ENGAGING THE VALLEY IN DIGITAL PROTECTION
Hello San Francisco, my name is Yannick, and I am a Global Shaper from the Geneva Hub.
I love to say that becoming a Shaper was the best thing that happened to me: it broadened my horizon, allowed me to meet people from countless backgrounds and nationalities — with the objectives of working together to impact the world in which we live.
In every city I travel to, for work and leisure, I love to connect with Global Shapers and dream together about ways to leave no one behind, as we look at issues connected to the fourth industrial revolution or globalization 4.0.
Something about me?
How to protect people is one of my core passion, and luckily, the priority area of work of the institution I work for, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The ICRC is a humanitarian organization mandated by States parties to the Geneva conventions (you probably have heard of them) to bring assistance and protection in places affected by conflict.
Conflict? Yes. You heard it well. As an organization we work in about 90 countries, and all they have in common is war. Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Congo DRC, and the likes. And as a neutral and impartial organization, our core concern is to put humanitarian needs and the people affected by conflict at the core of what we do. For more info about the work of ICRC, have a look at the video below.
What does it have with your trip to San Francisco?
Over the past few years, we are witnessing two important shifts:
- People living in conflict zones are often connected. They are using new technologies (especially mobile connectivity) in an increasing manner. This behavior tends to impact humanitarian organizations like ICRC in different ways. The provision of WiFi, in addition to food and shelter, is more and more expressed as a basic humanitarian need. People connected while being in conflict zones also expect you to engage with them differently. While the ICRC’s comfort zone is face to face communication, we understand that we need to be accessible to people where they want us to be. This is surely something we need to be better at.
- Digital threats are increasing. For instance, mobile communications may be surveilled and monitored, people’s movement may be tracked by their phones, and the sensitive information stored on their mobile phone may exposed them to immense dangers. For them, technologies could be a risk.
For an organization like ICRC, a neutral and impartial humanitarian organization, we need to ensure that new technologies are not creating an additional (digital) vulnerability. As we embrace technologies, we need to ensure they are allowing ICRC to enhance its neutrality and impartiality, and eventually protect people and respond to their needs.
Concretely, what are you hoping to achieve while in San Fransisco?
Two main reasons.
First and foremost, I am here to connect with my colleague Mark Silverman. Mark most recently was working for the ICRC in Myanmar and was recently posted in Silicon Valley with the objective of engaging the tech community on issues connected to digital protection and the overall digital transformation of ICRC.
I am also here to explore new horizons in the interface between new technologies and digital protection in humanitarian action. As you may realize, we are more interested by the people/trust side of technologies.
Can you think of anyone who would be relevant in this conversation? We would love to engage with them. Feel free to reach out to me directly here if you are interested to connect, or if you can think of someone relevant to meet.
Cant wait to see you again, California!
