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Ericsson Response growing in volunteers

The number of Ericsson Response Volunteers (ERV) has reached 100 persons and there are many Ericsson employees that show interest to become a volunteer.

November 19, 2004

Among the ERVs are 79 employees that have taken the Basic Training Course (BTC). The BTC gives the participants an understanding of the humanitarian relief organizations work in disaster relief, e.g. their mandate, responsibilities, organization and interaction with other organizations. It is also an opportunity for the participants to get a good understanding of what it can be like working in a disaster response operation and about the volunteer's own situation working with the different Intergovernmental and Non-Governmental Organizations as a representative for ER.

Participants at BTC held August 2004.
The latest BTC was held end of August this year and welcomed 21 new volunteers from 7 different countries: UK, Algeria, Guatemala, Sweden, Portugal, Colombia and Spain.

In this occasion, as in the other 2 courses held since last year, the feedback from the participants was very positive. The fact that the partner organizations; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Norwegian Red Cross, UN World Food Programme and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), act as tutors in the course also helps answering all questions related to how their organizations work and what they expect from us. The day dedicated to a field exercise, arranged by the Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA) is always appreciated and gives a more "real life" experience.
"The ambition is to continue to carry out BTCs at least once a year, until we have trained approximately 200 volunteers. We have to consider both competence availability and the possibility for a volunteer to be away from ordinary business activities when needed", says Dag Nielsen, Director Ericsson Response.
The competence profiles among today's volunteers is rather mixed. Telecom specialists, project managers, IT support, logistics, VHF/HF radio experts and communicators are all represented. Rather mixed is also the gender representation with 25% of the ERVs being female. "The volunteers are fundamental for Ericsson Response. The program is there for them to get an opportunity to make a difference in society", Dag concludes.

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