia I T Assessment August 2009

•  Jalal searching for n ew repeater sites in Kabul...

 Videos

Mirwais is visiting Kabul TV hill with the ICT team...

•  Kab ul TV hill visit

 

•  ...get ting ready for food distribution in Pakistan

"Wire the global village"

NetHope is a non-profit entity, comprised of leading international NGOs, dedicated to finding and implementing the best use of technological resources available in order to improve NGO operations and efficiency.

NetHope initially started out as an informal collaboration, eventually evolving into today’s organization, which operates as a non-profit corporation governed by its member NGOs. The commonality across the group is the fact that all members have established mature IT departments that use modern technology strategically to support and supplement their existing programs. NetHope serves these IT departments by giving members the ability to collectively solve common problems and maximize their investments in technology spending to achieve higher levels of efficiency and quality which ultimately translate into better service for their beneficiaries.

NetHope enables member NGOs to deliver information and accelerate response to the most disadvantaged communities in remote developing areas by:

- SHARING information technology knowledge for rapid and
  effective deployment and efficient operations
- COLLABORATING with non-profit and industry leaders  to develop best practices for public benefit technology deployment in the NGO world, and
- FACILITATING innovative and cost-effective use of information and communication technology

In its effort to “wire the global village” NetHope aims to be a catalyst for collaboration in the International NGO community and enable best use of technology for connectivity in the developing parts of the world. 
 

CERF funds telecoms project in COLOMBIA

The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a humanitarian fund established by the United Nations to enable more timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to those affected by natural disasters and armed conflicts, has contributed US$392,000 to the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC) project in Colombia.

With the largest humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere, Colombia ranks second after Sudan for having the highest number of internally displaced persons, with cumulative figures reaching 2.5 to 3.8 million people.

The security situation in the country is of concern, with daily reports of bombings, combats, attacks on infrastructure by illegal armed groups, mine accidents, illegal armed strikes and road blockages and other violent events. Since the beginning of 2009, increasing acts of violence against civilians have been reported throughout the country.

More about the ETC Roll-Out project here

Project updates

  • Crisis Management Training- aims at building a cradle of sustainable expertise in crisis management, trained to respond to extreme and challenging situations first reponders face when a catastrophic event has taken place. Current status: course curriculum defined;request for proposal drafted for tendering of training services....more>>

 

  • ICT Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Training - aims at training 20 additional ICT professionals from UN, NGOs and Stand-by Partners, in an established course curriculum (focusing on Humanitarian Context, Management and Personal Profile) for a two-week period in Pisa (Italy).  Current status: training material and the agenda for this session being updated.  All participants have confirmed their attendance..... more>>


Project updates: project status reports, general project information and documentation are posted in the Forum.  ;
 

For further information, questions, feedback please contact ictemergency@wfp.org

Wavelength is received by 500+ IT humanitarian professionals, including the Sub- working Group on Emergency Telecommunications(WGET),private sector partners, cluster members, stand-by partners, NGOs and all participants of the IT Management training in Pisa

Contact details for ICT emergency teams are available here