Bill Brindley (CEO)
Ed Granger-Happ (Chairman)
Dipak Basu, Jack Levyy, Barry Sanders, Frank Schott, Joe Simmons (Global Program Directors)[1]
Area served
180 countries
Focus
Emergency Response, Humanitarian Development and Conservation
Method
Collaborating across members, solving common technology problems, fostering strong relationships with private industry, and educating members and the wider community of humanitarian organizations worldwide.
NetHope, Inc., founded in 2001, is a consortium of 32 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that specializes in improving IT connectivity among humanitarian organizations in developing countries and areas affected by disaster. The organization has partnerships with Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Intel, and Accenture. Its humanitarian development, emergency response, and conservation programs are in place in 180 countries worldwide.[3]
In March 2001, Edward G. Happ, then CIO of Save the Children, authored a paper entitled "Wiring the Global Village" that discussed two hypotheses:
International nonprofits could solve the connection problem better, faster, and cheaper if done together rather than reinventing the wheel as individual organizations; and
Nonprofits would be in a better position to partner with corporate sponsors as a group rather than as individuals.
This paper was presented to Cisco's corporate philanthropy group and became the basis upon which NetHope was created. Shortly thereafter, Cisco fellow Dipak Basu coined the name "NetHope."[4]
Work
Former Winrock employee Gary Garriott showing Wounaan Indians the Internet for the first time in their community in Panama
Places of operation
NetHope members operate in over 180 countries around the world. NetHope also operates four regional chapters in the following areas: East Africa, West Africa, Sri Lanka and India. Future chapters will be launching in South Africa, Bangladesh and Panama. NetHope Headquarters are located in McLean, Virginia.[4]
NetReliefKit
Working with Cisco Systems and British satellite firm Inmarsat, NetHope developed the NetReliefKit, which is a solar powered wireless router that can connect users to the Internet via a satellite uplink. They were distributed for use with nonprofit organizations such as Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam, and Mercy Corps. The kits are meant to be used for relief agencies to coordinate their response efforts.[5] The device was deployed to provide Internet signals after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.[3][6]
NetHope Global Connectivity Programs Director Joe Simmons in Haiti
Within days of the 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of Haiti, NetHope responded by setting up telecommunications links among a dozen relief groups, thanks largely in part to a $1.25 million donation from Microsoft and its partnerships with Cisco and Intel.[8][9] The 10 megabyte[citation needed] local network provided Internet connectivity and extensions to voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)-style phones so that NetHope's members could coordinate the delivery of supplies in Haiti and send need assessments to the rest of the world.[10]
However, the temporary network came under criticism a month later from local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who said that this temporary network was taking away their business. Inveneo, the company that NetHope tapped to build the network, defended the action by saying that in the days after the earthquake it was critical for NGOs to have reliable connectivity in order to coordinate their actions using resources such as Google Maps. Local ISP wired networks appeared to remain functional in the aftermath of the earthquake, but had lost electricity to their wireless base stations. An agreement between Inveneo and the local ISPs was to be made so ISPs would start receiving money from NGOs using their bandwidth.[11]
2004 Asia tsunami
NetHope had already been developing the NetReliefKit with Cisco and Inmarsat, but when the tsunami in the Pacific hit, they saw it was necessary for NGOs to communicate with each other immediately, as many had lost this capability.[12]
Mercy Corps — Founder(s) Ellsworth Culver, Dan O Neill Type 501(c)(3) Founded 1979 Location … Wikipedia
World Vision International — For the television production company of the same name, see Worldvision Enterprises. World Vision International Founder(s) Walter Stanley Mooneyham, World Vision United States Type Non governmental organization Founded 197 … Wikipedia
Emergency management — Accident preparedness redirects here. For Safety related articles, see Safety. Disaster preparedness redirects here. For other articles related to disaster preparedness, see Category:Disaster preparedness. Emergency management is the generic name … Wikipedia
Former Winrock employee Gary Garriott showing Wounaan Indians the Internet for the first time in their community in Panama
