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In this – the largest refugee crisis since World War II – innovation and applied technologies will once again have to be solution-based and rapidly deployed. After all: radar, cryptography, logistics, and nuclear physics all made definitive contributions to victory in World War II.
According to Reuters, as of early March:
During a variety of recent domestic and international crises, we have provided research and analysis on the role technology-driven solutions played in the initial response and/or recovery efforts during these crises. What is always compelling to us is the immediacy and human element of these case studies – and the deployment of these technology platforms in a crisis situation – which reminds us that technology can and should be a force for good. At times, we are grappling with so many unintended negative consequences (misinformation, etc.) of technology that this positive reality is easy to forget.
Yesterday, IBM and the Ukrainian Embassy in the Czech Republic announced a virtual assistant- “E-konzul” – that will provide (in the Ukrainian language) information to Ukrainian citizens in the Czech Republic. According to the IBM Think Blog for Central and Eastern Europe:
The Ukrainian Embassy sought a way how to help [refugees] effectively in their difficult situation after crossing the border to the Czech Republic. The Ukrainian Embassy has used IBM Watson Assistant to speedily launch a tool that can help thousands of Ukrainian people entering the country. The virtual assistant answers relevant questions related to registration, visa, employment, travels, notary services, etc.
Ukrainian Ambassador Jevhen Perebyjnis highly appreciated IBM’s help in creating a chatbot. “The chatbot will simplify our communications with Ukrainians who need consular assistance in the Czech Republic. Citizens turn to us in typical situations like, for example, when they need to issue a new passport or register a newborn child. In most cases, a virtual consul could replace a call for a consultation with a live consul.”
“Getting the right information to people quickly is important in a humanitarian crisis. AI-powered virtual assistants can help organizations build conversational interfaces into the applications, devices, or channels that people rely on for information. Working with the Ukrainian Embassy and a group of IBM volunteers in Europe, we were able to get E-konzul up and running quickly, connecting Ukrainian citizens in the Czech Republic to essential information and services,” explains Zuzana Kocmanikova CEE Consulting Deals Leader from IBM.
IBM Czech Republic is in negotiations with the Ukrainian Embassy in the Czech Republic on how to extend E-konzul’s services to other countries (such as Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary). This could help more Ukrainians to get the relevant information they need when they live abroad. After necessary adaptation to the context and specific situation in individual countries, the virtual assistant should be able to answer any relevant questions of refugees located in any of the countries mentioned above.
The e-consul is available on the Telegram network and is about to be launched on the embassy’s website and Facebook profile. (3)
Deloitte has also launched IRENA – Immediate Refugee Need Assistance –an omnichannel platform that includes a voice bot (a voice communication assistant) and a chatbot (a chat communication assistant), a call center, and tools for task management and planning, but also a knowledge base (a set of instructions and procedures). Non-profit organizations can use this solution during immigration crises to handle incoming questions and requests. IRENA uses artificial intelligence, among other things, and can therefore adapt to users’ current needs. It is also scalable and available in a number of languages in addition to Czech, Ukrainian, and English. See IRENA: Voicebot and chatbot in the service of non-profit organisations helping refugees.
In September of last year, during the fall of Kabul, we first reviewed Ehtesab – an Afghani company founded to foster change and enhance civic engagement. The design of their eponymously named app is a multi-sided platform for local community building and creating a dialogue between neighbors. The app was originally designed to target parliament members in the Afghan parliament to increase the community awareness of their activities, increasing their accountability directly to the citizens themselves through the multi-sided software application
Many crowdsourcing platforms have values intrinsic to their architecture and design, such that user activity eventually presents as a source of value separate from the designer’s initial intent. Startups then pivot their business model, re-aligning their entire operation for scalable value creation. Such is the case with Ehtesab once the app was in use during and after the fall of Kabul.
26-year-old Ehtesab founder Sara Wahedi adds: “This app was not meant to respond to a fall of a country, but that is the situation we have been presented.”
This pivot is a reminder of the role customer feedback loops can play in all product development – and crisis conditions distill the pivot users are making in their usage and behavioral patterns. CNN Business reported back in September: “Now this service has taken on new urgency amid the rapid political and social change following the Taliban’s takeover. While the app has been downloaded only 5,000 times by people in Kabul and elsewhere — a tiny portion of the city’s millions of residents — the company says usage has surged in recent weeks.” “The main focus has been, obviously, providing reports that affect Afghans’ access to food, access to banks, access to movement,” Sara Wahedi told CNN Business. “We try to mitigate as much anxiety in day-to-day life as best as we can in the current situation,” she said. “The main problem I have is: How can I keep my team safe?” (2)
As of this writing, the Ehtesab website is not available, but the app is still available for download.
Another platform, Citizen, a U.S. public safety app with marketing taglines such as “connect and stay safe” and “where people protect each other,” is designed for sending real-time crime and safety alerts. Citizen has recently launched a private security app – Protect, with the marketing tagline “welcome to the future of personal safety” – which makes Citizen a multi-sided platform with the ability to call for help in the case of an emergency. Both Citizen and Protect are not without their controversy.
The Citizen and Protect are available for download and evaluation.
The U.S. expects 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. If you are involved in asylum and resettlement programs for these Ukrainian refugees – or if your company is providing support services or employment opportunities as they arrive – what place can the above-described technology platforms play in your asylum or resettlement outreach efforts?
For the business executive or public safety official concerned with disaster and emergency management, the lesson right now is that solutions can and should be found anywhere – In Kabul, Afghanistan, Ukraine, or in another vertical industry – grappling with the future role of technology-enabled decision-making support tools for disaster, crisis, and emergency management.
Of course, start by determining use cases for the future of real-time decision-making and support in your industry vertical or public sector space. But stay really nimble and open to innovative ideas.
Next, create sensemaking capabilities within your organization for the evaluation of solutions in far-flung locations, disciplines, domains, and industry verticals that manage disasters and emergencies with finite decision-making time windows. Product development of decision-making and situational awareness tools based on multi-sided, crowdsourced platforms is no longer on the horizon, but clearly available for assessment and technology implementation now.
For a related discussion on innovation in decision-making and situational awareness for disaster and emergency management and public safety, see OODA Loop – AI-Based Ambient Intelligence Innovation in Healthcare and the Future of Public Safety.
Crisis and Disaster Management (and Disaster Preparedness) are the subject matter expertise of more than a few OODA Network Members. OODA is here to help. Reach out via this form.
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About the Author
Daniel Pereira is research director at OODA. He is a foresight strategist, creative technologist, and an information communication technology (ICT) and digital media researcher with 20+ years of experience directing public/private partnerships and strategic innovation initiatives.
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence