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Fiji + 7 more

Pacific Island Countries – Preparedness: ETC Situation Report #20 (January to March, Q1 2024)

Attachments

The ETC in the Pacific is led by the WFP Pacific Multi Country Office (MCO) and was activated in 2016 under the structure of the Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT) to support telecommunications preparedness in the region. Situation reports are distributed every quarter.

Highlights

• The ETC in the Pacific supported the Fiji National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to deliver four emergency telecommunications training sessions to 76 first responders and government officials in the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western division between February and March for enhanced capacity building for disaster preparedness.

• From 26 to 28 February, the ETC participated in the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) Disaster Risk Management training organized for key ministries and local FPs in Kiribati by the Japan Telecommunications Engineering and Consulting Service (JTEC) and was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

• The annual ETC User Satisfaction Survey report for 2023 was published and shared with global and regional partners on 23 February. Key takeaways from the report include the need to review deployment and capacity building actions taken during emergency response, and to set aside more time during ICT Capacity Assessment (ICA) processes to achieve better preparedness outcomes.

ETC Activities

Coordination

The ETC in the Pacific is led by the WFP Pacific Multi Country Office (MCO) and was activated in 2016 under the structure of the Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT) to support telecommunications preparedness in the region. All ETC funding in the Pacific is received under the WFP Multi-Country Strategic Plan (MCSP) and all preparedness and emergency response activities carried out by the ETC in the Pacific are under the leadership of WFP.

The newly recruited dedicated ETC Coordinator for the Pacific arrived in Suva, Fiji, on 15 March. The ETC Coordinator will be based in Fiji.

Further, the recruitment process for a fourth ETC team member responsible for coordinating capacity building activities in Pacific Island Countries (PICs) has been finalized. The new ETC Training and Development Manager will join the team on 27 March.

The annual ETC User Satisfaction Survey report for 2023 was published and shared with global and regional partners on 23 February. The aim of the survey was to gather feedback from organizations across the PICs who engaged with ETC preparedness and response activities in 2023. The survey resulted in a user satisfaction score of 83%, which is above the 80% baseline set as the key performance indicator for the survey. Key takeaways from the report include the need to review deployment and capacity building actions taken during and immediately after an emergency response. Additionally, it is recommended to set aside more time during ICT Capacity Assessment (ICA) processes to achieve better preparedness outcomes.