The 32 articles and short pieces in the feature theme section of FMR 38 look at the effects of changes in technology – particularly in communications technology – on displaced people and those who work with them. FMR 38 also includes eight articles on other forced migration subjects. This issue is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
See more at: http://www.fmreview.org/technology
As drought forces hundreds of thousands of Somalis to flee to Kenya and Ethiopia or to displaced camps within Somali territories, providing financial services might not seem an immediate priority.
nternet cafés in refugee camps allow refugees to maintain and create networks for overseas remittances. For many displaced people, maintaining these ties is vital.
UNHCR has developed Project Tracking and IDP databases for its work in Iraq in order to facilitate its operations at a lower risk to all stakeholders and to improve financial accountability, oversight and transparency.
Geospatial technologies such as satellite imagery provide a means of 'reaching' a conflict zone when on-the-ground reporting may be too dangerous, a region too remote, or access denied.
A recent strategic partnership between UNHCR, the Government of Luxembourg and communications software provider Skype is keeping UNHCR staff in hardship locations in touch with their families and friends.
The lack of higher education opportunities for refugees, many of whom flee before being able to complete their education, is a widely acknowledged problem.
Advances in information and communications technology are offering new solutions to a range of operational challenges experienced in the field. Can the humanitarian community's providers of telecommunications services keep up with the pace of change?
The traditional disaster response community is only now beginning to assimilate the vast changes that new technologies could bring for information management in their field.
The 2010 earthquake in Haiti ushered in a new era for the role and power of technology and communication systems in disaster response, especially for how local responders used them.