Mark Summer
The Value of Information and
Communication Technologies
in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
Innovations Case Narrative:
Inveneo
I was in a meeting on January 12, 2010, when I heard about the earthquake in
Haiti. The moment is still vivid in my mind because we had been working for
months with our partner, the EKTA Foundation, on a plan to make information
and communication technologies (ICTs) accessible and sustainable in rural areas
of Haiti. I had planned to fly to Port-au-Prince with another Inveneo cofounder on
Gennaio 15, where we were to stay at the now-collapsed Hotel Montana to research
opportunities and connect with the local tech community. Then the earthquake
struck. It wasn’t until hours later, after trying to reach our Haitian contacts, that we
realized the extent of the devastation. Our connections with Haitian colleagues
made our commitment immediate and more personal.
Later that day, we met with our partner NetHope1, a collaboration of 31 del
world’s leading international humanitarian organizations that share technology
best practices. Our conversation immediately turned to the tragedy in Haiti. Noi
had been working with NetHope on a large-scale ICT project for relief camps
across the world, but as they counted the number of their member organizations
directly affected by the earthquake (20), our conversation shifted to ways we could
address their urgent needs.
For many disaster response veterans, the Haiti earthquake represents a turning
point in our collective thinking about the value of ICTs in humanitarian relief
efforts. A range of ICT-focused initiatives have demonstrated that technology—
from accessing detailed maps of the affected area, to turning simple SMS messages
into life-saving systems, to establishing broadband Internet connectivity to
humanitarian organizations—improves both the speed and substance of relief
efforts. The impact of these voluntary and even spontaneous initiatives was real,
measurable, and widely publicized. Their success, even in the absence of any plan-
Mark Summer is Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Inveneo.
© 2010 Mark Summer
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Léogâne, post-earthquake. Access to online maps was critical for rescue and relief
efforts.
ning or coordination, hints at the true potential of ICTs to revolutionize disaster
preparedness and response.
This article provides a play-by-play account of Inveneo’s efforts to reestablish
connectivity for humanitarian organizations working in Port-au-Prince immedi-
ately after the earthquake, as well as the impact of and challenges involved in those
efforts. It outlines how relationships formed through the Clinton Global Initiative
(CGI) proved critical to the success of these efforts. It also lays out our plans for
continued collaborative efforts to bring broadband connectivity to the rest of the
country, where it is critically needed. Inveneo’s goal, in combining sustainable
solutions with capacity-building development programs, is to deploy a digital
infrastructure that will:
• Accelerate ongoing disaster preparedness, relief, and rebuilding efforts
• Dramatically improve the quality of education and health-care training and
delivery
• Enable and streamline microfinance and other business development programs
• Lay a foundation for locally driven development throughout Haiti, particularly
in rural areas
• Improve accountability and transparency for local government, multilateral
organizations (UN agencies), and international non-governmental organiza-
zioni (NGOs)
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The Value of ICTs in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
A typical setting for Inveneo’s work: Kiziba Refugee Camp in Rwanda.
No power, no connectivity, and not the best environment for dust-sensitive
electronics.
• Give voice to hundreds of thousands of disconnected and disempowered
Haitians as they come to grips with their experiences over the past six months
and beyond
Our success or failure will depend, in part, on a shared willingness to think
innovatively about how ICTs—especially broadband connectivity—can be com-
bined with relevant social programs and novel business models to become an
engine for rebuilding a new and better Haiti. It will also depend on the sort of pos-
itive collaboration the CGI has enabled to date.
DECISION TIME
Before January 2010, Inveneo didn’t think of itself as a disaster response organiza-
zione. We work in some pretty troubled settings—Sierra Leone, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Northern Uganda, and Mozambique to name a few—but on a
different, less emergent timeline. Inveneo typically works in support of NGOs that
deliver vital services such as health care, formazione scolastica, relief, and microfinance in
rural and low-resource settings. These places are usually hot, humid, and often
dusty—not ideal for sensitive electronics. Grid power, if available, is generally
unstable and unreliable. What Internet connectivity exists (if any) is slow and
extremely expensive. Nel frattempo, these settings often have a shortage of the skilled
ICT personnel needed to ensure that systems can be repaired when something goes
wrong.
