CHA23 Panel 2 Digital technologies and accountability in humanitarian action

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good morning afternoon evening wherever you are  tuning in from in Berlin it's four o'clock in   the afternoon we already had one session for for  those joining us online and who might have just   only joined right now we are on the second panel  before we have been talking about power   imbalances from a more Global Perspective trying  to understand where are we at at the moment when   it comes to Equitable Partnerships and as well as  Technologies how they can use or can be used to   tackle power imbalances in this second panel and  unfortunately you'll have to listen to me for the   next five minutes because I will give you a bit of  a background and an introduction to our panelists   before you will hear very interesting practical  examples from the different organizations we have   on the panel today so we'll be mainly talking  about in this panel how digital Technologies   can actually be used to strengthen accountability  or probably not so it's a quest question mark and   we will hope to understand more about it during  this session so just a quick reminder for those   who have only joined us right now I have to  kick off with a few housekeeping rules so   for you to remember the session will be recorded  so it will be made available externally we have   for any questions and comments Andrea  Steinke our colleague from the center for   humanitarian action will help us with the online  comments and questions after the panel discussion   and then we all again have a discussion with the audience and some special guests who will   challenge the panelists on site it's a one hour  panel we hope we'll be on time we'll try our level   best but before starting the presentation  and the discussion a quick introduction of who's   sitting on the on the plateau for today myself  for those who have been already around I'm Andrea Düchting from the center for  humanitarian action I'm a non-resident fellow have   been working on digital accountability and I'm the  main focal point on the work stream of data and   digitalization with me today on my left we have  Barnaby Willitts-King from the GSMA and Barnaby you   know that I always keep forgetting the  abbreviation of what GSMA stands for by this   GS mobile Association as far as I understand  but you will hopefully give us more insights   about that later on it's a network a membership  organization working with mobile operators based   in the UK and Barnaby himself is the director of  research and policy at the GSMA and probably you   know him from his past present experience at the  ODI humanitarian policy group where he was mainly   working on digitalization and digital inclusion  and the digital divide as well to our far left   we have Kassem Chaalan hopefully pronouncing  it correctly joining us from the Lebanese Red   Cross from having flown in from Beirut and he's  the director of disaster risk reduction at the   Lebanese cross as already mentioned and as if I  understand it correctly it's your 20th anniversary   with the Red Cross in Lebanon since you  joined in 93 joined 1993 so it is almost 29.   okay so a lot of experience he joined as an  emergency medical technician during those days   and since 2012 he has been systematically scaling  up disaster risk reduction in Lebanon with the   work of the Lebanese Red Cross last but not  least we have Valentina shafina who is from the   International Rescue committee she's the client  responsiveness now I have to look at the board   again client responsiveness and client-centered  programming so what this is all about we will   learn about in a second the Valentina has a lot of  experience in working on accountability to affected populations Community engagement and ways and  part well increasing strengthening participation   of affected populations and humanitarian action  so sorry for this long story and now I will give   you a bit of a background of why we are sitting  here and talking about digital accountability and I have to click myself sorry I forgot that one nope switch it on first of course since  we are talking about technology here we go   um exactly so why are we here talking about  digital Technologies to tackle power imbalances   so we're at the center for humanitarian action  we conducted uh well we published a paper earlier   this year looking at how technology can actually  strengthen participation and accountability so   some of the key findings which are relevant for  the discussion today and which are based on the   literature review and discussion with several  practitioners working in the humanitarian field   um is so to say and well digital transformation  is not happening overnight it's a long journey   and we will hear about this journey later on and  we well we have to take into account that it can   be an option it's a viable option but it's not the  only one as well so we have as already mentioned   in the previous panel we have analog communication  tools we have digital communication tools and it's   a choice and we need to understand which of the  choices are actually preferred by the people we   want to communicate with so we also learned that  it's not easy so we talked about data protection   we talked about privacy we talked about Frameworks  we talked about Investments capabilities   capacities so we need to find simple answers  to operationalize actually a very complex topic   into well practical realities and with the very  experienced panelists today will provide a couple   of examples how this could actually work so the  practitioners I have spoken to mainly recommended   that for actually having a digital transformation  and also talking about accountability and all of   us who have been working on accountability  know it's a mindset shift it's not happening   in a day it's the way we approach we co-create  we co-design our response and our way we work   to support local communities so we also need  a nuanced approach meaning on the one hand we   do have all these risks and they are overwhelming  and they are very important and we are all afraid   that we all know about data we have heard about  data protection in various forms and because they   are so overwhelming we sometimes so often forget  that people have a choice to choose if they want   to use the whatsapps the telegrams the tik  toks or whatever or if they want to continue   talking with us face to face so do we actually  know what are these preferred communication   channels do we actually know about it at the  same time of course we want to do no digital   harm and we want to as we learned early on not  increasing accountability but not vulnerability   and of course that's why we are here  which we have been talking about   we have so many diverse stakeholders in the  in the in the sector and in the ecosystem we   have the private sector we have local Red Cross  societies we have local organizations we have   international organizations INGOs but we also need  to listen and involve Those whom we are meant to   use this technology for so there's the question  of co-designing and co-creating which Juliet was   referring to in the previous panel as well and I'm  sure we'll learn about it from from Kassem later on   with that I will hand over soon