ETC Country Preparedness

National governments are responsible for leading disaster management systems and for managing the mechanisms, tools, and resources of these systems. As part of the ETC2020 strategy to improve and decentralise response readiness The ETC works with stakeholders in vulnerable countries and regions to strengthen ICT preparedness holistically at a country level working with national and local government agencies, civil society groups, humanitarian organizations, the private sector, and the population itself. 

Technical assistance is provided to national and local authorities to support their ICT emergency preparedness, which typically cover:

• National authority operational readiness: reviewing systems and processes of the national authority and providing recommendations.
   
• Holistic country assessment: considering national goals and national ability including the private sector.
   
• Coordination: supporting authorities to set up an ICT coordination group.

The ETC prepares for and provides services from the ETC Service Catalogue for national and local authorities during an emergency or as part of a capacity augmentation preparedness activity. The ETC can handover this infrastructure or services when appropriate as part of a continuous effort to build capacity and preparedness.

The ETC strengthens the capacity of national and local authorities and encourages knowledge-sharing between stakeholders through customized training, workshops and simulation exercises focused on country ICT preparedness.
 

• ICT Emergency Management for Governments and Partners (ICT4Gov): This course is designed for national and local authorities to develop knowledge and skills to plan, implement and manage ICT solutions to support emergency response preparedness.
   

ETC-ITU Emergency Telecommunications Tabletop Simulations: The ETC and ITU have co-authored a tabletop simulation guide, to support and standardise such simulations. These simulations are desk-based and help participants test and refine national plans, particularly national emergency telecommunications plans including policies and regulatory frameworks. These tabletop exercises also give a view of whether networks, redundant communications capacity, personnel, and other telecommunication systems are in place and ready to be used for disaster response.

There are several preparedness resources available which have been developed by the ETC and its partners. These resources can be used by government and national authorities to support country preparedness:

• ICT Capacity Assessment (ICA) Guidance
• ITU-ETC Emergency Telecommunications Preparedness Checklist
• ITU-ETC Emergency Telecommunications Table-top Simulation Guide
• ETC Country Preparedness and Resilience Delivery Model
• Return on Investment (ROI) Model