Enabling conversations that improve lives and change behaviour at scale.

by

Alex Carle | May 26, 2020 | in Digital change-maker challenge | ICT applications

Define three specific objectives that you would like to achieve with your proposal.

Wildly Ambitious Goals (WAGs):

Loop has three clear and ambitious goals to attain within the next decade:

A global platform that is driving social change and increasing dignity and understanding worldwide, with 100 million hits a year, that is free to use and 100% self-sustainable.

Below is an articulation of the first measurable steps to take to get there on time.

WAG 1:

WAG 2:

WAG 3:

What problems (particularly in value chain competitiveness and global disruption) are your community’s stakeholders facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

With the COVID 19 outbreak, seeking people’s feedback has been harder due to limited travel and social distancing rules, however it is also more important and communications must be adapted to answer localised questions and fears about this pandemic and other crisis. 

Imagine a person in Mali, receives a cash distribution on their phone, but the bank has no cash and so they cannot pull it out.  Who can they go to for help? Imagine if you are part of a woman's saving group and you know the manager is taking a cut of your funds but who can you tell safely? What if you just want to say thanks to all the people who helped pay for the new well that was built by your community and a local charity? What if i am a donor, how can i find out in an independent way what local people think of the program I am funding? Or how can I as a charity know who is doing a great job in the same areas i am working, based on local peoples feedback?

If people can feedback during or after COVID the funds will have a bigger impact now and in the longer term.

What minimum viable solution(s) are you proposing to address the challenge(s) in your community?

Loop is a website, which will have the folloing functionalities:

1) upload a story directly to the site.

2) read others stories based on a filter relevant to your interests (geography, demographics, service type, organisation or key word). Export data and stories relevant to this search for reporting.

3) read information about each author: age, gender, disability etc,

4) tag in a person who should read the story or conversation thread.

5) receive a notification if you are mentioned in any conversation.

6) show support for a story by Up voting it.

7) reply to any story or conversation with additional facts and information

8) set up a profile page with your organisation or interests and receive a weekly bulletin of all relevant feedback

Share your story (your narrative)

Today if I live in a refugee camp, have been made homeless by a hurricane, am hungry from a drought or live in a context where there is a lot violence, if I am lucky, I will receive some sort of support: a blanket, some food, maybe some medical care or access to a newly built toilet.

Of these people who receive support, less than 10% of them have had any input into saying what they actually need or what will help them most in their time of need. Those surveyed often say that they were never asked and have to re-purpose what they do receive.

As a result, organisations are now often required to get 'Community engagement'. So,  many good organisations, who can get the funding, set up feedback mechanisms: a box for people to post their views, a call centre to give feedback or organise a meeting. 

This feedback often finds its way to a local staff member who types it up and puts it in an excel sheet. This excel sheet tracks what it was about and sometimes, triggers some action to look into the feedback further.  The data is then aggregated and shared in annual report to show how the good organisation listened to the population, the amount of feedback they collected etc. Very few people ever know how to access the excel sheet because for reasons of data protection it may be a small circulation. If they do get access then they are usually from the feedback monitoring team not the ones implementing the project the feedback was about. Also, it is quite boring and time consuming to read through an excel file to sift through what might be interesting or relevant to you about something that happened in the past.

Some organisations have adapted modern technology and are using surveys, implemented by local staff.  They will go from door to door asking selected people a series of predefined questions.  They will have a device and input the answers either directly (or onto paper and then when back at the office will code it and upload it). This data is then translated, cleaned, filed, and analysed to inform that one specific project or response at that moment in time.  The data will be presented nicely in a report which is usually read by the organisation and the donor only. 

Those people surveyed may have views about other things than what the survey questions are focused on.  They may feel like they need to answer in a certain way because of the presence of the people asking with their fancy technology or they may have a great idea later in the day or when speaking with friends and family.

If in an area with a lot of different actors it can sometimes be confusing about who to feedback to how, about what and, there is never a reply and change seldom happens.  People sometimes feel that no one is listening anyway and maybe no one really cares. 

Now imagine a world where I can feedback on anything that is important to me, through my phone, a free messenger service or a text message in my own language.  That rich information is then translated into the major worldwide languages and is available online for anyone to read at any time.

Imagine if that feedback, based on tags I have added and others can also add, is sent to the inboxes of people who have said they are interested in hearing about this area or this geographic location. This would make it easier for them to listen, understand and reply to. 

Imagine, I am sitting at my desk in head office being able to reply in English through an email and it is then translated and texted back to the sender in their local language. 

Imagine if voice messages could be used to share your story as well, or photos and videos. This would add rich and useful insights to be shared and learnt from.

Imagine if I could feedback on all of my experiences from anywhere along my journey as an displaced person or a refugee or through the different crisis that affect my area over time (floods, fights, elections etc).

Imagine if the story didn’t go to an excel sheet but rather to an open transparent dashboard, where we can aggregate and disaggregate the feedback based on where you live, age, gender, or other features.

I, the service provider, donor, village chief, could explore by clicking to see if people older than 60 are saying the same types of things about the project as their younger counterparts, or if women are feeding back at all.

