@rohanhay very good question. if we say connectivity is aid then the question becomes: how do we support restoration of the network, or provision of network in areas where there is none?

So far, emergency telecommunications in aid has been the work of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). Their mandate has been providing connectivity for aid workers in crisis. They are now considering changing that so they become about providing connectivity for all

In the countries where we work, we liaise directly with mobile networks to ensure that base stations & connectivity gets restored ASAP.

@Internews can answer well your question about local media. Over the next year the CDAC Network will work with Internews and other Network partners to establish in-country multi-media centres that will address directly how humanitarian responders and local media can work together. Local media certainly has the capacity.

@rohanjay many good questions - for the Red Cross Red Crescent, disaster comms never relies on one channel - radio stations can be easily set-up and broadcasting within a few hours with the right pre-positioned equipment, but we also rely on our network of community based volunteers

How are aid agencies adapting – do aid workers “learn as they go” in the field about communication as aid?

@alertnet - the need for information is evident and manifest. What would really help is strong analysis of the communications environment: what tools and channels people prefer, and how they intermesh to generate an information ecology. These networks of course get damaged so the patterns change, but evidence to date shows that people revert to what they like and know as fast as they can.

Astrid: on your question about aid workers 'learning as they go'.
Experience from CDAC-N members has shown that, by and large, this is an overlooked area of work. This is not helped because agencies don’t know where to put it. They ask: Is this accountability? Is this human rights? Should this be part of our psychosocial programming? Is it protection? In order for the provision of life-saving information and communication to be ‘mainstreamed’ and to become part of standard humanitarian practice this has to be recognised in agency policy documents and fully resourced. Of course field workers ‘learn as they go’. They always have done and always will. And in the case of communications, they very likely learn from the affected populations they are attempting to serve. However, much work needs to be done to make sure the communication as aid becomes a consistent, predictable and recognised part of humanitarian response.

A number of organisations – for example, the IFRC, IOM and infoasaid – have produced some really excellent learning resources to help field staff in this area. See, for example, the infoasaid e-learning module here. Many of these resources are housed on the CDAC-N website.

@timothylarge asked earlier on about "white noise" -what do you think?
What about the problem of white noise in an emergency? If everyone's connected, is the conversation intelligible?

@katherine - I mean is it now standard for aid agencies to have training programmes on communication as aid, or is it more like 'on the job learning' depending on circumstances?

Thanks @Astrid - yes it is for us we are integrating it into our disaster preparedness and response programmes

Incorporating the voices of people we serve is always an adaptation process - each context will present different needs and challenges but in turn that is our challenge as an aid organization: to delivery the most effective form of beneficiary-centered humanitarian aid.

@Katherine: The IFRC is only one of few agencies integrating comm as aid into their disaster preparedness and response programmes. It would be really useful to understand how you institutionalised this within your organisation. Do you have any 'tips' and 'lessons' that other organisations could use?

Thanks @Rachel - as a global organisation with a very wide network it is hard to pinpoint one specific approach but learning by example is key.

We are working globally at a policy and programme level, but also pushing initiatives in the field and during operations - so working at both ends is important.