To overcome these challenges, Inveneo deploys ultra-low-power computing
systems that are affordable and sustainable where typical computer systems are
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non. Our expertise in point-to-point wireless links can provide, in the right cir-
circostanze, reliable broadband hops spanning distances of 50 A 60 kilometers.
Inveneo also trains and certifies in-country partners with the expertise to
install and troubleshoot ICTs. These partners then provide ongoing local support
when problems arise, calling on Inveneo for backup support with Inveneo-certi-
fied solutions as needed. Inveneo is fervently committed to building local capacity
and developing long-term local partnerships.
In our typical mode of work, projects progress from initial assessment to
design to deployment over many weeks or months. In considering our potential
response to the earthquake, we were acutely aware of our limitations. We did not
have a ready stock of equipment and had limited experience making air travel and
freight arrangements into disaster zones. Our involvement in the response to
Hurricane Katrina made many on our team hypersensitive to the importance of
having both a well-defined mission and appropriate tools to get the job done. If we
were to respond effectively, we needed a clear plan of action.
On the other hand, Port-au-Prince, powerless and disconnected, suddenly
looked a lot like many of the areas where we work. Thousands of NGO staff and
volunteers flooded into a country where public phone systems were completely
down and mobile phone systems were overwhelmed. Even a week after the earth-
quake, just 20 of the country’s 50 radio stations were back on the air, and the two
leading newspapers were still unable to print. These were not luxuries but crucial
gaps in post-earthquake civil society. Even U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
identified communications, along with food, shelter, and medical services, as one
of the most critical needs in the Haiti response.
NetHope was deluged with requests for assistance from member organizations
in urgent need of communications on the ground so they could help organize and
deliver rescue and relief services, make decisions involving several regions and
partners, order necessary supplies and equipment, and consolidate regional data
and report progress to funding agencies. With member organizations as promi-
nent as Save the Children, Oxfam International, Mercy Corps, the International
Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services, and Concern asking for help, it was
imperative that their needs be addressed immediately. The urgent need for com-
munications, and our ability to serve, was clear. A day after the earthquake,
Inveneo began planning its strategy to reconnect the organizations that would play
a key role in Haitian relief.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Inveneo’s mission in Haiti was precise: reestablish broadband connectivity for
NetHope member organizations as quickly as possible. While we were confident of
our technical capabilities, we would need help if we were to succeed. It was collab-
orative partnerships, many of which were made possible through CGI, that made
the difference.
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The Value of ICTs in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
A note of background: Inveneo is a small nonprofit with a staff of 15 people,
many of whom are traveling in various places around the world at any given time.
We needed to quickly purchase, organize, repackage, and transport what ended up
being 1,500 pounds of networking equipment into a country that, at the time, era
mostly flying people out and only letting in rescue teams and medical staff. CGI
team members leveraged their contacts to get UPS staff personally searching a
warehouse to find our packages and ensure a special delivery late on a Saturday
night.
Through CGI we met the EKTA Foundation, a family foundation with a com-
passionate interest in serving Haiti partly because of the family’s history running
an auto electronics manufacturing facility in Port-au-Prince. In the immediate
aftermath of the earthquake, the EKTA Foundation was our first funder for the
emergency communications effort and remains a key strategic partner in the sub-
sequent phase of our work. Simply put, without EKTA, our work in Haiti would
not have been possible, and CGI is largely to thank for this.
As early as 2006, CGI had also introduced us to the Cisco Foundation, Quale
has since become one of Inveneo’s strongest allies and strategic partners. In addi-
tion to supporting projects and capacity development across East Africa, Cisco has
funded Inveneo’s work to integrate robust yet easy-to-deploy network manage-
ment software. This software played a critical role in the initial wireless network in
Port-au-Prince, and will continue to do so as we bring connectivity into rural
Haiti.
Inveneo’s board of directors also played a pivotal role in the Haiti response.
One member connected us to additional critical funding from Aruba
Communications, another helped us connect with the Federal Communications
Commission and the U.S. State Department to make them aware of our work and,
perhaps most importantly, helped us find technical volunteers with the specific
skills we needed to support the mission. Volunteers helped finalize our network
management software, perform installations in Haiti, raise funds, track requests
for help, and manage logistics. These volunteers proved crucial to our success in
Haiti. I clearly remember arriving in Port-au-Prince, daunted by the task of find-
ing all of our equipment —40 Pelican cases of it—amidst the field of supplies from
dozens of organizations that were strewn across the airport tarmac. We found and
retrieved it all promptly, in part because a team of conscientious volunteers had
carefully inventoried, labeled, and kitted everything in advance.