As a researcher I could look to see which 'tippy tap' projects are getting the most positive feedback and which are getting the least, and then deep dive into this to understand why and use that to improve best practices globally as a result.

What if I am from a persecuted minority group who is not invited to meetings or am too scared to voice my real needs and concerns? What if I could feedback on a secure device anonymously about my story? For my reality to be heard and understood. This sense of comradery and security in numbers drove massive change in the #metoo movement, could it be an instigator and add data safely to highly complex and sensitive issues?

Imagine, if I could have a look on an interactive map to see all of the different projects going on in an area and get a sense of the types of feedback they are getting and see their contact details.  Like Yelp or Trip Adviser for the humanitarian system. This would help service providers coordinate and local people seek out the right organisation to help their specific need.

Imagine if anyone who received support via technology got an automated invitation to share their story through Loop and this was organised and shared directly to the organisation delivering the Aid for free.

What impact would this open sharing of peoples rich experiences have on the quality and effectiveness of support? 

All of this is possible with technology that exists today and we are starting to bring it to reality. We can provide this in a safe trusting and independent way globally.

We envision a world where anyone can share their story or feedback on anything that is important to them, at any time, on a device they already have access to.

We envision all of this rich information being available in an open manner in real time to anyone who is interested in the main global languages and in an easy to use format showing quantitative and qualitative data which can be extracted.

Information is power. Lets shift that power to those who know what they want and need and lets listen and learn about how to better serve them in their time of greatest need.

Wouldn’t we want the same?

Please provide any additional relevant information that you would like to share.

Loop has a strong base of support in the sector. We are an independent charity, registered in the Hague, Netherlands. With a representative and active Governing Board and Advisory Board. See below:

Governing Board Members:

Loop is led by a Governing Board of people who come from and understand the needs of vulnerable and marginalised communities.

Geoffrey Kateregga – The Loop President - Humanitarian Open Street Network - – A Ugandan man currently living in Uganda. He is the GIS Lead and Community Programs Assistant at the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team promoting, supporting and advocating for the creation, maintenance, use, distribution and availability of free, geographically referenced data and geospatial information to facilitate and provide humanitarian aid in the world.  A stronger believer in the open movement, Geoffrey is active in open source, open data and open knowledge projects such as OpenStreetMap, Wikimedia, building and leading communities that promote transparency, collaboration, reuse and free access of tools and information across Africa. LinkedIn: https://ug.linkedin.com/in/kateregga-geoffrey-27290b57

  Salama Bakhalah – Salama Mohammed Mubarak is a Humanitarian Practitioner from Yemen. She has more than six years’ experience in the field of Emergency Response and Post Conflict Programming with a focus on internally displaced populations, migrants and refugees. She worked with Organization including OCHA, IOM and UNDP. She acted as head of IOM sub-office in Yemen and Inter Cluster Coordinator with OCHA. She has worked with national NGO’s and supported establishing several  coordination networks. She is passionate about accountability to affected populations and community engagement with a specific focus on community lead initiatives. She was selected by USAID as a Peace Scholar in 2009 representing Yemen and selected by the UK government as a Chevening Scholar in 2014. She holds a BA Degree in Applied Arts and Sciences and a Masters in International Development Management.   

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salamabakhalaa/

Tey El-Rujla– A Syrian born refugee based in the Netherlands, is an early adopter of Bitcoin and has pioneered the use of blockchain to break financial and identity barriers. He started a tech4good company called Tykn, which leverages blockchain technology to build electronic legal identity, authentication and trust service tools for governments, financial institutions and NGOs. Now as the Invisible Man he is using practical well-studied solutions to contribute to how individuals, organizations and nations could preserve the identity of people, and break identity barriers using technology for good.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theinvisibleman/

Staff:

Alex Carle – Loop Director. A New Zealand woman currently based in London.  Alex is a seasoned Humanitarian and Development worker who has been working in the sector for over twenty years. She has lived in 15 countries, across all continents and has worked for a variety of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), with local, national, regional and international responsibilities.  All of this has taught her that good intentions are not enough to do no harm and so, born out of operational frustrations and an optimism that change can happen, she is establishing a Charity called Loop. She speaks French and has two children.

• Twitter: @AlexOurLoop or @Our_Loop_io
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-carle-61453a3b/

Ciaran Duffy –  Ciarán is an independent UX and Service Designer, working with Sonder Design Collective. He specialises in prototyping new digital services in the humanitarian and global health sectors. In 2019, he led the Relief Watch project in collaboration with the Humanitarian Policy Group and Humanity United, which focussed on reimagining accountability for people affected by crises in Iraq. Past clients include UNHCR, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Siemens Healthineers, and Rambus. Ciarán is comfortable planning and facilitating strategic workshops, creating high-fidelity prototypes, and conducting qualitative research with vulnerable populations. In 2016, he co-founded Refugee Text, a chatbot for refugees that delivered free and personalised asylum regulation information to refugees travelling to Europe. You can see more of Ciarán's work on his portfolio here

• Twitter: @theduffy1
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciaranduffy2/

Advisory Board members:

Loop is supported by an Advisory Board of people who represent key stakeholders in the sector and also support the Loop initiative and want to actively support it coming to fruition.

