Vodafone foundation sends help to Mozambique’s Idai victims

Vodafone foundation has organized two teams of trained Vodafone employee volunteers to provide communications support for the humanitarian relief programme following Cyclone Idai.
The Instant Network team arrived in Mozambique on Monday 18^th March with trained volunteers from four Vodafone markets (Romania, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal), carrying Instant Network, Instant Wifi, Instant Charge, satellite equipment and various ICT equipment. A second team is on standby to provide further support as required.

After establishing the level of stress and the scale of need, the Foundation has now deployed a second team of educated workers in volunteering.

The group is currently supporting connectivity service’s through Instant Network and Instant WIFI at Beira Airport, the Vodafone Foundation’s award-winning technology, to allow international aid agencies to coordinate the emergency response.
According to Vodafone Foundation Director, Andrew Dunnett :“From our Vodafone colleagues now in Mozambique we understand the communications challenges facing the relief efforts are some of the worst any of our teams have faced in the life of the programme. The team is working around the clock to help provide calling and WIFI operations to support the relief effort and to allow family and friends caught up in this appalling tragedy to connect with each other”.

The Workers who volunteered are working closely with NGO partner Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) to ensure free calling and free mobile charging and have set up a humanitarian calling operation at the school, Survivors are able to call, and speak to family members in other locations, using TSF satellite phones and Vodafone Foundation Instant Charge. Escola Primaria Completa Agostinho Neto, where 600 families are taking shelter.

A volunteer member of the Instant Network team from Vodafone Romania, Larisa Basica, shared her first -hand experience: “We arrived at a primary school called Escola Primaria Completa Agostinho Neto. Inside, we found that there were 600 people sheltered with no electricity and no running water. We set up all the equipment on the sports ground behind the school, which was also devastated with iron pillars on the ground, broken glass, and collapsed rooftops.

“Among the first to call was a lady with her baby who managed to call her mother. The moment her mother replied, you could see tears in her eyes pouring down her face. She kept saying, “the house is gone, the house is gone, the house is gone” and then another woman told her “tell them you are ok, tell them you are ok, forget the house, you are ok”. Vodafone Foundation’s pioneering technology, Instant Network, has ensured life-saving assistance in over twenty missions around the world connecting tens of thousands of people and enabling almost three million telephone calls since 2011.

Not too long, Vodafone Foundation’s Instant Network was established to the Philippines following Super Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018. The current estimated deployment of the Foundation’s Instant Network in Mozambique is at least 2 weeks working closely with partner TSF and Vodacom

The Foundation’s latest change in a growing portfolio of products, allows up to 500 people to access the internet within an 80-metre radius. For a lager establishment, more access points extend the capacity and the area of coverage to 1,500 users across 10,000m2, Instant WIFI.
The Instant Network equipment also includes a portable 3G network that packs into three 32-kilogram boxes, and Instant Charge, a durable and portable outdoor mobile charger that can charge 48 devices simultaneously.
Vodafone Foundation is at the centre of a network of global and local social investment programmes. Its Connecting for Good programme combines charitable giving and technology to make a difference in the world. It is an independent UK registered charity, registered charity number 1089625. Vodafone Foundation established Instant Network in 2011, and since then its team of volunteers has provided critical communications in disaster zones across the world including:

• 20 – disaster situations where Instant Network was deployed • 2.845 million – number of calls made using Instant Network since 2011 • 2.2 billion – WhatsApp messages used through Instant Network • 10,000 – range, in m2, of Instant WIFI at full capacity • 1,500 – number of possible users of Instant WIFI at any one time