Haiti's telecommunications and IT infrastructure was housed primarily in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and it was completely destroyed, leaving the country with spotty mobile phone connections, no internet connections and little power in the first days after the earthquake.

"Restoring communications, electricity and transportation are the top priorities" – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton – Port-au-Prince January 16, 2010

In cooperation with NetHope's technology partner Inveneo, NetHope raced against time to rebuild Haiti's IT and telecommunications infrastructure for the NGO community. In less than two weeks after arriving in Haiti, NetHope and Inveneo engineers established high-speed internet access through a VSAT/wireless network for 17 NGO agencies in 25 locations.

Bringing connectivity back to Haiti was critical in the aftermath of this tragic emergency. Without internet and telephone access, it is nearly impossible for our member NGO agencies – the world's leading international humanitarian aid organizations - to communicate and coordinate on the delivery of aid, food, water, shelter, medical supplies, and other much needed services. Thanks to generous cash and equipment donations, the NetHope team has been able to give front-line aid relief workers the internet and telephony communications capabilities they need to help the people of Haiti.

Rooftop to Rooftop - Connecting Member Organizations

Within 72 hours of receiving accurate local office information and completing an area assessment to confirm connection criteria can be met, NetHope's engineers have been able to get organizations onto the high-speed internet network. NetHope restored internet connectivity through a long distance Wifi network to enable email, collaboration and IP telephony for 3500+ expatriate and Haitian aid workers. Providing high-speed internet connectivity allows for life saving communications capabilities in an emergency situation.

"Communications is the life line for every emergency response effort. Communications is at the heart of all rescue, relief and redevelopment work" – Frank Schott, NetHope Emergency Response Director

Deploying a Wifi Network In Haiti

Members and local NGOs On NetHope's Network: CARE, Canadian Red Cross, CHF International, Concern Worldwide, Catholic Relief Services, Foundation Aristide, Haitian Ministry of Education, International Rescue Committee, Internews, James, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Plan, Profamil, Relief International, Save the Children and SOS Children's Village.

Partnering with Local Institutions To Build Sustainable IT Solutions

NetHope is partnering with two local Internet Service Providers (ISPs), MultiLink and Access Haiti, and a local Haitian support organization, Haiti Technology Group, to enable high-speed internet connections.

"Building a sustainable business run by Haitians for the Haitian NGO community is one of our primary medium term goals. We anticipate that the service will be fully transitioned to local interests by July 2010" - William Brindley, NetHope CEO.

ICT Equipment and Donations

NetHope delivered 2,5 tons of donated equipment: rugged laptops, IP phones, solar chargers, networking and other technology. In total, NetHope distributed $1.6M worth of equipment. Many of NetHope's members work in remote, underdeveloped parts of Haiti. They use rugged laptops and IP phones to coordinate relief efforts, track aid distribution, and communicate with colleagues, the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies. This kind of portable, durable equipment helps mobile relief teams working in rural locations and makeshift sites.

With generous cash contributions, NetHope purchased 20 Broadband Global Area Networks (BGANs). These small, portable terminals are being used in remote locations, currently beyond the range of the Wifi network, to enable internet connectivity. NetHope also purchased back-up power generators and batteries to help members working out of locations that experience occasional power supply outages.

Member Organizations and Partners: Add logos of all members and partners, ie. Inveneo, Access Haiti, MultiLink

Haiti was one of the world's poorest and least developed nations before the earthquake. The country's needs now are exponentially greater. One million Haitians currently live in camps and temporary tent villages outside of Port-au-Prince. Rainy season starts in June, and Haiti's President estimates that it will take three years to rebuild the country. Many think it will take much longer. The most difficult work – to completely rebuild a country that lacks resources and a basic infrastructure – lies ahead.

The relief and recovery effort for Haiti has been unlike any other emergency relief situation that NetHope and our members faced. Before the earthquake hit, the country's infrastructure was rudimentary at best, and the terrain underdeveloped and mountainous. There was 70% unemployment, and most people lived on less than $2 US dollars a day. Yet it was the enormous scale of destruction and high death toll that really made this disaster worse than any other. The capital city was completely destroyed, including the entire infrastructure to respond in an emergency. Hospitals, roads, power and communications were gone in an instant. Estimates are that 250,000 people died and 300,000 are injured.

Population Decentralization

The Haitian government has initiated sweeping plans to decentralize the country's population out of Port-au-Prince to rural, outlying areas. Clean up efforts in the capital city will take years. Earthquake victims have left their homes and are now dependent on international aid organizations to provide basic services and deliver necessities such as food, water and shelter to these new camps and settlements. NetHope's member agencies have expanded the reach of their services in order to support this newly decentralized population.

Redevelopment and Reconstruction

The near-term relief and longer-term redevelopment of Haiti will require appropriate use of “game changing” information and communication technologies. Technology and communications are key to the efficient delivery of health, education, economic development and agricultural services. In order to have a successful redevelopment of the country, Haiti requires the foundational IT-related elements such as robust and stable connectivity, IT equipment, and a skilled IT workforce in place in order to keep the trains running. NetHope is now focusing on two key areas: expanding connectivity and providing IT skills training.

Expanding Connectivity To Rural Areas

Based on the locations of the recently established earthquake victim camps and settlements, there are five secondary cities that will need connectivity to support the newly settled population. These secondary cities, mainly in lowly populated rural areas, lack an existing infrastructure to support the needs of this dislocated population. The international development community and governments from around the world are working with the Haitian Government to help build the physical infrastructure to successfully absorb one million earthquake victims outside of Port-au-Prince. The task at hand is to literally build the infrastructure and develop the attendant basic services such as power, roads, water, and sewer from the ground up. Another top priority area noted by the Haitian Government is the creation of a communications infrastructure in these cities. NetHope and Inveno are uniquely positioned to do this work. We bring a decade of experience in partnering with local NGOs and ISPs to set up this type of communications infrastructure in developing countries.

NetHope and our partners will take best practices from the successful Wifi network in and around Port-au-Prince to rollout a communications and IT network in these five secondary cities. The goal will be to establish communications in secondary cities at an estimated cost of $60,000 USD per secondary city hub. The goal is to build these networks from local bandwidth options offered by small, local ISPs. Local partnerships are key to sustainable, longer-term technology solutions.

NetHope Academy: An IT Skills Training and Learning Initiative

The NetHope Academy provides local IT skills training to build in-country technical expertise. The initiative was created in 2006 to help NGOs improve emergency response and enhance organizational effectiveness by strengthening crucial ICT skills.

NetHope's members have identified a shortage of Haitian IT talent and engineers as a significant problem. There were very few qualified IT professionals in Haiti before the earthquake, and this shallow resource pool was further depleted following the earthquake. To address this concern, NetHope is launching the NetHope Academy training initiative in partnership with Haitian organizations.

The NetHope Academy will provide interested individuals an opportunity to gain significant IT skills that will increase their economic opportunities and allow them to directly participate in the reconstruction of their communities. The program will give priority placement and scholarships to women, secondary city natives and severely disadvantaged individuals. NetHope members will provide six-month training internships so that students can gain on-the-job experience. Participating members will co-fund tuition for their respective interns.

The goal of this initiative is to provide vital IT skills training to deserving individuals, as well as directly address the need of the local community and NetHope's member agencies. We believe that such a training program will act as a catalyst for local Haitian enterprises to implement and prosper from creating IT skills training programs.