Once on the ground, our partner NetHope proved essential to our success. It’s
hard to overestimate the value of local knowledge amidst the chaos of post-quake
Port-au-Prince, and it was NetHope’s promise of support that was the deciding
factor in Inveneo’s decision to respond. In addition to providing critical bridge
finanziamenti, NetHope coordinated and streamlined communications with all 20-plus
of its Haiti-based member organizations, helped us identify in-country trans-
portation and security, and find accommodations for our staff. In the first weeks
we slept in tents on the lawn of CHF International along with other NGO staffers.
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No one wanted to be inside a building due to the frequent aftershocks, and when
we did find ourselves indoors during aftershocks, we ran. Fast.
Our NetHope contacts informed us that they had received an offer of donated
bandwidth from ITC Global, a leading provider of satellite-based network connec-
attività. Serendipitously, CHF had an unused dish on the premises, and so the plan
came together almost on its own. Located in Petionville in the hills above Port-au-
Prince, CHF’s office provided an excellent staging ground and vantage point for
the line-of-sight links that WiFi requires. We decided to go with WiFi frequencies
because the rules on spectrum allocation were unclear, and WiFi frequencies are
generally acceptable to the FCC and Conatel, the local Haitian regulator.
Our initial strategy was to first stabilize and expand CHF’s VSAT link, and then
build outward to as many other NGOs as possible. Priority would go first to
NetHope member sites, and then to other nonprofits and relief groups as they
approached us.
In those first critical weeks, we worked 18-hour days, performing WiFi instal-
lations and coordinating the next day’s installs late into the night to the hum of the
generator. We were all very much on task, painfully aware that the speed of our
efforts could help save (or lose) lives. Nel frattempo, our CHF hosts mentioned that
one of their staff members was stuck inside a collapsed three-story shopping mall
and was communicating with colleagues via SMS messages, assuring them that he
was okay and uninjured. Sadly, they weren’t able to get him out in time and even-
tually the text messages simply stopped. We worked even harder. Through it all, IL
streets had an eerie feeling, somehow both deserted and teeming with dispos-
sessed. Pleas for help were painted on surfaces everywhere.
I am not a veteran of many emergency situations, but I imagine they’re all sim-
ilar in the overwhelming feeling of urgency. We knew how little time we had, how
many people remained in precarious situations, but we also knew that in order to
do things right, we needed to work as thoughtfully and methodically as possible.
This paradox continues to guide our work in Haiti.
KEY CHALLENGES
We faced numerous challenges implementing this project. In the U.S., managing
logistical details for deployment, engaging funders and partners, and backstopping
the technical crew in Haiti all added to the complexity of the work. In Haiti, IL
challenges ranged from often frustratingly simple logistics and communications
problems to more complex and political issues. In particular, we needed to make
certain that our relief efforts and the new systems we deployed did not, in the end,
undercut the viability of the local ISPs and IT service firms.
As a small organization, Inveneo runs a lean operation. While we had the
know-how to deploy the right technologies in this environment, we didn’t actual-
ly have extra equipment on hand. One of the first phone calls I made was to
Ubiquiti Networks, a manufacturer of wireless broadband networking equipment.
We at Inveneo had long been a fan of Ubiquiti’s antennae, radios, and base sta-
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The Value of ICTs in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
zioni, and had used them to connect communities in even the most rugged condi-
tions throughout sub-Saharan Africa. We appealed to the president of Ubiquiti,
who was thrilled to help us out. Ma, unfortunately, it would take a few weeks for
them to process the donation. In the meantime, we purchased some stock our-
selves—a significant expense that later was the basis of the EKTA Foundation’s ini-
tial donation. Three weeks later, in time for the second wave of Inveneo engineers
to travel to Haiti, the Ubiquiti equipment donation had arrived.
