In any given year, many regions of the world need help with famine, floods and other catastrophes. Most of these are largely forgotten, however, when high-profile disasters like tsunamis and hurricanes grab world attention.
The D.C.-based U.N. Foundation, established by a $1 billion donation in September 1997 by CNN founder Ted Turner, is forging a series of innovative partnerships to bring technology to bear on the needs of these hard hit areas.
“Our main areas are children’s health, women’s and reproductive rights, biotech and energy issues,” said Paul Margie, director of technology partnerships for the U.N. Foundation. According to Margie, the foundation has worked to provide computer-based tracking of critical medical supplies such as malaria drugs in areas where paper records prevail. The database software and computers have actually made it easier to see when and where drugs supplies are low.
The foundation has also linked the U.N. World Food Program with the Vodafone Group Foundation to speed emergency response.
The U.N. Foundation partnered with Vodafone to donate $832,000 in seed money to train computer and information technology specialists, develop new wireless communications technology and send U.N. emergency communications teams around the globe.
“Immediately after a disaster, coordination is the most critical need,” Margie said. The Vodafone Group Foundation equipment can be air-dropped into hard hit regions — where local communications may be down for weeks — enabling teams to set up communications almost immediately.
The foundation also helped raise $300 million from the private sector for the Central Emergency Response Fund, a new U.N.-initiative to ensure a more predictable and timely response to humanitarian crisis.The foundation made it possible for companies to donate to the program and still get the tax benefits of making a contribution to a nonprofit.
“This opened a whole new way to access the private sector and reach out to private donors,” said Cristal Loupforest, external and donor relations officer for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Some $250 million funds will be used for staff and equipment to deploy to hard to reach areas where they set up communications networks, using the kinds of technologies and equipment made available by the Vodafone/UN Foundation partnership.
“They can put up a tent with laptops and software almost anywhere they are needed,” Margie said.
Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at [email protected].
