Are you unsure about how technology may be able to help you to achieve your humanitarian sector objectives? Do you want to understand where emerging and existing technologies can assist people that are in need?

I would like to give you some of my experiences and open up some ideas on how potentially the use of technology in the right way can give you more opportunity to really help those in need.

Let me tell you a little about my background and why both technology and the humanitarian sectors interest me and why I feel that a combination of the two can give some amazing outcomes.

My name is Matt Twilley, a British and Global citizen. Since my childhood, I have always been fascinated in sci-fi, airplanes and the general onset of physical engineering advances enhanced by computer technology. The likes of Star Trek and the programme screening doors opening automatically when the characters approached them which is now an expectation rather than a small miracle of the silver screen have inspired me to believe that if you think about something innovative and can get others to support you then it can really become a reality. Of course, we have not yet gotten to teleportation and warp factor nine, but it is still very visionary.

I spent much of my spare time watching technology documentaries like BBC’s Tomorrow’s World and more recently Click to see what the trends and latest innovations were. Robotics, nano-technology, autonomous vehicles and so much more have become realities that we have to thank those with a technology mindset to bring to us.

There are many ways in which technology has been used to advance the worst side of humans, with weapons, malicious hacking, corruption and vote rigging all being headline news. My focus here will be to share the positive side of the use of technology and test some thoughts on near to medium term solutions.

So, what does this have to do with technology? Let me share with you how the donations were used to help those in need.

SUPPORTING FOUNDATION WORK

Fistula in Tanzania:

In 2014, a serious health problem, fistula in Tanzania, was the focus of the Vodafone Foundation. This condition is caused when a mother has a prolonged, obstructed labour without the access to emergency health care. In many cases, this can lead to severe pain, restriction in blood flow and quite often the death of the baby. The effects can include physical and emotional challenges for young women, who can be left with uncontrollable incontinence and being banished from the community that they have grown up in. Emotionally, this can be devastating, leading to isolation and permanent damage if not treated.

Fistula repair surgery was common practice in wealthy western nations in the late 1800s but across Africa and Asia there are still today at least one million women still suffering.

With the use of donations by very generous people and organisations, Vodafone Foundation in partnership with Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) was able to mobilise a network of ambassadors to host awareness workshops. Technology played its part with mobile technology allowing communities to be more connected than before as well as providing a payment methodology (M-PESA) for taxi drivers to bring young women in labour to newly built hospitals with midwife support.

Vodafone M-PESA was launched in 2007 to provide a simple yet effective mobile phone-based money transfer service. Community leaders could use M-PESA on their mobile devices to transfer payments to taxi drivers for a journey that previously was long, arduous and quite often not even undertaken by young women.

Under the Moyo Challenge Vodafone saw a 36% increase in women reaching the medical care they need during labour and set a goal to eradicate the condition in Tanzania using the simple technology of mobile money payment.

The Girl Effect:

Four years later in 2018, Vodafone Foundation teamed up with Girl Effect to raise awareness of little to no education of girls across the globe. Particularly vulnerable young girls from 14 to 19 years old in poor communities or in some cases refugee camps have no information available to them on relationships, contraception, gender-based violence and that everyday knowledge that many of us take for granted.

This compounds a vicious cycle of poverty and social issues leading to many of these girls never achieving their true potential or dreams. 

Three key data points were focused on by Vodafone:

• Girls are being left behind with mobile, and internet access is growing rapidly but not equally

• Boys are 1.5 times more likely to own a mobile phone than girls

• 52% of girls have to borrow a mobile phone if they want access compared to 28% of boys

Through the donation of $5m to be leveraged to bring in a total of $25m the collaboration aims to empower 7 million girls to have access to a mobile platform, information and education to break the cycle of inequality.

INNOVATION WITH NGOS

As the Head of Consulting and Innovation in Vodafone and the VP Business Development and Strategy for a start up, I have had the privilege to work with multiple NGOs that are striving to balance reactive project management with strategic innovation.

Since the dawn of computer technology, we have all been pushed to a world of faster, smarter, better information sharing and outcomes. This does not exclude the Humanitarian Sector, with the use of technology to inform, control and predict future situations that as humans we may be limited to act upon.

Most recently we have seen the pandemic of COVID-19 and it is likely that we are going to have to learn to live with this virus and those that are still to come to us in the future.

In the examples of innovation and conceptual ideas below I have outlined where technology could assist us to bring a better future to all of us.

Border Control for Infectious Diseases

Yellow Fever in Africa:

This is a widely known and easily spread disease across areas of the world that are subject to mosquitoes.

Although death is not common, this disease can turn into an epidemic in heavily populated areas. Across Africa many borders have controls in place of Yellow Fever inoculations through a physical card.

Unfortunately, the controls are not as effective as they could be as there is often complacency through high volume of travellers crossing the borders and understaffing or lack of continuous education of the border forces. It is inevitable that without tight controls diseases will spread across countries impacting many more lives than necessary.