We have had our share of glitches shipping equipment to Africa and Asia, so
we knew it was important to have staff travel with the gear. Our staff and volun-
teers investigated every travel option, but all ports of entry into Haiti were in a
holding pattern. Commercial airlines would not (or could not) publicize the date
they could recommence flying into Haiti, and freight operators had been told that
only essential government gear could go through, so they were reluctant to agree
to the transport. At one point, my colleague Andris Bjornson and I were booked
on six different flights, most of which would take us through Santo Domingo in
the Dominican Republic, from where we would make the overland journey into
Haiti.
Thankfully, Airline Ambassadors came through for us, saying we should fly
ourselves and our equipment to Chicago and then hop on United’s first goodwill
flight to Port-au-Prince. We jumped at the chance. Surely this was a positive sign.
While we once might have had to queue up behind other relief organizations, IL
disaster response community was beginning to value the role ICT was playing in
this emergency.
Anyone who’s ever been to Haiti can attest that even before the earthquake,
travel by car through Port-au-Prince was neither easy nor predictable. In post-
earthquake Haiti, getting from point A to point B was an ongoing battle. Key roads
were impassable, there were no street signs or building numbers. Concrete, rebar,
and crushed vehicles were scattered over the landscape. Makeshift shelters quickly
spread into the streets, obstructing traffic even more. Most of the individuals we
were working with were new to Haiti and could not easily direct us to their loca-
zione. Critical hours could be wasted simply by making a wrong turn, so we planned
our routes carefully. Without a working mobile phone network, making calls was
impossible and even text messages took a long time to come through. Every morn-
ing, we had to hope anew that our days would unfold as intended.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have reliable location data for the NGOs we sought to
help. Few NGOs had GPS coordinates for their offices in Port-au-Prince. We relied
heavily on a team of volunteers in the U.S., some of whom fielded the initial
requests for connectivity, and others who helped schedule our next day’s installa-
tions and pinpoint precise locations. Since many street signs and other directional
markers had been obliterated, we needed to be creative in identifying locations. Noi
depended heavily on OpenStreetMaps and Google Earth, which had released mas-
sive amounts of up-to-date, detailed satellite imagery of Haiti almost immediately
following the earthquake. Our U.S. volunteers contacted NGO staff in Port-au-
Prince and honed in on their locations by asking the proximity to landmarks made
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visible on Google Earth: “Are you at the building with the large red cross painted
on the roof, next to the tent camp with blue tarps?” Sometimes we even needed to
find a Haitian in the diaspora, based in the U.S. or Canada, and put him or her on
the phone with NGOs to answer questions like, “You know that gas station near
Delmas 23? Well, just beyond that there’s a little alley with no name; can you iden-
tify that intersection?” Clearly, this process often entailed a good deal of back-and-
forth. But once volunteers identified the GPS coordinates, we loaded them into our
Garmin GPS and uploaded them to OpenStreetMaps.org. With NGOs all over
Haiti also using OpenStreetMaps, we collectively assembled a detailed map of
Port-au-Prince with virtually zero centralized coordination.
Another supporting player in our effort was GeoChat, an open source disaster
response application developed by INSTEDD. We used GeoChat to help with
group communications between our team in Haiti and our team in the U.S. IL
application proved particularly useful when the field team required critical state-
side support for a networking firmware upgrade. GeoChat’s combination of email
and SMS messaging functionality smoothed communications. The team felt that if
we had trained adequately on its use prior to deployment, GeoChat could well have
been even more valuable.
Once we began adding NGOs, connecting them as nodes on the WiFi network,
we found it increasingly difficult to manage the network itself or to perform “traf-
fic shaping,” which allocates bandwidth and usage among the users. My Inveneo
colleague Andris went online to seek answers to issues with OpenNMS, a network
management application platform, and came across a community of OpenNMS
engineers. Initially they helped Andris and me with our questions on their own
time, but news of this pro bono work and how it was benefiting those in the Haiti
earthquake reached the founder of OpenNMS, who then gave us a year of free
enterprise-level support. The open source community yet again came through to
help out one another.
Over the next five weeks, Inveneo engineers cycled in and out of Port-au-
Prince, making sure that the 18-hour days didn’t take too much of a toll on our
ability to function and manage the workload. Andris and I returned to the U.S.,
and Brian, another staff engineer, and Oliver, a full-time volunteer, took our places
in the CHF camp and on the roofs of humanitarian organizations across the city.
We responded to all of the requests from NetHope NGO members, seeing to
each of their unique technical needs and connecting them to the main network.