to Kassem to give  us some insights and experience from the Lebanese   cross but we also want to involve the audience  and understand are you using actually digital   Technologies in your daily work to increase  accountability and if yes how are you using   it and which Technologies are you using so we  would like to ask you to use this short survey   so you can access the survey either through the QR  the code which is on the screen and online or you   can also use the hyperlink which is shared in the  chat or using our web page the program conference   webpage lineupr when you scroll down to the panel 2  you will have the link to the survey as well we'll get back to the results in a second with this  Kassem I would like to hand over to you and ask you   I mean we have been talking about well we have  raised all these buzzwords of accountability   participation engagement and now Having learned  that you have been with the Lebanese Red Cross for   so long how have you been starting your journey  on digital transformation how have you been well   using digital Technologies to engage people over  to you thank you can I have the pointer please yeah so done with you took the code yeah so through our experience as Lebanese  Red Cross will be speaking more about the   digitalization and how we are using that on the  preparedness and response and even during recovery   and and again always we need to ask  ourselves why you are using digitalization   it is not about digitalization and by itself  alone I mean you will not find solution   so this is what we really this is what we  learn the Lebanese Red Cross we started in   Lebanon since 1945. and we really start  to focus on digitalization in 2018.   but again that really took us through the  experience of the games through our position   with the government and the acceptance that we  have with the local communities so in addition   to my role I am the LRC focal person as the DRM  at Council of ministry were there where they are   taking really all that decision when it comes to  the National disaster risk reduction and National   Response preparedness because if you are speaking  about change only at the level of organization   then simply there is no sustainability and  it will stay at the level of the organization   and that it will end up on doing competition  between different organizations and there's   always question what is in for me and for us what  we are trying to do is what we need to do for the   community and we should work with the community  in order to maintain sustainability and for us   we start like baby steps for us the dream  was we just we need to come to show map with   points really to understand where our  operation is for the search and rescue   and then when we really start to invest  more on the community preparedness and the   government preparedness through the disaster risk  reduction we've done one visit to one of the local   government or actually Union of municipality where  they are really focusing a lot on digitalization   and they was funded by big organization and they  just asked me look at this map we have all this   multi-hazard existing then I asked him can you  please take me through the map and simply I was   not able to translate this map into action so  again it is not really about we as International   humanitarian organization this is not how we can  support the localization I mean it should come   with the community in order to understand that  and now if you can see really in these pictures   here we start to develop the survey based on the  community need in order really to understand the   local need based on the multi-hazards that they  are facing based on based on the capacities that   they are facing and again to help them to do  to do like mitigation prevention and response   but in order to do that we really make sure  that we've done because again here like you   know one step back who's our community you are  always speaking about Community localization   and for us there is multi layers the bottom up  and the up button approach that they are fitting   to each others so one we really need to consult  with the government what is really existing and   what they know and what they need and how  this data can really feed in and help them   then you need to go back again to the local ngos  to really understand from them what they need and   what is really existing within the international  organization and within the government and this   is we call it stakeholder mapping stakeholder  analysis look at the existing and build on that   and for us we took the scenario of 2006  war in Lebanon if the people they knew   that it was really big war where most of the  road are blocked and there's data required   and people they were requesting support again  I will jump back again to the Beirut blast in   last two years where we see how this  data help us again it's really good   and bad story for us you will not be able to  test this tool unless there's something happen   and in Lebanon we are in a response mode every day  and we are doing development as we go so we were   really able to test and pilot all this so we  developed 33 data collection survey on all of the   capacity that was that we found out the local NGOs,  International ngos, UN and the government need   so this is the buy-in and then again why we need  this data it's one we need we need to save life it   should help us to access this information easier  and we need really to establish that platform easy   to deal and easy to use how we come up with this  data we consult with the community communities are   speaking about it and then communities they map  it on the paper where it is and then jointly with   a community we go down to start to collect this  information and we empower the local authorities   to keep updating this information I'm not saying  life is easy and it's functioning everywhere   and again we we again looked at the other part  so all this data that we are collecting here   it's really pumping here and then we start to  speak about the multi-hazards as the communities   as they are facing and they just draw it on the  map and then our team they go down and they just   sketch the hazard and yeah and it's not only about  the hazards that they are facing even the impact   because we really need to see the impact  So based on that and based on the existing   capacity can really help us to take the  right decision then during beirut blast   we found out that this data is really very  irrelevant to help us to take decision but then   we we need to find way how we can communicate  with the community in order to address their   need and we start really to to look for a solution  so why we came to this idea because we found out   people there in the news they are saying no one  answering the phone we are not able to to reach   them and then we consult with the local ngos  and with the international ngos and we came up   we work on the CRM system where it's like  starting to Do complete comprehensive mechanism   I'm not sure about the time it's not moving  the clock is running how many meters still have   no no okay I will jump faster than so for us   and based on this data we we were like better  prepared during cholera so during covid-19 we we   we established survey on the survey one two three  where