Let’s start with the use of technology right back at the medical records of individual travellers!

What if:

• Records of all Yellow Fever inoculations were on a database that could be accessed without breaching any data protection laws

• Digital Identity of all travellers could be linked to the inoculation database

• Detection of any travellers without a database record could be automated through facial recognition screening and/or passport control

• Overcoming the tech-skeptic challenges:

• Data protection is a sensitive topic and the majority of countries will want to ensure that information about individuals is used for the right reasons by the right people. Technologies today, including blockchain are designed to follow GDPR and other local data protection laws.

• Digital Identity can include self-sovereign data that allows the individual to select which information is used for which purpose. For example, deselecting medical records when applying for a driving license.

• Working with the telecommunications companies closely would be essential to ensure that there is coverage in emergency locations. One example of overcoming this is with a mobile network, for emergency set up of a network through suitcase sized base stations and masts.

By reducing the need to check every individual for an ‘in date’ inoculation through a physical card, the border control teams could focus their attention on those that are not on the database and their other duties. This exception approach can give the border control teams heightened importance of those few that need to be controlled and measured than trying to control every single person and devaluing the purpose of the control measures.

Technology that could be applied:

• Cloud database for access of information online without a heavy cost of an IT infrastructure

• Blockchain for Digital Identity and self-sovereign personal data control for travellers

• Video and/or data analytics for facial recognition and passport controls

• Artificial Intelligence that could use data insights to predict future virus spread

As an added outcome to this innovation, governments and health authorities could have access to anonymised data to measure effectiveness of disease control and insights for future measures, such as border control team education, extra staffing where required and closure of danger points.

Test and Trace of COVID-19

Global Pandemic Technologies:

We have all been impacted by the latest global pandemic, COVID-19 in some way or another.

Control of this disease on a global level is extremely difficult to coordinate and to have one solution that fits across all countries. So, the adoption of multiple technology solutions has been tried and tested throughout 2020. There are also some extremely basic solutions in place with a lot of paperwork being used for airlines and borders, not to mention hospitality venues, sports events and schools.

There is still a long way to go to be able to manage a coordinated approach to pandemics or other diseases and viruses that could easily move across the world. As with Yellow Fever in Africa, there are some measures in place, but the effectiveness and balance between health and economies are a fine line.

In addition, with COVID-19, not only do we have to think about those infected, but also the silent carriers that show no symptoms.

What if:

• We could all have confidence that those around us were not infected through a test and trace solution

• Travelling between countries was fully opened with all entry and exit points able to detect, sanitize and prevent the spread of COVID-19 or other infectious airborne or direct contact diseases

• Anyone with COVID-19 or other infectious airborne or direct contact diseases asked to quarantine were able to be tracked and confinement enforced through a database and wristband tracking system through the telecommunications networks

• As we have become more and more protective of our personal data for very good reason, in the case of pandemics and where data and information can help prevent serious illnesses and death, then perhaps the use of technology through Digital Identity and self-sovereign personal data control could be one answer.

Technology that could be applied:

• Cloud database for access of information online without a heavy cost of an IT infrastructure

• Blockchain for Digital Identity and self-sovereign personal data control for travellers and to use in combination with test and trace mobile apps

• Video analytics detection of virus symptoms at country entry and exit points

• Test and trace through digital wristbands, telecommunications networks and GPS tracking of registered mobile devices for self-quarantined individuals

• Information sharing through GPS tracking of potential proximity to an infected person (with data fully anonymised)

• Artificial Intelligence that could use data insights to predict future virus spread

There are continued debates on the right answers and the correct use of technologies, but the ideas above are some that are being researched and deployed in some areas of the globe. There remains the challenge of balance between managing viruses, diseases and the global and local economies.

From a humanitarian perspective, then the control of viruses and diseases may be the priority and focus, whereas governments and business leaders may want to focus on other economic and political priorities. In some way, the use of technologies could bring both closer together and allow us to protect ourselves as well as socialise, work and travel globally.

Management of Fund Distribution and Supply Chains

Refugee Camps:

In an enterprise world, the management of its supply chain can be the make or break of how effective the business is. Take for example, Amazon, who without a well-managed supply chain would never have become the corporate giant that it is today. It is essential to keep the supplies moving and keep the margins and any intermediaries down to a minimum.

Now let’s have a look at how a combination of technologies could assist in the management of a supply chain for humanitarian purposes and the fair distribution of funds to individuals across the refugee camps.

Humanitarian NGOs and agencies do need to ensure that they control their costs, funds and expenditure as much of the resources come from private and enterprise funding. Any misuse could lead to a cut or reduction in investments and the inability to continue with the great work that is already being delivered.