With the ability to access reliable, high-speed Internet, these organizations could
return to their operations at a pace comparable to before the earthquake, and in
some cases, faster and more efficiently. For Catholic Relief Services, the earthquake
brought an additional throng of volunteers to help them with emergency relief
lavoro. With that, their need for broadband grew to accommodate a 100-user net-
lavoro.
The increase in users on the network meant we had to be smart about posi-
tioning. Questo è, NGOs with offices at higher elevations would be prioritized over
those in lower-lying places so they could serve as relay hubs, hosting the antennae
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The Value of ICTs in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
that would transmit radio signals to other locations. The “line of sight” concept,
which we’d always understood as integral to the success of strong WiFi signals,
took on new meaning as we climbed rickety ladders and stood on the roofs of
NGO offices that shifted with every aftershock. From there we surveyed the mas-
sive destruction in the city below, but also the relative distance to another access
point, which could mean connectivity, improved communications, and enhanced
social services. We pointed transmission antennas in the direction of receiving
antennas, hoisting them on speaker stands, and securing them with sandbags.
Inelegant? Forse. Effective and prompt? Definitely.
When it came to power options, we were forced to be a bit forgiving and forego
the solar-powered setups we prefer. Invece, we found most of the NGOs equipped
with generators, which can be costly to maintain, but in post-earthquake Haiti they
were highly prized. We made do. To take full advantage of them and establish an
environment that was as stable as possible, we added battery backups for each link
on the network. This way the battery, charged initially by the generator, could sup-
port the node if the generator were to fail. This also ensured the health of the entire
rete, since the web-like nature meant that the failure of one link could poten-
tially adversely affect the others. Again, inelegant. We do intend to employ solar
power when connecting Haiti’s rural areas, as it is a more environmentally sustain-
able solution.
As the ISPs began to get back on their feet, they were concerned that they had
lost many of their best customers who were now receiving free or reduced-cost
connectivity from Inveneo and its partner organizations. NOI. government officials
and businesspeople alike expressed concern that Inveneo had inadvertently
usurped the market for Internet service provision. This issue is a genuine problem
with aid work around the world, namely, how to implement an effective disaster
response without undercutting local institutions in the process. Fortunately, we
were well aware of the potential for conflict and had begun a dialogue with the
local ISPs even during the initial days of the response. By the time these firms were
back in action, we had told them that we had no intention of becoming a local ISP,
and that we were even committed to helping them extend and improve their serv-
ices. Our vision saw this expansion within Port-au-Prince and, more importantly,
to entirely underserved areas outside of the capital region. We formed collabora-
tive relationships with two of Haiti’s largest ISPs, MultiLink and Access Haiti.
Within one month after the earthquake, Andris climbed the Bouthillier communi-
cations tower 40 meters (Sopra 130 feet) above Port-au-Prince and installed a
Ubiquiti dish and antenna. This gear provided a long-distance WiFi link, connect-
ing our network to MultiLink’s, with a similar installation connecting to Access
Haiti’s WiMax network. Both of these terrestrial networks provide important
redundant Internet backhaul for the original VSAT satellite-based network in Port-
au-Prince.
In addition to our relationship with Haitian ISPs, we knew how important it
was that we invest in human as well as physical infrastructure. For our technology
deployments around the world, we generally prefer to pass client work to local IT
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businesses so that funds, opportunities, and knowledge remain in-country. In
Haiti, Tuttavia, a serious shortage of ICT skills had existed pre-earthquake and
now was even worse. Technical academies, business incubators, and trade associa-
tions just weren’t there. Even the potential partners we’d made relationships with
before the earthquake were now focused on their own survival or, even worse, were
unreachable. We ultimately engaged a group of Haitian technologists, Haiti
Technology Group (HTG), who continue to manage the Port-au-Prince wireless
rete. Nevertheless, we have found ourselves constrained by a fairly limited
technical staff pool. Working with NetHope, our goal is to identify, train, E
engage more technologists.
RESULTS
Eight days after the earthquake, Inveneo had established connectivity to eight
NGOs; 22 days after the earthquake, the number was 18. Access to broadband
made an enormous impact on each of their relief operations, often improving their
network’s speed and reliability over pre-earthquake conditions. Some had no con-
nectivity before the earthquake, while others had only a shaky 160-kbit connec-
tion—the equivalent of three dial-up connections. When linked to the long-dis-
tance WiFi network, this became comparable to a cable or DSL line.
