A Haiti Success Story

Much has been written about Haiti over the years. Poverty, corruption and suffering can be found in just about every story.This is a different kind of story. This is a Haiti success story. And a call to action that can save lives, reduce suffering and save money for years to come.

On January 12, 2010, the first of many earthquakes rocked the region around Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were left homeless. The death toll is said to have reached at least 230,000 and more than one million Haitians (11 percent of the country’s entire population) were eventually forced to evacuate.

In the days following the emergency, the international community responded like never before, providing essential rescue and relief services. On January 16, 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Haiti and proclaimed that water, shelter, food, medical care and communication services were needed.

Communication? Why communication? Clinton echoed what every humanitarian worker knows. Communication is the lifeblood of every emergency response effort. Communication makes it possible for rescue and relief personnel to make assessments, detail requirements, and coordinate a response. Beyond that, communication dramatically increases the possibility that this work can be done in a secure way for the humanitarian workers and the beneficiaries they are serving.

NetHope, Inveneo and the Technology Sector Respond

Following the earthquake, three groups – NetHope, Inveneo and leading technology companies – came together in a remarkable way to restore communications capabilities for the humanitarian sector.

NetHope is a new-generation information technology collaboration of 31 leading international nongovernmental organizations representing over $33 billion of humanitarian development, emergency response, and conservation programs serving millions of beneficiaries in more than 180 countries. Since 2001 NetHope has helped its member organizations use their technology investments to better serve people in the most remote areas of the world by enabling member collaboration and by facilitating public-private partnerships with major technology companies, foundations, and individuals.

Thanks to a grant from Microsoft in 2006, NetHope was able to establish the NetHope Emergency Response Working Group (ERWG). NetHope’s ERWG activated within four hours of the earthquake and began identifying ways that the agencies could pool resources to support rescue and relief efforts. Within 24 hours, the ERWG identified the critical issue around the collapse of Internet connectivity. NetHope reached out to Inveneo, a San Francisco based technology nonprofit that specializes in long-distance wireless solutions for the developing world. Together, NetHope and Inveneo mapped out an architecture and deployment plan that could support the restoration of communications capabilities for humanitarian workers in Haiti. NetHope rushed to identify possible fund-raising alternatives, knowing that as every hour passed, lives would be lost, security issues would become more acute, and hundreds of thousands of Haitians would feel the pain.

Almost immediately, NetHope began making calls to leading technology corporations. The early appeals were for cash donations. NetHope said, “Give us cash so that we can buy the needed equipment, put it on planes and get our engineers to Haiti.” Microsoft Corporation was the first to respond with a cash pledge (just 48 hours following the earthquake). Other technology companies joined the cause and within two weeks, nine technology companies had made cash pledges and wired the funds into NetHope’s account. By Jan. 17, engineers were on their way to Haiti. And within three days of arriving, almost all of the largest humanitarian organizations operating in Haiti – as well as several local NGOs, including a hospital – had reliable high-speed Internet access, enabling one-to-many communications through email and various collaboration solutions such as Sharepoint.

In the days and weeks that followed NetHope made a call for product donations and engineering support. The response was swift and generous. While many said, “We have products that could be very helpful,” none made their offers of support with strings attached. NetHope, Inveneo and the humanitarian agencies sorted through the chaos and were trusted to do what they do best. Many government, nongovernmental, corporate and individual donors helped support relief efforts in Haiti.

Here is a list of corporations and individuals that supported NetHope and Inveneo:

Today high speed Internet can be found in most large humanitarian offices in Port-au-Prince, enabling a free flow of information in support of relief and development work. And this life-saving communications network has achieved financial self sufficiency and is being operated by two Haitian ISPs and a Haitian technology-support organization.

"The broadband network that Inveneo and NetHope delivered to the IRC operations in Haiti during the first days of relief in Haiti was simply amazing!! We used the broadband to swiftly pass assessment information to our program and operations team in HQ, send images, videos and initial reports as well as participate in cluster conference calls. Our team is now saying, how could we have ever worked without access to broadband in a disaster before?”
Nenad Bojovic
Director, Field Office Technology, International Rescue Committee

A Call to Action

Unfortunately, sometimes it takes an emergency to spur action. But there is a bigger opportunity here – an opportunity to save thousands of lives, reduce pain and suffering for millions, and cost everyone a whole lot less money.

Emergency preparedness is the next frontier for public-private collaboration. Intuitively we all know that it makes sense to invest up front and prepare for emergencies. But quite sadly, the money mostly flows in times of crises. NetHope is determined to change that, and we are mounting an appeal that calls on the technology sector and other donors to support our focus on emergency preparedness programs.

Many technology trends suggest that breakthroughs are not only possible but highly likely with some amount of initial investment.

• Wireless technologies mean that communications capabilities can be quickly and cost-effectively restored anywhere in the world.
• Cloud computing innovations mean that software solutions can be housed outside any emergency area. If you have connectivity, you can get to software solutions that can be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
• Handheld computing devices (including mobile phones) make it possible for information to be gathered and retrieved at any place and any time.

The possibilities are endless, and the following list of next steps is not meant to be exhaustive. In fact, some of these innovations are already being put to use. The key is that solutions are out there, and investments are needed to tap their potential.

• Natural and man-made emergency prediction
• Shared assessment tools so that data gathered by qualified emergency responders can be shared rapidly
• Collaboration platforms so that relief work can be coordinated among governments, the United Nations and the NGO sector
• Mapping solutions that can be integrated with every aspect of emergency response
• Logistics tools so that the delivery of important commodities can be tracked from shipping point to final destination

Implied in all of this talk about emergency preparedness is that most of this work MUST begin outside the spotlight of an emergency. None of it can be done in the midst of chaos. Furthermore, it’s not just a “tools” (e.g. software and hardware) problem. Investments are needed in processes and training staff so that the tools can be used in the right way.

In the aftermath of every emergency we are often asked by our supporters, “How can we do more?” or “What can we do differently next time?” Unfortunately, the next disaster is not a question of if but a question of when and where. The clear answer from NetHope's perspective is to convince technology companies and other donors to come to the table with their products, their expertise and their funding before the next emergency hits so we can be better prepared and quicker to respond.

The Haiti crisis has demonstrated that public-private collaborations can work. But we can do much more. Please join us.