Twilio supports Tech To The Rescue to build a Tech for Crisis Response Unit

We are proud to announce Twilio as the first supporter of our Tech for Crisis Response Unit. This grant from Twilio.org’s Impact Fund will enable us at Tech To The Rescue to build preparedness of Local Aid Responders in the Middle East. 

Jacek Swiadkowski, CEO at Tech To The Rescue

Why a Crisis Response Unit? 

We believe that technology is crucial in providing fast and targeted support to nonprofits that are working in Crisis Response. Through our experience in supporting nonprofits in Ukraine, Syria, and Turkey, we learned that local nonprofits are under immense pressure to address burning needs and, at the same time have very limited time resources, and technology competencies.

This is where we at Tech To The Rescue, will step in with our expertise in impact tech and a community of more than 1500 tech companies willing to engage in social impact projects.

What kind of organizations do we want to target?

We focus on Local Aid Responders, organizations that play a crucial role in the successful and effective rollout of any disaster response campaign, and organizations working on preparedness. In practice, these are small and medium organizations working in countries affected by the crisis, which take the biggest responsibility in the first couple of weeks of the crisis.

Technologically, they are most often not prepared for scalable response and we believe that our commitment and support may help them to become more efficient, resilient, and informed, and thus be able to save lives.

How do we kick off the Tech for Crisis Response Unit? 

We address the current humanitarian crisis happening in Gaza and the Middle East, by establishing connections with trusted organizations working in the area to identify current needs and realistic implementation potential. Our focus is to support organizations working on preparedness in neighboring countries (West Bank, Egypt, Lebanon).

What is the long-term plan? 

Our goal is to establish a Crisis Response Unit that works in the fields of:

• Building Local Aid Responders’ Preparedness in the regions of the Middle East, Horn of Africa, and Eastern Europe.
• Creating an Emergency Response Fund that will enable TTTR staff to go on the frontlines of high-profile crises and support the implementation of tech in these areas
• Offering a Tech Warehouse for Crisis Response, consisting of a catalog of proven solutions and a roster of tech talent to support non-profits in tech implementations quickly.