3 mobile tools changing how NGOs interact with communities they serve

The rise of mobile technology has allowed aid to expand its reach to the world’s poorest populations. More than 6 billion people have gained access to cellphones in the past 25 years, but what does this mean for international organizations looking to impact individuals at the last mile? Devex spoke with several development communicators from UNICEF, UNFPA and Blum Center for Developing Economies at University of California Berkeley, to find out which mobile tools are making communication between implementers and the communities they serve more efficient, transparent and operational. Here are three tools you should know about if your organization wants to work even closer with the communities you serve: VOTO Mobile Who’s behind it: Co-founded by Louis Dorval and Mark Boots in 2012, the tech startup and social enterprise is headquartered in Ghana. What it does: VOTO Mobile is a voice and SMS mobile survey service that operates in 37 countries, including Brazil, Ghana and Afghanistan. It allows organizations to receive feedback on development initiatives or push information to citizens within local communities. It’s functionalities have allowed organizations to remind Brazilian citizens to go out to the polls and provide record-breaking maternal health support for rural Ghanaian women by increasing clinic births by 30% compared to the national average. Why it’s a game changer: VOTO fills the gap left by traditional SMS-based surveys, which are limited to individuals who can read and write. It’s emphasis on voice-based surveys also allows for communities to participate in their local languages. VOTO’s platform is constantly changing, driven by partner engagement and feedback and releases new features every two weeks. VOTO hopes to expand to a dozen new countries within the next few years. A strong feedback loop has made VOTO a leader in mobile engagement, said Rebecca Yael Weissburg, vice president of strategic partnerships at VOTO. In a recent randomized control trial, VOTO found that longer introductions on phone surveys, which explained the project, who it served and how the results were used, increased survey completion more than traditional incentives, such as putting users into a raffle to win free airtime. "We're learning to engage with citizens better, we're giving them information on why we're reaching out to them," Weissburg said. U-Report Who’s behind it: Created on UNICEF’s RapidPro software platform, it’s an open-source tool designed by UNICEF Innovation. What it does: U-Report is a free tool for community participation available in 18 countries, including Nigeria, Mexico and Pakistan, designed to capture real-time information from polls on issues impacting everyday citizens’ lives. The information is then aggregated and used by aid implementers on the ground. Why it’s a game changer: There are almost 2 million U-Reporters, with 44 percent between 20-30 years of age. During the Ebola crisis, U-Report was used to survey youth in Liberia about behavior change and post-outbreak community awareness. U-Reporters are mainly youth, but the tool also has registered parliamentarians and global leaders, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The nimble capabilities of mobile tools like U-Report allow for the agility to meet the needs of citizens in emergency contexts. In Liberia, conversations with Liberian teens and youth were central drivers to its redesign as UNICEF tracked the epidemic. “We learned about the behaviour change in designing with and talking with youth in Liberia,” said Blair Palmer, lab lead for UNICEF Innovation in San Francisco. “No one was responding to it because it didn’t make sense [to them].” Echo Mobile Who’s behind it: Co-founded by Jeremy Gordan and Rachel Brooks, Echo Mobile is based in Nairobi, Kenya. What it does: Echo Mobile is a cloud-based communications platform designed to collect data via SMS, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, automated voice response, Android tools, and remote sensor-based data collection. Why it’s a game changer: While Echo Mobile started out as a tool to interact with farmers, it was most recently put to the test during the Ebola crisis to collect open data on the spread of Ebola in affected countries in a partnership with IBM Research Africa and Airtel. While the buy-in from NGOs to adapt mobile technology to their work is slow moving, international organizations looking to illustrate impact to donors are becoming more incentivized to bring data into discussions earlier in the monitoring stages of initiatives, said Kweku Opoku-Agyemang, postdoctoral fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at University of California Berkeley. “Many aid discussions happen outside poor communities, there are less and less reasons for that to be the case,” Opoku-Agyemang said. “I can sit on my laptop and do a survey, and in a week, I can have 1,000 responses … If I’m creating an initiative to help poor people, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have their feedback while I’m doing it.” Devex Professional Membership means access to the latest buzz, innovations, and lifestyle tips for development, health, sustainability and humanitarian professionals like you. Our mission is to do more good for more people. 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