In July, the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) delivered three radio training sessions to 19 humanitarian personnel from three different humanitarian organisations in Sana’a, Yemen. The training facilitator, Lasse Axelsson from WFP FITTEST, stressed the vital role of security telecommunications in complex emergency environments such as Yemen. “It is important to observe basic rules and common radio standard procedures to allow more efficient communications in conflict emergencies",  Lasse explained.

The ETC was activated in Yemen on 28 April 2015 in response to the escalating conflict emergency. The ETC project aims to provide the humanitarian community with:

- Security telecommunications
- Reliable (basic) internet connectivity solutions
- Radio training and radio programming services
- Charging stations
- ETC Coordination and Information management Platform

These training sessions complement the recent installation of 24/7 radio rooms in Sana’a, and ongoing deployment of radio infrastructure in Al Hudaydah. In order to strengthen security telecommunications across the country, the ETC has requested additional radio channels to be used by the UN and NGO communities.

The ETC in Yemen aims to ensure the availability, consistency and reliability of security telecommunications services to the humanitarian community - absolutely crucial during this complex conflict emergency.

By Erika Iglesias, IT Emergency Preparedness & Response branch, World Food Programme