the community can request a oxygen machine   and then it's not limited to even we  found out that communities that they   are not able to use the survey how they can  do it they can just simply call the hotline   so again there's no one solution fit all it's I  mean you need to work really on the multi-function   we were better prepared during cholera based on  all the lesson learned that we learned from covid where they took decisions and indeed they need  to they need to do Mass vaccine as a country   level since we have the capacity of the hospitals  pharmacies phcs schools Etc we just took this map   we added there and we share this information with  other organization to help them to understand   really what is the need and where is a special  need as well to help them to pass the response   actually normally I go through this presentation for  two hours I'm trying to do it in 10 minutes   and and really is a last point where we again  doing very engagement with a scientific National   Research Center as a country where we engage  with scientific body with the DRM at Council   of ministry where they are the decision makers and  again we used our experience with them and we came   up again to this dashboard it's helping for early  warning mechanism for the forest fire for today   tomorrow and the day after tomorrow simply I will  conclude here and I will be around if you have any   questions later on in order to do that in order  to do the change we need really to come together   Community local institution private sector  government and scientific body and we should build   on existing mechanism and existing structures to  maintain the sustainability as we go thank you I forget to mention you have the  barcode here where we have the   story map all what I just presented  you can see it in the next story map exactly thanks a lot Kassem this was  super impressive and I took a few   and notes for the next panelists to find  to complement what you have been talking   about you said that we need we have to  come together all we have to discuss   as a community so that's why we also  have uh let me call it I'm not sure if   it's actually correct to say that  gsma is a private sector representative   um Barnaby with us today so but before moving  to the question to you Barnaby we would like to   understand if you actually use Technologies in  your daily work and what kind of tools are you   using because for any kind of tools you are using  you would need connectivity by mobile operators   which Barnaby will be soon talking about so if we  can get the results from the survey that would be   brilliant just to get an idea if our assumption  proved wrong or false so most of you are using it   it's a pretty overwhelming kind of feedback and  then let's see what kind of tools are you using okay so I guess most of the tools and we  have been mainly asking about digital tools   of course they all need connectivity and as we  were assuming there are not so many colleagues   or organizations using chat or voice Bots yet  so let's see if we can learn a bit about how   this could actually be helpful or maybe  too risky to to apply to Barnaby we have   now learned that most of the organizations  are using digital Technologies in one way   or the other for supporting and engaging  affected populations so what is the role   of the private sector or an organization like  gsma to share those experiences over to you hi there thanks very much Andrea and thanks Kassem for that really um I'm going to also talk a bit   about Lebanon um but just sort of taking up your  point about the use of Technology um 95 of the   world is is covered by mobile internet and and  over half of the world is actually is actually   using it so I mean really interesting results  there so much use of technology so it's enormous   reach of mobile technology which means it's a uh  super important to engage people where they are   um this is an increasingly digital and  mobile sort of platform for engaging   um so mobile operators can strengthen  accountability to answer the question   simply by providing a platform for affected people  for humanitarians and that includes local actors   um so the gsma is the global trade Association  of the mobile phone industry and we have over   700 mobile network operators as members across  the world and the program I'm in the mobile for   humanitarian Innovation program is part of the  foundation activities which is funded by the   UK government um and our aim is to support  and expand responsible digital ecosystems   in humanitarian crisis and we do this through  Innovation grant funding Partnerships connecting   with tech industry and humanitarian agencies and  we also work with governments to overcome policy   and Regulatory barriers and then finally research  and learning to to build an Evidence base on how   to do this effectively and there'll be some  links on the presentation so a lot of what we   do effectively is to encourage the industry to do  more to support humanitarian crises not through   giving money particularly but through appropriate  Innovation through responsible Partnerships and   um and overcoming some of  these legal regulatory barriers   so to get a bit more specific there's lots of ways  that I think you know we've heard about already   and in terms of how agencies use mobile services  for accountability there's hotlines different   apps two-way engagement as well as the sort of  broader things that we heard about in terms of   Assessments data collection mapping and so I think  the theme of of successful Partnerships is really   important because successful mobile operators have  a very good understanding of how people use mobile   services and how to design something effective  for them and and I think where they then co-design   something a product with uh with humanitarians  and other local organizations um they can together   make sure that these are appropriate consistent  with humanitarian principles and also adhere   to good practice in terms of data protection and  which is something that you know mobile industry   has to take very seriously um so a specific  example of where the gsma has brought together   um technology and humanitarian agencies to  support accountability and participation is   a chat bot for engagement with Syrian refugees in  Lebanon it's called a Solace bot so we provided a   fund to the NGO a grant to the NGO solidarity  and they developed a WhatsApp messaging chat   bot for syrians it supports in 300 field  sites so it's a very extensive program   the they were finding their telephone hotline  was often busy people didn't feel like they were   actually being listened to so to this point about  designing for the how people use the technology   um the chatbot used WhatsApp which was a very  common platform but it also Incorporated voice   recognition and used machine learning because  people were very comfortable with leaving voice   notes um to to provide feedback so so this was  a really interesting example of where actually   this was co-designed between an NGO working with a  vulnerable Community but with with the technology   platforms um just just to sort of point to another  area that I think is really useful important   um particularly in humanitarian crises is is the  use of anonymous platforms and I'm one of these   