04 July 2003

Bonn, Germany: In 2000, a team of Indian UN Volunteers working under the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) used their ICT skills to help the people of Orissa, India, recover from a devastating cyclone that hit the state. Coordinated by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, volunteers with UNITeS work directly with people and institutions in developing countries to further human development through the application of ICT. In Orissa, they set up local information portals where they collected and disseminated information on the relief and rehabilitation efforts. They trained municipal civil servants, students at local schools and women within the communities on basic computer skills and using the Internet as a research tool. The UNV team in Orissa also turned to Internet technology to track weather patterns. With this information, they were able to issue weather alerts if unusual systems developed. Today, trained volunteers continue this service.

Through an additional UNITeS initiative involving university volunteers from developed countries, students from Spain and the United States provided their ICT skills to help the people of Orissa.

For six months, Spanish university student Francisco J. Gómez Durán worked with the Ministry of the Interior to create the web-based information portal on natural disaster prevention. With UNV doctors, he developed geographic maps and a statistics database to assist them in disease control.

Using his expertise in ICT, Spanish university volunteer, José Luis Noriega, helped create a web site on the promotion of local voluntary service and a portal on the management of human resources in natural disasters.

Eva García Prieto, also a Spanish university volunteer, trained local people in financial software. On a personal level, she says the cultural exchange provided to her through UNITeS is one she will never forget. "The detail that remains in my memory is the day I accompanied José and Shubendu [university volunteer] to train a group of women in accounting software," she says. "When we were finished, the women wanted to talk with me. What caught my attention was that they identified with me as a woman and were curious about my life in western culture. "

Throughout 2001 and 2002, the university volunteers were instrumental in helping develop a preparedness plan. People from the communities were invited to take part in the exercise and also acquired new ICT skills in the process. In 2001, thanks to new disaster preparedness systems, lives were saved during the earthquake that hit India’s Gujarat State.

In May 2003, the people of Sri Lanka experienced the worst flooding to hit the country in 50 years. Claiming hundreds of lives and destroying scores of homes, the trail of disaster was enormous. To help the Sri Lankan Government put life back in order, the same Indian UN Volunteers with UNITeS who served in Orissa were called into action. Working out of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country office, they assisted government agencies in disseminating information, conducting damage assessments and acting as focal points at the district level for local and international donor assistance. They also improved communications through IT. Information gathered in the field by the UN Volunteers was electronically sent to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team and UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) team to aid in the initial relief assessments.

Building on the experience of the UN Volunteers with UNITeS in India, national UN Volunteers are helping more Indian villages prepare for disasters. Under a new disaster risk management programme launched in June 2003, UN Volunteers with UNITeS will create contingency plans and train more than three million people to form local emergency task forces. Some 125 districts across 12 states are expected to participate.

Behind this plan, the efforts in Orissa in 2000 and those in Sri Lanka are volunteers who share their skills to improve the lives of others. UN Volunteers and local counterparts are the people driving today’s advanced technology. It is their efforts that make the difference when disaster strikes.

* Alexandra Haglund-Petitbo is a programme specialist with UNITeS.