The pilot session of a 5-day technical training course for humanitarian ICT responders will be held in Dubai, facilitated by satellite industry partners. This course is the very first activity emanating from the Crisis Connectivity Charter, an agreement between the satellite industry and Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), signed in 2015. 

The purpose of the training course is to prepare participants to deploy, manage and support satellite solutions facilitated through the Crisis Connectivity Charter during humanitarian emergency operations.

The pilot training course will be held at the warehouses of the World Food Programme (WFP) in the UAE, Sunday 29 May to Thursday 2 June, for 12 participants and 10 trainers/ examiners. Attendees will be from WFP FITTEST, Ericsson Response and Government of Luxembourg. Training will be delivered on technical solutions provided by the following charter signatories: Arabsat, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, Thuraya and Yahsat. 

As this is a pilot training course only, participants were specially selected according to their previous experience working deploying ETC internet connectivity solutions in humanitarian emergencies. It is foreseen that a similar training course will be held later in the year for the signatories EMC, Hispasat, Intelsat and SES. 

The Crisis Connectivity Charter is a set of commitments by the satellite community to enhance connectivity in times of crises, facilitating communications between – to – from – and across all those responding to humanitarian emergencies, including affected communities. Established by the EMEA Satellite Operator's Association (ESOA) and Global VSAT Forum, the Crisis Connectivity Charter is a direct outcome of a WHS Business Consultation hosted by the Government of Luxembourg and ETC in June 2015. 

Principles of the charter include strengthening partnership between satellite industry, government and humanitarian sector; enhanced coordination to enable prioritization of humanitarian internet traffic during disaster operations; prepositioned equipment; training and capacity building.