Facebook to be brought to refugee camps to help UN development plans
THE founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has revealed plans to take Facebook to refugee camps.
Speaking at the United Nations (UN) Private Forum in New York, Zuckerberg said that Facebook would work alongside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to develop the proposal.
In a speech to the forum, the 31-year-old CEO said that internet access in refugee camps would help refugees maintain contact with families, and allow them to access support from various humanitarian organisations.
Zuckerberg was quoted in the Independent stating: “Data can help us make smarter decisions but only if you can interpret it quickly and with confidence, so we want to help the UN make decisions that will advance our goals.
“By connecting more people in developing countries, we have an opportunity to create more than 140 million new jobs, lift 160 million people out of poverty, and give more than 600 million children access to affordable learning tools.”
The move from Zuckerberg follows similar attempts in the wider tech industry to increase internet access in vulnerable areas. ‘Project Loon’ from Google, launched in 2013, hopes to find a practical way to use huge balloons to bring internet access to the developing world and areas hit by crises.
Project Loon is part of a wider effort from Google to achieve internet access for the two-thirds of the planet that do not currently have it.
Picture courtesy of Freedom House