Mobile for development: how public-private partnerships between telecommunications and humanitarian agencies can save lives

In preparation for their upcoming AIDF Asia: Aid & Response Summit, the Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) has released a Mobile for Development infographic, visualising the growing ubiquity of the mobile phone in the developing world, its uses in disaster relief and resilience and highlighting partnerships between humanitarian agencies and telecommunication providers.

With 89% mobile penetration in the developing world, aid groups increasingly recognise that information and the ability to communicate are as important as physical aid. The infographic showcases the power of mobile technology in humanitarian aid: in 2013 Oxfam used mobile money to send cash to 1700 families and after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the Red Cross reached out to half a million affected through SMS.

The infographic also includes a case study of the humanitarian partnership between Inmarsat and Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF), providing the hospital serving refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border with a vital satellite internet connection and communication base – facilitating faster, more efficient aid and Health services.

For more inforamation visit: http://www.aidforum.org/ 

Mobile for development. Click to see full size.
http://www.aidforum.org/docs/AIDF-M4D-Infographic-Humanitarian-Aid.pdf