Tech for Change
Hosted by the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, the "Tech for Change" blog shares insight and experiences from the frontlines of innovative mobile technology use in support of United Nations and other humanitarian work worldwide.
Thursday 26 June 2008, 8:45 PM
WFP's 'boot camp' for ICT emergency managers (part 1)
Arriving in Pisa, Italy for the World Food Programme's training programme for IT Emergency Managers it hit me - this was not the field! Instead, the premises at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna were a pleasant garden, full of leaves and pine trees, with a stone walkway.
But I quickly realized that the training would not be a seminar where I could sit back and relax - it would be hard studying, 12 hour days, and even emergency scenarios that would have to be navigated to pass the training.
I’m a member of the World Food Programme's Fast Information Technology and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team, and in May I traveled to Pisa for an intensive two-week training session. This training, on ICT best practices in disaster response, was organized by the World Food Programme with support from the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership. It was designed to improve practices throughout the humanitarian community.
Anyway, after several days of classroom exercises and some practical exercises, an emergency scenario was built up for us - the country of 'Midtonia' had just been struck by an earthquake that had killed many people, and a militia had taken advantage of the opportunity to level an attack, creating hundreds of thousands of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). It was time to put the skills we'd honed to practice!
The trainers played the role of Midtonia government officials and other agencies responding to the crisis. It was our task to extract as much information as possible in order to quickly provide an assessment and a budget for our ICT Emergency initiative to help the people of Midtonia. The trainers made sure our job wasn't easy. Some of the 'Midtonia' officials, for example, turned out to be semi-corrupt.
The 'real life' exercises didn't end there. The weekend came, and a 4x4 off road driving session ensued in the lush mountains of Tuscany. I have been driving offroad for years, but I enjoyed networking with my fellow classmates, many of whom come from other UN agencies or NGOs, and are likely to bump into each other in the field at a later stage.
[Continued in Part 2 of 2]
--Torbjorn Soderberg, WFP Fast Information Technology and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST)
But I quickly realized that the training would not be a seminar where I could sit back and relax - it would be hard studying, 12 hour days, and even emergency scenarios that would have to be navigated to pass the training.
I’m a member of the World Food Programme's Fast Information Technology and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team, and in May I traveled to Pisa for an intensive two-week training session. This training, on ICT best practices in disaster response, was organized by the World Food Programme with support from the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership. It was designed to improve practices throughout the humanitarian community.
Anyway, after several days of classroom exercises and some practical exercises, an emergency scenario was built up for us - the country of 'Midtonia' had just been struck by an earthquake that had killed many people, and a militia had taken advantage of the opportunity to level an attack, creating hundreds of thousands of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). It was time to put the skills we'd honed to practice!
The trainers played the role of Midtonia government officials and other agencies responding to the crisis. It was our task to extract as much information as possible in order to quickly provide an assessment and a budget for our ICT Emergency initiative to help the people of Midtonia. The trainers made sure our job wasn't easy. Some of the 'Midtonia' officials, for example, turned out to be semi-corrupt.
The 'real life' exercises didn't end there. The weekend came, and a 4x4 off road driving session ensued in the lush mountains of Tuscany. I have been driving offroad for years, but I enjoyed networking with my fellow classmates, many of whom come from other UN agencies or NGOs, and are likely to bump into each other in the field at a later stage.
[Continued in Part 2 of 2]
--Torbjorn Soderberg, WFP Fast Information Technology and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST)
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