For over 10 years Ericsson employees have provided essential mobile communications to support disaster relief and humanitarian aid through Ericsson Response. This non-profit activity engages Ericsson employees in volunteer work with no commercial objective and is a key component of Ericsson's corporate responsibility activities. Not only is it inspiring those who participate but is a source of motivation, empowerment and value creation for all Ericsson employees.

Volunteers, Technology and Partnership

Ericsson Response works in partnership with many of the United Nation's (UN) different humanitarian organizations to meet their communication needs in times of disaster, as well as in close cooperation with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Currently, more than 130 volunteers from about 30 countries are involved in the program. That level of diversity gives insight into local cultures as well as providing language skills.

Ericsson Response was formed when employees expressed a wish to contribute their experience and competencies to disaster situations. At times of disaster, or a request for humanitarian aid, Ericsson Response’s partners will request assistance within the ICT area. Volunteers rapidly deploy communications solutions to support the relief organizations’ response to the disaster or their ongoing humanitarian aid. Such solutions include setting up WiFi (wireless networking) spots for Internet connection or distributing mobile phones for free calls over Ericsson Response network.

To continue to best support our partners, and ensure our own capability to respond in the best possible way, the Ericsson Response volunteers work to continuously upgrade the technology used; not only to handle more data but also making the units lighter and easier to carry, and possible to set up in under five hours.

Ericsson Response during 2011

Ericsson and Singtel

Ericsson and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) signed an agreement to provide emergency communications services to support disaster relief efforts in South and Southeast Asia through Ericsson Response. This is a world's first operator partnership for Ericsson Response. Under this agreement, SingTel and SingTel affiliates will provide satellite capacity and associated connectivity, as well as frequency allocations for our GSM containers during relief efforts for their area of coverage. This will allow for faster deployment of emergency communications services in the event of disaster.

The “One UN” initiative

To support the “One UN” initiative, Ericsson Response sent ICT specialists to Tanzania to work with the UN World Food Programme (WFP). The One UN initiative aims to enhance the impact of the UN system within individual countries through increasing national ownership of activities and reducing transaction costs.. The role of ICT is to create a ‘virtual office’, providing coordinated and streamlined services to participating agencies.

The volunteers provided on-site support for the integration of computer systems for one month. During that time, they analyzed the needs of UN agencies present in Tanzania in terms of what information is critical in humanitarian work, set up applications for knowledge sharing and information gathering, and trained the organization’s staff.

The One UN initiative, supported by Ericsson volunteers, will assist UN agencies to be more coherent, effective and efficient.