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Robin Burton. Who We Are. The largest humanitarian organization in the world 187 National Societies 100,000 employees 14 million volunteers worldwide. Why We Are Best Placed To Help Disaster Affected People. An auxiliary relationship to national governments
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Who We Are • The largest humanitarian organization in the world • 187 National Societies • 100,000 employees • 14 million volunteers worldwide
Why We Are Best Placed To Help Disaster Affected People • An auxiliary relationship to national governments • Most governments contract with the national Red Cross or Red Crescent Society to deliver certain relief services in time of disaster • Governments also provide substantial funding • Therefore usually able to bring many more resources to bear in time of disaster compared with NGOs
Who We Are IFRC Vision Three strategic objectives (S2020): • Save lives, protect livelihoods, and to help communities to prepare for, and recover from, disasters and crises • Enable healthy and safer living • Promote social inclusion and a culture of non-violence
What is Beneficiary Communications? • A beneficiary is a person who receives a service from the Red Cross. In other terms, beneficiaries are our customers. • Beneficiary communications is about empowering people. It uses communication channels to effectively connect humanitarian programming with the people they are designed to support. • Beneficiary communications is a global IFRC initiative. We have a worldwide license agreement with Trilogy International Partners and plan to deploy in 40+ countries.
Your Network Can Save Lives “An SMS from the Red Cross … gave me more hope” Andrena, Annexe Camp, Haiti
Location Targeted SMS • Prompt warnings of floods, hurricanes, fires • Information on where to find medical help, clean water, food, shelter • Advice on what to do • Feedback showing where aid of various types is most needed • Increase the efficiency of Red Cross efforts on the ground
Automated Response • System identifies key words e.g. “Cholera” and responds with an automatic message giving advice • Allows team to handle extreme high volumes of demand • Provides statistics to help manage demand
With Minimal Disruption to Your Network • Control always remains with you • You decide the rate at which messages can be sent • Localised messages • Minimises the number sent • Increases the impact • Timed messages • Off peak messages • Operated by specially trained Red Cross staff
Why SMS? • The most basic service on a GSM network • Will be the first to be restored after a disaster • Uses very little network capacity • Message stored on the mobile phone • Supports “run and tell” to get messages to those without a working mobile phone • Can be forwarded to people on other networks
Where Did TERA Come From? • It has been designed by Trilogy, a mobile operator in conjunction with the Red Cross, addressing practical implementation and operation concerns for both sides • Designed in response to the earthquake disaster in Haiti
Performance in Haiti • Delivered 70 Million messages • Prompted over 1 Million people to respond and ask for help and information • Improved effectiveness of aid effort
Results in Haiti • 25% of people have received a Red Cross SMS • Many others had information “passed on” • SMS about weather and health most popular • 95% said SMS was useful • 90% acted on the SMS
What do people think? The message about cholera was great. It explained how to prevent cholera by washing hands. It was very useful for me because I didn’t know what precautions to take. I shared the message with my sister, who has a baby. Red Cross SMS talked about hurricane and what to do in heavy rains – like don’t cross rivers, keep the children close to you. These messages have been very helpful and useful. I hope I’ll be receiving more SMS, because even if I have nothing to feed myself, an SMS from Red Cross will make me feel ok and give me more hope. Naomi Fils-Aimé, Champs Mars Andrena, Annexe Camp I would like to be subscribed to the Red Cross SMS service because I have a Digicel phone and I have never received an SMS from the Red Cross. Caller to Red Cross radio show on 05.10.11
What We Are Asking You To Do • Give us access to your network in advance of any disaster • Under clear terms of usage • Provide two simple servers and a small Oracle licence • Work with our team to implement the system (about 25 man days of effort) • Provide us with SMS messaging free of cost • Except in emergencies messages will be sent off peak • Messages are also localised to avoid “SPAM” effect
What We Will Do • Connect your network to our regional disaster control centre • Ready to move into action immediately it is needed • Co-operate with other agencies to minimise the requests made to you for help • Control usage to minimise the impact on your network • Report to you on the usage that we have made • Treat any information about your network or customers in full commercial confidence
Safeguards For Your Business • Only sends messages to active mobile handsets, reducing congestion due to undelivered messages • You are in full control, throttling the number of messages available for relief work • Sensitive information, such as cell site locations, can be hidden from Red Cross operators • Use is governed by a mutually negotiated SLA, guaranteeing that the system is not abused • Full audit trail maintained to support this SLA • Full roles and rights system structure
Why You Should Do This Now • It is the right thing to do • You will give your customers the best chance of surviving a disaster • You also give them another reason for choosing your network • The cost and effort is very little by comparison with the good that you will do • It is estimated that in Haiti an investment of about $50K by the network delivered as much as $3 Million of effective benefit to the aid effort