NetHope member CARE, a leading poverty alleviation organization, employed
an unstable and unreliable connection pre-earthquake in its Port-au-Prince office.
After the earthquake, staff said connectivity was so stable that they were able to
expedite all their purchases and strategic decisions with partners in the Dominican
Republic, the U.S., and London. They were also able to accommodate the influx of
visiting staff and deliver high-priority, urgent information worldwide. Their pre-
earthquake connection could not have tolerated the increase in capacity needs.
PROFAMIL, an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation,
used its connection to communicate with partners in the Dominican Republic and
New York City. With its new bandwidth, staff and physicians exchanged files, dis-
cussed particular cases, and counseled prenatal and post-partum patients with
greater ease and reliability. We’ve found that we don’t even hear from some of the
most satisfied client NGOs, since they’re able to refocus their attention on work
rather than on troubleshooting technical issues.
NetHope member Save the Children used its network connection to monitor
CNN and the BBC via live streaming, which helped inform the work of their com-
munications team. What previously may have been considered a luxury turned out
to be essential to the organization’s emergency relief work. Save the Children staff
told Inveneo that by bringing Internet connectivity to them as quickly as we did,
we were literally saving children’s lives. If the connection between information and
communications with relief operations wasn’t apparent before the earthquake, it is
now.
Today, the Port-au-Prince network is still in operation, supporting some 18
organizations in 35 locations with reliable and redundant Internet connectivity. It
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The Value of ICTs in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
Figura 1. Potential Benefits from Broadband
is likely to be up until at least the end of 2010, as the organizations enjoying the
access have repeatedly pushed to keep it up and running. In addition to stable
access with multiple backups, the network has demonstrated another point of
value: that the NGOs deserve and demand a lower price and reliable service.
Collectively, these organizations have become more intelligent about technology
and have established their buying capacity. Now they represent one of Haiti’s
largest customers for the local ISPs, bringing more than $25,000 per month into
the local economy. Local ICT company Haiti Technology Group now manages and
maintains the network with Inveneo, providing technical support on an as-need-
ed basis. HTG has hired additional staff to help manage the workload and, we
anticipate, will ultimately be a leader in a new Haitian ICT revolution.
PHASE TWO
Inveneo’s emergency work in Port-au-Prince has largely concluded, but our com-
mitment to Haiti continues. Fortunately, our success in responding to the needs in
Port-au-Prince accelerated and galvanized our relationships with a wide range of
NGOs, as well as with local Haitian ICT service firms and ISPs. Both types of
organization will be critical to the success of the next phase of our efforts in Haiti.
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We are working to extend technology access and connectivity to the rural and
remote parts of the country, where a digital infrastructure has never existed and
where a flood of citizens from Port-au-Prince sought refuge after the earthquake,
in part due to the government’s urging. Inveneo surveyed the country with the
assistance of some of the NGOs we had first encountered through the Port-au-
Prince wireless network. Together we prioritized six regions that host significant
NGO relief and recovery activities or have experienced significant population
growth due to internally displaced persons within the past few months. These
areas, often quite rural, include the epicenter of the earthquake:
• Léogâne, Petit-Goâves, Grand-Goâves
• East of Jacmel
• Mirebalais, Saut-d’Eau area
• Gonaïves, Saint-Marc area
• West of Cap-Haïtien
• Jérémie area
Both the need and the challenges are immense, but so are the potential payoffs.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitians remain stuck in tent camps, unable to reoccu-
py their destroyed homes or, in many cases, even to rebuild due to the chaos sur-
rounding land titles. A large number of these people are likely to be homeless for
years. Hundreds of NGOs and government organizations—hospitals, schools,
microfinance institutions, displaced persons camps, orphanages, and more—are
currently struggling to provide basic needs for these people and their communi-
ties.