that many of you may be familiar with is is Loop  which I think is a really important example of   how particularly where you can have it in a mobile  enabled way so people can really access a platform   to provide Anonymous feedback particularly on  sensitive issues this is a way to encourage   people to engage to encourage communication but  to do it anonymously so the sensitive information   um isn't at risk so I guess I'll just close  by saying the key theme that that we see in   our programming and I'm happy to talk about it  more later is is meeting people where they are   so many people are digital but we'll come  back to where that can be a challenge and how we   overcome some of the risks of exclusion thank  you thank you Barnaby thanks for this very   nice for me helping me to ask my next question  to Valentina actually because as you mentioned I   mean there's so many people are online nowadays  and are connected but we also have people who   are not connected and we also learned that  it's very context specific and that's why we   have also well looking at the International  Rescue committee Valentina looking at you   you have a client responsiveness approach  what does that actually mean and when you   think of technology and when you have  introduced technology and you work   from a client responsiveness perspective  how do you approach it and what are your   experience when using Technologies to actually  strengthen accountability and participation thanks a lot it might be a very yellow slide so  maybe let us let us move to the to the next one   so uh yeah I think just additional Food For  Thought to the to the audience today I will   take us a bit step back closer to the concepts  of accountability to affected populations we   have been talking about it I mean since I started  working in the humanitarian sector I feel like   Grand bargaining participation Evolution was on  the agenda and like since I've been working the   progress is not really Advanced and there are now  people turn more and more towards technology to   basically find new methods solutions to finally  be accountable to the populations that we serve   um but I will take a step back around what we  observed within the organization is around the   behavior internal incentives so like yes we have  the global commitments yes we all understand and   agree then we need to follow them but they're  all the time are the priorities risks we all   work in crisis settings so how do we actually hold  ourselves accountable to those AP commitments but   also provide systems methods for a community for  effective communication with people to yeah do the   same with us so what we have been doing within IRC  for quite some time is basically to shift those   organizational strategic priorities and  incentives among our staff so one of the   first steps for us was to not talk about  beneficiaries anymore because it's a very   disempowering term it doesn't really help  anyone it doesn't really help ours with   working with the Frontline staff and basically  communicating this message that you have to be   engaged with the communities you need to listen  to their needs you need to prefer communication   with them using the methods that they would  like to communicate with you and you need to   spend time working with the communities and  not just write another proposal at your desk   um so yeah one of the areas that helped us to like  shift this internal incentives to really put this   term within our organizational AP framework was  around client responsiveness and using terms of   clients maybe bringing us more to the perspective  of humanitarian agency provides services we   supposed to provide services based on the needs  and preferences of the clients that we serve in   the private sector like the power imbalances or  like the power relations are completely different   clients decide where they bring their money in  our sector unfortunately these powers are not   exactly the same so people are supposed to benefit  from the services but actually they don't decide   what they would like to receive they just get  something provided by the agencies also with   the trust most likely to the agencies that they  of course will provide what is needed but well   that's not always the case so I think yeah one of  the internal organizational strategy was really   to like shift this perspective and you know like  sometimes I feel like no I'm going the wrong way I   feel like simple things have just communicating it  within the organization that it is organizational   strategy it is an organizational culture it is  applicable for all staff to make sure that clients   are in the center doesn't matter where you work if  you work in finance in supply chain in programming   it was really very helpful and Powerful within  an organization to align it with our mission   values and you know like I work just like on one  sector of client responsiveness part of the small   team and we're supposed to influence the shift  within the whole organization that operates and   I don't know over 30 countries and this is not  easy but I would say it really helps to go with   this like one organizational voice and among all  the priorities that we're working on to put it at   the center to make a clear message that you have  to do it it's everyone's responsibility it's not   only the responsibility of the meal you need to  set up a survey it's not the responsibility maybe   of a person to set up a WhatsApp Channel and then  magical respond to I don't know 500 requests per   day this is physically not possible so I think  that's where it takes me to the solution with   the Technologies so when we open communication  channels and of course with like good intentions   we do open them with like hotlines SMS I was  surprised to see so many responses with social   media accounts I would love to hear how people  manage data security and privacy with this method   but you know like you open the channel and  of course people are hungry for information   so they call and use it but how do you do data  management so I would never work with our teams   to open hotline without actually having standard  operating procedures roles and responsibilities   data management imagine tomorrow you get 500  responses what you will do with that if you   get those and you don't get back to people people  don't call the line they don't get a response they   are dissatisfied they're really annoyed with  the support that they're supposed to receive   their promise but like nothing is coming out of  it so that's really not helpful and this is when   technology comes in we have several examples with  moreover like low cost solution when you just use   open platforms like CommCare ower BI it's for free  maybe not power bi but at least CommCare you do   case management forms you do data management you  do data floors you train your staff and they are   responsible to do this work because they see this  very yellow sign every day to a workspace that   they have to put clients at the center when you  open the hotline again using the examples of the   private sector you know like customer support from  the private sector we're all called the hotlines   and I do love chat box but I'm the kind of person  that I use the voice but most likely I just wait   till the operator