A new humanitarian alliance deploys WanderSafe's community-driven safety intelligence platform at no cost to first responders and displaced families across Venezuela and the world.

WanderSafe LLC, the women-led safety-intelligence company founder, Stephenie Rodriguez announced a world first strategic humanitarian partnership with SmartAID, the global disaster-relief NGO, to place real-time, community-driven safety technology directly into the hands of the people who need it most: the volunteers and NGOs responding to disasters and the families displaced by them. The alliance was unveiled from the keynote stage of the Women in Leadership Summit in Marseille, France.

Under the partnership, WanderSafe has made its safety platform available free of charge to SmartAID's humanitarian teams, local charity and first-responder partners, and the communities they serve. This bold action step for WanderSafe comes as a direct response to recent disasters and growing civil unrest and the significant impact that lack of infrastructure has on the most vulnerable and affected by earthquakes and civil unrest  in areas including Venezuela, Jamaica, the Philippines and the Ukraine. 

In the critical first days and weeks after a disaster, when government systems and local emergency services are overwhelmed, the partnership gives communities new agile ways  to share trusted, real-time safety information and to protect one another from the ground up.

A response built for the speed of disaster

When infrastructure is decimated, information becomes a matter of survival. SmartAID is already agile on the ground — deploying WiFi and satellite connectivity, solar power grids, clean water and drone reconnaissance to restore conditions for displaced populations. WanderSafe adds a human-level safety layer on top of that infrastructure.

Together, the two organisations enable communities and responders to:

• Signal for help instantly — send an SOS to a pre-determined "Safety Circle" of trusted contacts when someone is in imminent danger and where social infrastructure is overwhelmed or non-existent and when seconds can save lives.
• Map safety in real time — tag locations as Safe, Unsafe or Useful, with images, visible to the wider WanderSafe user base so neighbours can navigate around danger
• Find what they need to survive — locate clean-water tanks, safe hygiene and sanitation facilities, pop-up clinics, and secure spaces for children.
• Avoid danger before reaching it — receive push notifications when approaching zones that SmartAID's drone and first-hand observations have deemed unsafe, in real time
• Provide peace of mind for Volunteers, Aid Workers and NGOs — Using WanderSafe’s SOS features allows those there to deliver aid to communicate with their cohort immediately, and be accurately located within 3 meters, should intervention be required and where WhatsApp alone is ineffective. 

By combining SmartAID's global humanitarian technology experience with WanderSafe's community-driven platform, the alliance helps communities build their own trusted safety networks, strengthen local resilience, and better protect one another when traditional systems are depleted.

"After more than 30 years working in humanitarian crises, natural disasters, and conflict zones around the world, I have learned one lesson: when disaster strikes, the most vulnerable are almost always women, children, older people, and people with disabilities. In those critical first days and weeks, government systems and local emergency services are understandably focused on the immediate disaster, often leaving communities without the protection, information, and support they desperately need.

Our partnership with WanderSafe represents a significant step forward in changing that reality. By combining SmartAID's global humanitarian technological experience with WanderSafe's groundbreaking community-driven safety platform, we can help communities build their own trusted safety networks, share critical real-time information, strengthen local resilience, and better protect one another when traditional systems are overwhelmed or unavailable.

This partnership is not only about technology — it is about giving people the tools to protect themselves, their families, and their neighbours. It will definitely enhance the safety of SmartAID's humanitarian teams and our local charity and first-responder partners operating in some of the world's most challenging environments.

We believe this partnership has the potential to transform how vulnerable communities and first responders prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters." — Shachar Zahavi, Founding Director, SmartAID

"Safety cannot wait for permission, and it should never depend on your zipcode or your paycheck. When a community is displaced, the fastest first responder is often the person standing next to you. SmartAid’s agile response teams play a powerful role in disseminating location data that can help direct someone away from danger, and to resources being deployed that address basic essential needs by humanitarian organizations.  Our solution provides those in crisis to be able to share critical safety information, and close the information gap between those providing aid and those who are displaced in real time.  Since our inception in 2018, our mission has always been to empower people with the information and tools to optimize their safety and, ultimately, to save lives — and this partnership with SmartAID lets us keep that promise where it matters most, immediately and at no cost. We are proud to hand our technology to NGOs, civil societies, displaced families, and anyone who feels vulnerable and say: this is yours. Collectively through this partnership we’re democratizng safety information in our commitment to Collaboration, the 17th United Nations Sustainable Development Goal." — Fiona O'Donnell, Co-Founder & CEO, WanderSafe LLC

How communities and supporters can help

SmartAID is actively deploying Starlink satellite systems to restore telecommunications where infrastructure has been destroyed, giving displaced communities access to the connectivity that WanderSafe's platform, and basic human coordination depends on. WanderSafe is amplifying SmartAID's appeal for funding these systems. This urgent appeal and Starlink Systems will provide the necessary infrastructure for communication to resume, be it warnings of wiped out roads and destroyed buildings, or community assistance and coordination to address safety personal safety concerns. Community members in affected zones can download the WanderSafe application today and begin contributing verified Safe, Unsafe and Useful information at no charge, sharing and discovering locations where social needs can be met, like pop-up medical centres, aid distribution centres, and clean drinking water stations. 

About WanderSafe

WanderSafe LLC develops a personal safety technology ecosystem that empowers people and organisations with the information and tools to optimise safety and save lives. Its platform includes a globally operable safety application for sending SOS signals to trusted "Safety Circles," community-powered Safe/Unsafe location mapping through the WanderSafe Collective and WanderSafe’s virtual safety navigation concierge, JENI, and the WanderSafe Beacon, a deterrent device that reduces the probability of harm from crimes of opportunity and gender-based violence, regardless of gender or ability. WanderSafe is also completing an enterprise safety-intelligence layer for NGOs, universities, corporate travel managers and organisations that bear a duty of care for their people. Founded in 2018 and acquired in 2024 by owner Fiona O'Donnell of Canberra, Australia, WanderSafe LLC is privately held, women-led and minority-operated, with operations in the United States and Australia.

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