PDRF, unconnected.org handholding for Emergency Telecommunications

The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and unconnected.org inked a Partnership Agreement on Free Use of Connectivity Platforms for Emergency Communications. 

In the Ceremonial Signing, unconnected.org laid the premise that supporting other non-profits being aligned with the organizational mandate to empower stakeholders through connectivity, enabling digital equity. 

Vulnerability to disasters is a metric that likewise coincides with Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA), hence, these sites are not only predisposed to degraded communications services but more so to lack of reliable digital infrastructure in responding to emergencies.

It should be noted that the PDRF closely works with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) towards the same goal of achieving resilience through connectivity, and it is precisely this confluence that unconnected.org supports the shared objective under the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). 

This project is made possible through funding from the Internet Society (ISOC) Foundation to unconnected.org. 

Further, this partnership aims to strengthen the capability of emergency telecommunications responders to the demands of the field, by offering a course on disaster connectivity. 

This engagement is a prelude to the commemoration of the National Disaster Resilience Month.