answers so yes that's how we  work and that's how a lot of people and I would   say especially looking at the preferences of our  clients I'm actually asking how would you like to   communicate with us most likely they would like  to speak to a real person I mean with the chat   box I actually also agree that it's a very good  solution when you have ready responses but with   the tendency how fast tracking our programming  is how many changes we do sometimes like updating   our frequently asked questions and responses  basically you have to update them maybe every   day and this is time and effort so uh yes there  should be a real person on the headline and yes   it is an investment but there are also Tech  solutions that will help us with like I don't   know waiting lines there are ticketing systems  like jira and zendesk that helps you with that   as well so I would say yeah there are solutions  technology helps to that for that terms but it's   kind of like one piece of the puzzle there is a  lot about organizational culture there is a lot   about buying and prioritization from your staff  who works with clients on the day-to-day basis   and yes of course technology can help us with the  rest so yeah thanks a lot for your attention so   technology can help us with the rest taking you  words now um Kassem I'm asking you I mean you   said it it was well yesterday you said it's a long  journey where we spoke so in the quick few words   um what were the main Milestones on  this those on this journey to actually   co-create have local actors involved and to go  digital six years and five minutes [Laughter]   you know for us one of the main challenging  that we found out you see the operation team   working alone and you have the IM and the  development team on the other side and that   really will achieve nothing because for us the aim  the IM team they should develop based on the need   of the operation team to feed in the community  need and this is for us what we really change   we make sure even with all of our stakeholders we  run through Workshop we put the IM team together   and the operation team together and we've done  brainstorming then the operations they start to   understand what the system can do and then the  development they start to understand more what   the operation team they need because at the end we  need to accept by starting we need to start baby   steps we cannot do everything and we do and and we  really need to understand that we will do a lot of   mistake at the beginning and then we should to  learn from our mistake and this is another point   that we are not learning from our mistakes and  we are not building on existing uh like you know   development take the scenario of covid-19 there's  a lot of things happen now when we went back to   speak about cholera I mean we like start from from  like like scratch that means there's already a lot   of things taking taking place so so this is one  second there's always question what is in for me   and for us again for all of the international  organizations the question it should be what   is in for the communities and we really should to  come together it's not about competition because   what we found out that when we run to up to any  Workshop everyone trying to introduce what they   have instead of listening what is existing at the country and how you can help them to maintain this   sustainability and the last point for the partners  and donors and back donors it's really very   important to focus on the complementarity on doing  linkages between the dots and if you fund and if   you need to fund any projects our recommendation  is really very important to see look at the   existing like projects taking place let's to make  sure that there's proper mapping and it's very   important for the donors to speak with each other  it's not only the international organization or   the local organization but like you know forcing  all of us you know I mean at the end it's like   you know one business all of us we should force  each others to come together it will not happen   overnight then we can save a lot of money we can  do a lot of achievement by building on different   projects this is a complementary approach thank  you so if it's a complementary approach what is   the private sector bringing to the table Barnaby I mean we heard about the challenges which uh   Valentina was referring to um and probably the  private sector or mobile operators you mentioned   there are more than 700 stakeholders how can they  support the sector and overcoming those challenges um yeah it's a it's a really good question I  think actually sort of client responsiveness   as as Valentina uses the term is I think is is  definitely one of the elements of it um but I   just want to say a little bit about this this  question of how do we how do we improve people's   connections and and avoid exclusion because you  know the world is becoming more connected but   people in crisis are often the least connected and  as we've heard from the previous panel you know   being connected comes with its you know new risks  that are attached to that so I think the best the   best example is where you know mobile companies  in in our case actually see it's important to   invest in a particular service in a particular  area where that's going to allow accessibility   to to women or people with disabilities and there  are some operators who see this and they see the   business case and there's a very good example  in in Pakistan Jazz the operator there has got   a really you know Progressive approach to to  inclusion but it's not true of of every part of   the industry so some of the things that we do to  encourage that and encourage this sort of mutual   learning is is better understanding the challenges  so this is you know context specific understanding   really understanding the local context um we have  a tool actually if I can find the slide again   um which is called CoNUA which is the  connectivity needs and usage assessment tool   and um okay don't worry the colleagues work  maybe we can search for it that's all right   um anyway this is about understanding where there  is connectivity um and it's something we developed   with with reach and with the emergency telecoms  cluster uh yeah there it is CoNUA thank you um and   that's so you can see where there is connectivity  and make the case for where you need connectivity   so a really good example is from Sudan where um  this survey was done it established that actually   there wasn't much connectivity in Refugee  hosting areas and so actually UNDP ended up   funding temporary mobile Towers to actually show  The Operators look there are tens of thousands   of refugees here really actually desperate to use  your services humanitarian agencies who want to do   mobile money cash transfers um so it's worth you  actually putting your your money in there and so   that's actually led to permanent infrastructure so  there's a real sort of you know partnership there   but also researching the barriers is is  critical this is something we spend a   lot of time looking at is it about you know can  people afford handsets can they afford data can   they charge their phones these are all barriers  that you know I mean we're all familiar with but   even more so in in humanitarian crises are  there