Working backwards from the individual refugees, imagine if each person was given a quota of the food, water and sanitary supplies, based on their profile (single person, couple, family with children, etc). To be able to ‘purchase’ their daily quota then they could use a controlled mobile money app linked to a database which controls the distribution and use of the funds and highlights where funds are not being used and potential problems in any individual refugees. At the same time, the supply chain is updated on an individual level that is then informed automatically of any stock depletion and reorders for just in time delivery allowing valuable resources to be distributed across multiple projects.

What if:

• Individual food, water and sanitary supplies were able to be controlled through a mobile app and theft, oversupply was minimised

• Alerts and notifications were given to the charity and relief workers of any underuse of the resources which could highlight a health or welfare issue

• Supply chains were automated through a database of demand and supply with app and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies – connected data and information from multiple sources through a mix of physical hardware and software

• Modelling of future refugee camps funding and supply could be forecast based on data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) – using data to predict future outcomes

I have highlighted some benefits here of using technology for fund management and supply chain. These ideas could be expanded on across other resources throughout a refugee camp or even on other projects to tighten controls and allow for better management without the additional overhead of human resources that are not focused on direct support for the refugees.

Technology that could be applied:

• Cloud database for access of information online without a heavy cost of an IT infrastructure

• Mobile Money App for use within the refugee camp only allowing controls on an individual level of supplies. For those without smart devices, an analogue system is readily available and can be used to check balances and usage

• IoT enabled supply chain with the use of AI to control the supply of resources based on information from a cloud database of individual demand

Depending on the location of the refugee camp, mobile money could also be used by the charity and relief workers to pay for local resources, supplies, tools and equipment. This reduces the security risk of having physical cash, particularly in areas of already heightened tension and poverty. 

Drones for Good

Delivering medicine in distant places:

Since the launch of more cost effective and less military focus, drones have been continually brought into the discussions on how to serve people that are in need that are difficult to get to due to local infrastructure issues.

In particular, medical supplies have been delivered to health centres in remote locations. Notably in Sierra Leone, where UNICEF has benefitted from a newly launched drone corridor, something that already exists and is saving lives in Ghana and Rwanda. In this use case, the drones are being used to transport medical supplies for women that would typically be at risk of maternal death. The drones enable the health centres to receive blood for the young mothers as there are limited facilities to store this vital input at a critical moment and swiftly.

What if:

• Patients could get urgent medical supplies within hours in locations where they would normally have to wait days or more

• Healthcare centres could get the latest medical resources that are available through direct delivery instead of having to rely on cumbersome supply chain routes

• Drones have been most recently used in the fight against COVID-19 in a multitude of countries, including the UK, Rwanda, Ghana, China and Chile. Their purpose, once again, is to supply medical supplies to those in need, quickly!

Raising Awareness with Virtual Reality (VR)

Bringing the crisis closer to home:

We all know how difficult it can be sometimes to share an experience or information about a crisis situation that the audience you are addressing has never been directly involved in.

In 2016, Virtual Reality was used by Charity Water to bring to an audience in New York City the water crisis of Ethiopia.

The exhibit ‘The Source’ allowed a visual experience for the audience of the daily chore a 13-year-old goes through day after day to collect fresh drinking water for her family. She was also trying to educate herself, which many young girls really struggle with if they must fulfil this duty to keep their family going.

What if:

• You could educate an audience of a crisis or situation that required their attention or funding, without the expense of having them visit the location themselves

• The story was told through the eyes and voices of those that live with the crisis or situation every single day, instead of you trying to do the same on their behalf

• This could be done using a smart device placed into some Virtual Reality googles

Virtual Reality is being used for a variety of educational purposes and there is no reason why the Humanitarian Sector cannot capitalise on the use of this technology. Examples that are already up and running are of refugees camps, a charity giving event and even a simulation of dementia!

The more that the audience gets their virtual senses on the experience, the more likely they are to be able to empathise and work with you on ways to fund and support the outcome you and those in need are looking for.

Technology that could be applied:

• Virtual Reality can be used through simple goggles (some are even made with cardboard) and a smart device to a full technology independent set of VR goggles. This can be used to showcase and educate people about the humanitarian work being conducted

• ·Augmented Reality (AR) is similar with real videos or live capture and overlays of information to assist people in what they would like to do. For example, a medical doctor could be trained to conduct operations with the use of AR goggles and information displayed onscreen to assist in the learning.

The Humanitarian Sector’s Customers

Delivering out comes to enterprise customers is often a challenge, especially when expectations differ and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are tightly managed and stretching.

In the Humanitarian Sector, the ‘customers’ are often two-fold:

• Those in critical need of support and assistance from the NGOs or charitable organisations

• The investors and sponsors to the NGOs and charities

Expectations for both parties do need to be managed and controlled. The use of technologies described in the use cases above do go some way towards ensuring that there are measures and controls in place.

For those in need, the sector cannot be expected to deliver beyond essential needs and support at a time where it is needed. And for the investors, their funding needs to be shown to be going towards the right outcomes.