The United Nations World Food Programme is working with its partners to expand a cutting-edge, digital booking platform that offers a "one-stop shop" for humanitarian workers in remote locations, giving them access to housing, travel and medical services, WFP said on Tuesday.
“This is a great example of working together to deliver a customer-focused service,” said WFP executive director David Beasley.
“It fits into the broader spirit of a more innovative, effective and efficient UN,” Beasley added.
The roll-out of the humanitarianbooking.wfp.org platform to wider audiences coincides with UN General Assembly meetings in New York, and "is particularly timely in an era of multiple humanitarian crises," the WFP statement said.
The user-friendly platform offers allows humanitarian workers access to some 150 UN guesthouses, 285 UNHAS flight destinations and driver pickups, 45 UN medical clinics and 27 psychological counsellors in more than 50 countries.
The hub is especially useful in an emergency as it gives humanitarian workers in inaccessible locations information online about available accommodation and advance booking, and offers key information such as on the need to carry sleeping bags or food rations, according to WFP.
WFP said it worked closely with other UN agencies and services, including the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to produce the platform which can be easily used by some 300,000 aid workers from different agencies.
The WFP-operated UN humanitarian air service (UNHAS) and UN Medical Directors (UNMD) also collaborated on the platform's design, the WFP statement said.
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