legal barriers like refugees not being   able to access or register SIM cards and then  cultural social particularly language barriers   um next week we're actually going to be  publishing the the annual mobile gender gap report   um and one of the statistics in that annual  report is that women are 19 percent less likely than   men to use mobile internet in lower middle income  countries and that that's actually the Gap is is   widening having closed a bit during covid so sort  of understanding why that is is is critical and   we did some reports um some some some primary  field research in three displacement contexts   Papua New Guinea Lebanon and South Sudan which  was called the digital worlds research and I'm   just gonna go back to this the digital worlds of  displacement affected communities and this was   really understanding how differently people use  their phones so in Papua New Guinea there was a   big language barrier as well as digital literacy  being a huge barrier whereas in Lebanon huge   challenge was around scams for um people getting  messaged on their phone about resettlement so   understanding the different challenges is critical  and digital literacy and Trust actually trusting   to use the chatbot it was a good example of where  actually people don't always trust the chatbot for   the reasons that Valentina said so we have also  got a mobile internet skills training toolkit   um which has been used in in 27 countries just  a final thing where I guess a sort of another   example of where we've learned across between  the private sector and humanitarian agencies   is in Rwanda the the mobile operator there has  trained their agents on the humanitarian code of   conduct when they're actually working with  refugees so they understand the particular   situation that refugees are in so I guess  those are just a few examples of some of   the ways in which uh private sector tools  working with humanitarian agencies have   sort of been tried in particular countries  and then actually scaled up and I think the   the very practical Partnerships are really the  way to to learn combining this sort of client   responsiveness with the sort of humanitarian  understanding of of the needs of affected people. Thanks Barnaby

before turning to the discussants the last question to you Valentina um so as Barnaby was just saying combining client responsiveness and   Technologies or private sector   perspectives how is that actually possible  and what is your experience on that one um yeah very very good question and I think that's  where I will turn more to the work or like one of   the enablers that we know is very critical around  the work with like partners and Frontline staff   so you know we do develop a lot of very fancy  tools uh sometimes at the HQ level or through the   country program I don't know Tech team that like  yes we have the problem we'll tackle it and then   with the expectation that you know like in the  end of the day people who will be using it on the   day-to-day basis are those who work with clients  with the affected population on the day-to-day   basis so our key priority needs to be that people  on the front line stuff feel comfortable using it   we make sure that in multiple cases the results of a huge assessment was actually saved just   by talking to the Frontline staff who works  with the affected communities every day you   don't necessarily like humanitarian sector loves  assessments right like we have so many of them but   um I think we need to reconsider how  much information and how much empowerment   empowerment we need to give and facilitate with  our partners and Frontline staff who knows much   better do people use uh mobile phones and what is  the access in a way that we all see like when we   live in the community we don't need an assessment  to see who is using phone or not we basically have   this information Frontline staff are usually  coming from the communities that we serve so   how about talking to them how about making sure  that they are eyes and ears of the areas where we   work and they can be much more involved in the  design of the communication channels design of   our programs design of our interventions and  they are the one who in the end of the day a   face of the organization so I think this is a huge  component on the like people puzzle at what I like   sometimes refer like is there people processes  technology in a way that people that work within   the organization they need to value client values  the current client perspective client feedback   client complaints and really take it very serious  and act upon it that builds trust they are the one   who represent their organization so people need to  trust them even to hold to call the hotline that   has your logo or to use the chat box or to answer  your survey questions honestly because uh you know   like the humanitarian responses usually takes  quite several years people are getting surveyed and assessed multiple times while they're leaving  the refugee settings and I mean people are smart   they know the questions they hear the same people  coming over and asking them the same questions and   you know like well you can use the system you can  turn it around you can answer but you know like   it's really sometimes the way that we need to  uh use this like personal communication through   the Frontline staff and also support it with the  technology so just technology again it can help   a lot private sector has a lot of experience  around the efficiency so we need to learn from   them around their finish and see we need to learn  from them not to develop and use software for each   and every problem there are so many uh existing  solutions that we need to use maybe pay for some   subscription but you know like it potentially  has been tested by the private sector we don't   need to test it ourselves yes we need to adapt it  through a crisis setting this is understandable   but yeah if I see another team who are opening a  call for a vendor to develop a platform software   that personally makes me like very unhappy  because we don't need another platform to   be developed we need to build on the experience  that private sector is already doing and adapted   to the crisis settings but we need to make sure  that our Frontline staff is also on board under   able capacitated trained when needed to use it  in the best way possible so yeah thanks a lot   I mean this we can at least I feel it like  that there's a bunch of experience and a lot of   um examples out there and on the panel as well  and I'm already alerting you will be running   five minutes late so bear with me um I would like  to turn based on what we have learned and all the   examples from the different stakeholders  in the sector I would like to turn to our   discussants and those who have tuned in online  we have a special role during our session we   have two discussants for this session we have two  colleagues represented from the so-called Global   south or local Partners or just colleagues  who challenge us on the panel to give us a   feedback of what they have heard and what they  have taken along and maybe raise the question   so let me turn to Chilande first who's turning  tuning in from I think Nairobi or Kenya at least   um great unfortunately Chilande couldn't make it in  person she