Christina Bennett – START Network Chief Executive Officer.  The START Network extends to over 40 members and their 7000 partner organisations, employing more than a quarter of a million people across 200 countries and territories. The START Network aims to transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localisation.  They tackle big systemic problems that the sector faces - problems including slow and reactive funding, centralised decision-making, and an aversion to change. Prior to holding this post Christina was the Head of the Humanitarian Policy Group and was the Chief Policy, Analysis and Innovation Officer for the UN OCHA.

• Twitter: @cr_bennett
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-bennett-1529711b/

Degan Ali – CEO at ADESO https://adesoafrica.org/. Degan joined Adeso (formerly Horn Relief) as Deputy Director in 2003 and she became Adeso’s Executive Director in 2006. She led Adeso in introducing humanitarian cash transfers in Somalia in 2003, which was later scaled up during the 2011 famine. In 2016, Degan launched the Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR), a vibrant Global South network of CSOs that has since increased to over 200 members. She was the one who suggested to establish a 20% target of direct humanitarian funding to local actors, which was later adopted and increased to 25% in the Grand Bargain commitment at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS).

Degan is dedicated to provide local communities with a voice, and passionate about democratizing the way humanitarian and development aid is currently delivered. She believes in the values of partnership and collaboration.

Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque is the Manager for Community Engagement and Accountability at the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent where she leads a global team supporting National Societies in ensuring that information provision, participation and acting on feedback from communities are an integral part of the Red Cross Red Crescent’s work. Alexandra has also worked with: UNOCHA, where she served as Global Adviser for Community Engagement; the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) as Advocacy and Communications Specialist; Sudan Country Director for BBC Media Action; later as Radio Producer for the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan. She was also a documentary filmmaker, and completed two feature films, including The Longest Kiss, which follows six young Sudanese from different backgrounds ahead of the 2011 separation of South Sudan.  In 2002, she co-founded the non-profit organization Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), for which she was awarded Canada’s Governor General’s Medal for Meritorious Service. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Alexandra has an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics. 

• Twitter: @alexandrasl
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-sicotte-levesque-676285/

Stewart Davies – Stewart Davies is the global community engagement and accountability advisor for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) based in Geneva, Switzerland. Stewart is an experienced advisor and coordinator of community engagement and accountability, with fifteen years' experience in international contexts including in the development, humanitarian and social enterprise and impact investment sectors.

Working in natural disasters, armed conflicts and complex emergency settings, he has led on and supported response-wide collective accountability initiatives in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, oPt, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Whole of Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. Having worked with partners including governments, UN Agencies, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, civil society, academia and the private sector in multi-sector, inter-agency operating environments; he brings a wealth of diverse community-focused experience to the forefront of the global collective accountability agenda. Twitter: @stewartjdavies

Elise Ford - Humanity United.  As a Senior Director within Humanity United’s Peacebuilding team, Elise brings more than 15 years of experience working in philanthropy, international development and politics. She leads Humanity United’s work seeking to challenge existing approaches to peacebuilding and support sector-wide efforts to shift power to local actors.  Increasingly focused on how to leverage this commitment to citizen-led change to kickstart a global conversation, Elise leads HU’s partnership with Peace Direct and Conducive Space for Peace, pushing for peacebuilding reform.     

Prior to joining Humanity United, Elise held several senior policy and campaign positions for Oxfam in Europe, East Africa and the Sahel, and worked as an international development advisor in the European Parliament.  She has an undergraduate degree from Kings’ College, Cambridge, and a Master’s in Public Administration from the College of Europe, Bruges. She speaks fluent English, French and Italian.

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elisejford
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elise-ford-59a75157/

Tanya Wood – Executive Director at the CHS Alliance. https://www.chsalliance.org/. Tanya leads the CHS Alliance made up of over 150 organisations. The CHS Alliance unites its global membership in applying the Core Humanitarian Standard. We encourage organisations to hold themselves to account on how they can improve how they work, with and for, people affected by crisis. Prior to this role Tanya was the Chief Executive Officer for ILEP, leading a passionate Federation of NGOs, who have been working together for more than 50 years, fighting the stigma, disabilities and transmission of leprosy and other neglected diseases. She has also worked for the International Council of Voluntary Agencies and the International Federation of the Red Cross.

• Twitter: @tanyawood00
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-wood-22272914/

Sorcha O’Callaghan – Director of the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute https://www.odi.org/our-work/programmes/humanitarian-policy-group HPG is one of the world's leading teams working on humanitarian issues. They are dedicated to improving humanitarian policy and practice through a combination of high-quality analysis, dialogue and debate. Prior to holding this post Sorcha has been an independent consultant and researcher as well as  the Head of Policy for the British Red Cross.

• Twitter: @sorchaoc
• LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sorcha-o-callaghan-2720904/​ https://www.odi.org/our-work/programmes/humanitarian-policy-group

Your Final Proposal for challenge

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