While water, food, and shelter are clearly at the top of the list of priorities,
information and communication tools are a crucial means to achieve these essen-
tial ends. Reliable broadband connectivity can help streamline delivery of essential
services while also laying the foundation for locally driven rebuilding and develop-
ment efforts. Broadband penetration has been shown to have a positive impact on
growth and productivity, by some measures even higher than mobile phones, con
a mere 10 percent increase in penetrations yielding as much as 1.5 percent increase
in overall labor productivity in the five years since its inception.2 Since this figure
is for the economy at large, it is likely that the productivity impact among NGOs,
whose staff are already familiar with computers and the Internet, would be many
times higher. Inoltre, it is these very NGOs that will spearhead needed efforts to
bring Haitians online en masse, with all the potential benefits for their education,
health, and livelihoods.
To succeed, Tuttavia, this effort must first address the question of why a digi-
tal infrastructure has not yet been deployed outside Port-au-Prince. We see two
main reasons: first, Haitian ISPs have not had clear and sufficient demand from
prospective clients in these areas, whereas demand in Port-au-Prince is relatively
robust and easy to satisfy with limited incremental investment. Secondo, the infra-
structure these ISPs typically deploy, although appropriate for high traffic and
densely populated regions, is not cost effective in more rural areas.
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The Value of ICTs in Humanitarian Relief Efforts
Our planned solution is to lower overall project risks and costs by aggregating
demand among NGOs, as we did successfully in Port-au-Prince. This invites
greater investment from local partners by leveraging low-cost WiFi technologies
and training local services firms to provide ongoing network support.
Additionally, by seeking external funds to offset most of the infrastructure and
capacity-building costs, we believe we can catalyze a broadly sustainable market for
broadband connectivity, even in some of the poorest communities on earth. A
ensure the widest and deepest possible impact, the network infrastructure should
be owned by an independent entity—a cooperative of NGO clients, for example—
with a specific mandate to make certain that access to the network is kept open to
both users and ISP suppliers.
Inveneo is already moving forward in the first region of network expansion, at
the epicenter of the quake, even as we continue to seek funding for this full initia-
tive. In late July, we established the first critical link, from Port-au-Prince to
Léogâne. This wireless backbone link spans 35 kilometers and provides stable con-
nectivity of more than 50 mbps. Since then, we have connected four major NGO
offices in Léogâne, including the Canadian Red Cross, Hands On Disaster
Response, Save the Children, and IFEWA, with additional organizations in the
queue.
CONCLUSION
As long as the original WiFi network remains up and running, the first phase of
Inveneo’s work in Haiti remains open. We have been able to draw from a number
of lessons learned and apply them to the second phase, and to our work elsewhere
in the world. This second stage of work is a great potential model to be replicated
in other countries; recognizing rural areas as new market opportunities, con
broadband provision and local IT experts maintaining it, creates a new delivery
system that benefits all parties. Yet this model of building local IT capacity differs
from Inveneo’s standard model. Without the initial application of broadband to
emergency relief work, the NGO and aid communities may not have seen its ben-
efit and relevance in rural Haiti.
The innovations employed with the long-distance wireless network are not
new per se, but their application in emergency situations and in rural or under-
served areas can be considered novel. As Secretary of State Clinton noted in early
2010, “Innovation is not only the invention of new technologies; it’s any break-
through idea that transforms lives and reshapes our thinking.”3 The WiFi network
that we deployed in Port-au-Prince and the links we’re now establishing in under-
served areas outside of the capital demonstrate the importance of a digital infra-
structure that is accessible across all sectors of society. This broadband access has
not only accelerated relief and rebuilding efforts; as internally displaced popula-
tions seek to rebuild their lives in more rural areas, it will lay the foundation for
economic development and opportunity.
innovazioni / autunno 2010
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Mark Summer
At Inveneo, we’ve learned that it could prove valuable to have extra equipment
and disaster kits on hand for emergencies. But more important than keeping addi-
tional supplies close by, the work in Haiti has taught us the importance of preserv-
ing relationships with a variety of stakeholders. Inveneo’s tiny size belies our abil-
ity to effect change and have an impact, and it has helped tremendously when we
can turn to partners, funders, volunteers, and our colleagues at CGI to lend a
hand—and lend credence to our work. Collaboration has turned out to be much
more innovative than any technology we could have developed.
1. See http://www.nethope.org.
2. From ITU secretary general Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré’s Ambassador’s Information Meeting speech
on March 15, 2010, in New York. Available at www.itu.int/en/osg/speeches/pages/2010-03-
15.aspx.
3. From “Development in the 21st Century,” U.S. of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
speech delivered to the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C., Gennaio 6, 2010.
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