is representing the Warande Advisory Center   so as a very bunch of very experience a lot and  Chilande we are looking forward to hearing from   you what you have or what you would just like to  want to share with the panel with us over to you   thank you thank you Andrea and um it's like  Valentina had what was going on in my head   when she made her last comments and made me throw  away all my other bullet points um but especially   really appreciating the role that you know what  you're calling the front line workers I'm assuming   these are some of the your local um country  colleagues have to play in trying to get some   of these things up and running and some of this  acceptance of the tools that we are trying to put   out there are going much faster so thank you for  those comments and thank you for the comments that   everybody has put out their casimits I appreciate  that you especially the acknowledgment that it's a   journey that you're making it's been six years and  a few hours I suspect uh you will multiply that um   before we get to where we want to get to but thank  you for that um on this question um around how   we're using digital uh Technologies to reinforce  accountability in humanitarian action one of the   things when I was just smiling and even as I was  listening to all of you speak I kept going back   to I think technology is fantastic but from where  I'm seated I always always have to go back to that   this technology is either being developed or being  administered by human beings um and and when you   think about it from an accountability perspective  sometimes it's not just about the technology but   the human behind some of these technologies that  makes it either difficult or very easy for this   to open up the doors that we want to open uh  when you're thinking about accountability in   a humanitarian action certainly from the Civil  Society organizations that I've been working with   um in sub-Saharan Africa um quite a lot there's  a lot of prerequisites to ensuring that we do   see and feel that accountability across the board  what tends to happen is that we get we try to use   technology to get information to mine information  we design Technologies to collect information for   us to make decisions for us to understand for  us to therefore come back with Solutions and   I'm liking the temple that has been set by the  panelists which basically moves away from being   extractive because that's how technology tends  to be introduced to some of our communities and   actually starting to look at how do we actually  begin to have participation how do we actually   begin to have meaningful participation in this  sector so that we can actually get sustainable   um you know effective and Sustainable Solutions  to the challenges that we all face so some of   the things um that I want to to keep to keep  challenging us those of us who are coming up   with Technologies those of us who are thinking  about using Technologies is how are we using   this technology to enforce what we call Dynamic  accountability accountability across the whole   spectrum of the stakeholders that are involved in  humanitarian actions it's not just about getting   information from the community to the other  side how do we ensure that this technology   also helps us the other way around how are we  as those of us who are administering this Tech   um being accountable when we take in this  information and when we analyze it how what   else what happens then how do we then go back  to the community in a way that is Meaningful   in such a way that they then get encouraged to  keep participating or interacting with some of   these Technologies uh I'm not surprised that  social media was top of the list of how we   engage with our our clients because it allows  us to be interactive it's much better than for   example a Survey Monkey where I type in and  I send it to you and then I have to wait for   the executive summary of a document uh to tell  me what the issues were so just as an example   um I think what we want to do is use more and more  technology in this action that is that encourages   interaction that the feedback loop looked is  continuous that we are getting information we are   feeding it this way and this information is also  being fed back on the other way so what I would   um because I know we don't have much time um what  I want to put out there as as things for us to   consider as we use more of this technology uh in  humanitarian action is what are we doing how are   we using technology to ensure that we are working  in a way that is easy for others to see what we   are doing even for those of us so that we we open  up the space between the two let's use technology   in a way that actually creates that eases that  interaction I know what you're doing and I know   most importantly I know why you're doing that  I know why you're bringing this technology so   I was very appreciative of the narrative that I  had where um especially I think it was you Barnaby  that talked about spending some time to explain  the why of a certain tool the second thing I'll   say is then how do we then use this in ways that  are appropriate to all our different communities   um to help us listen and help us to be open  to constructive criticism that comes so that   we can learn together so that we can  make decisions together we can address   them together so that Solutions are not only  being set by one side I think technology is   not being utilized enough to actually have  co-creation of decisions and solutions the   challenges that we've faced how are we ensuring  that there's multiple stakeholders that are   playing an active role across the whole chain of  humanitarian actions that we're trying to take   um how we then creating building relationships  along with this technology that we are putting   out there so that we don't just become very  transactional it doesn't just become a scientific   um Affair that is you know a scientific process  of um of you know utilizing this Tech and lastly   what I'll say is therefore let us reflect  a little bit on on therefore the changes   that we need to make uh with how we utilize  what technology we're using how we utilize it   and then they saw what after that to make this a  meaningful stakeholder engagement that encourages   um you know encourages credibility across the SEC  all the different stakeholders that encourages   Clarity that respect that maintains respect across  the board and most importantly that encourages   trust uh across the whole um engagement of the  key stakeholders now I could say so much more   but I just want to put those out there for now  because I was told I have about three minutes   I'll be back next time if I came I would say  some more but thank you so much Chilande it was actually   I guess six minutes but that's fair enough um  quickly turning to you Maira Vanesa we have   a second discussion to give her some feedback  before turning to the questions and then we'll   combine everything to wrap up in a very probably  kind of speed dialing speak reacting way of trying   to take the time but first to you Vanesa thanks  for joining us from Caritas Colombia and we are   happy to listen to you what your reactions are  to what I've been just discussed thanks hello   hello everyone my name is Maira Vanesa