Through its president, Tim Ellam VE6SH/G4HUA, the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is a founding Advisory Board member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Smart Sustainable Development Model (SSDM) initiative. The initiative is aimed at developing an action plan to deploy necessary crucial telecommunication infrastructure to offer prompt assistance in the event of natural disasters. The Advisory Board will guide the IARU’s approach to the initiative. SSDM also could serve to foster economic and social development, providing community telecommunication services where people can have access to education, health, or best practices in any particular field.

The Advisory Board met in Doha, Qatar on December 6, one day before the kickoff of ITU Telecom World 2014, at which Ellam spoke. The IARU played a key role in the development of Board’s final report, adopted at the meeting, in which the Amateur Radio Service features prominently. The report is expected to be available for download soon.

At the meeting the Advisory Board reported the results of work carried out by its working groups. ITU Telecom World 2014 provided an excellent opportunity to advocate for the critical role of information and communication technology entities in saving lives and promoting sustainable development. The ITU believes that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play a critical role in the immediate aftermath of disasters, ensuring timely flow of vital information needed by government agencies and other humanitarian organizations involved in rescue and relief operations.

“[I]ntegrating ICTs into disaster prediction, detection, and alerting would ensure the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction as well as adaptation to climate change,” the ITU said in announcing adoption of the Advisory Board’s report. “Despite the efforts being made in this field, more remains to be done and achievements could have a greater impact if a de-fragmented approach is adopted by combining and crowd-sourcing experiences."

The initiative also targets information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D), and deployment of the crucial telecommunications infrastructure to bridge the gaps and challenges hindering the ability of countries to leverage science, technology, innovation, and culture for sustainable development.