Mendoza working for Caritas Colombia and a focal point for together a project   um first um one second my notes connecting  with Julie's ideas in the previous panel   and with Kassem in this panel is very important  that donors listen more the needs and difficult   difficulties at the local level um I think  that many donors um establishing requirements   but it's difficult to find Qualified staff in  in different different locals place okay   but um the local organization don't have  access to resources in in many times   and in conclusion the general generation  of capacity capacities and a condition at   the local level is very important and I have  a question to Kassem um what solution do   you suggest in remote areas without internet for  example amazonas in Colombia's case for example   thanks thanks a lot Vanesa um we will pick up  that question in our wrap-up session so bear with   us that we I think we have so much to learn about  and we have mentioned earlier and it's a complex   topic and I think there's a lot to discuss but  we also want to hear of course from you and if   there had been any questions from the from the  chat and looking at Andrea's face I imagine it   has been quite active yes I have two questions and  two comments for our panelists or for our um whole   audience here the first question is from Abdul  Khan who asks what are the measures already taken   regarding digital downward accountability toward  the affected population slash in Refugee settings   um there's another question from a German  organization which I think goes to the IRC and   the Red Cross does your organization partner with  tech companies from the private sector to learn   especially from customer relations management  for example and if so do you see value in that   kind of conversation um then there are a couple of  comments the first one who thinks that this   conference is really important and interesting  but uh it would appreciate he would appreciate   or would also uh make the conference better if  we would think about ways to include include   french-speaking uh audience as well so this is  something that we as CHA would take with us and   and try to be better next time and I guess there  is a digital solution for this one as well and the   last comment from the chat goes to Kassem from who says excellent presentation very   much enriching and valuable and I think this  is something that we should also um present to   you thank you thanks a lot the quick run for  those who want to raise an on-site question   I hope you're not too tired to ask  questions quickly we will pick up   two three two or three more questions and  then we'll wrap up in the follow-up session   the mics are in front please enter quickly  introduce yourself for the people colleagues   online to know who is speaking and  thank you for turning them in English   it's working yeah oh I'm uh I'm Patrick hamadi  I work at humedica here in Germany uh in the   Alps I'm a policy advisor there my question is I  think I've listened to all of you and I stand in   full agreement to you in fact we ought to clap you  but they have one burning question that is on my   mind one we realize technology is not necessarily  developing at the same Pace everywhere throughout   for example many of the countries in sub-Saharan  almost almost many people have tele telephones   that's not an issue I was the other day  in a desert in Sudan and I saw somebody   at Sudanese on a in a camel with the Chargers  cell phone charger I mean a solar charger and   so the issue of funds and communication is not  a problem but the issue is what type what skill   and all that so the tools you're developing are  they accessible to all these different levels of   Technology of of uh of gadgetaries that are  available in the different settings because   if that is not being taken care of then somebody  would complain about technology apartheid within   the humanitarian setting that's the question that  I had by me thank you thanks a lot   so people are not yet fully asleep so give us  five more minutes to answer those questions   um let me turn to you first born and be there  was a question maybe we can pick on the on the   last one and what has been already done um  actually in terms of digital accountability   and what kind of skills I actually needed  to make those tools which are available at   the moment accessible to those who might not  have the right or sufficient digital literacy   data literacy capabilities so what is your  key message which you want to take us home   yeah I mean I I think to sort of emphasize  what I was saying earlier I think this   question of understanding what the barriers  are whether it's it's a technology question   um in terms of actually Mobile isn't the answer  as we heard from from Vanesa you know you may   not actually have connectivity you can't rely  on it um or you have a you know a very simple   phone so I think designing for the appropriate  technology or no technology is really important   um and then understanding where the people  you know are not actually able to access those   Services they don't have uh literacy it's in the  wrong language it's not in French um so there's   so many so many barriers and it sounds obvious  but actually I think so many programs you see   don't have the resources don't have the time  particularly in a crisis to to understand what   those barriers are but I think my final message  is really you know there's a building evidence   base and it's something that we're really Keen to  build as evidence-based of where are some of the   challenges but where are some of the solutions  because there are there are solutions out there   thanks a lot Barnaby, Valentina there  was a question on the tech Partnerships   um what is your experience and what  is the added value working with the   technology or I.T Tech sector and what is your  key message which you want people to take home   uh yeah I think um in our case uh we do have  several instances of like learning more and using   jira's and zendesk that are like private softwares  and yes a lot of customer support services use   them uh but it definitely is something that uh  in each context uh needs to be identified for   the area where we work uh what is unfortunately  the situation that private sector doesn't come   across is a lot around the coordination between  mobile operators so it seems to be such a like   easy fix to set up like a one single short hotline  number in in Germany in Berlin but when you start   doing it in Colombia in Kabul uh or in Amman even  it seems to be such a complicated process that if   people who haven't worked on this before and  just rushing into these problems makes a lot   of mistakes in the beginning and then it becomes  a very expensive thing to fix something in the   process or just basically delete and start from  the beginning so I would say looking at the local   providers First coordinating with where possible  like International platforms because once you   deliver develop it in one context most likely with  the much cheaper and faster Pace you can apply   it in another context and basically instead of  developing something very country specific you can   take care your pilot your example from Latin  America and

2023-06-17

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