Robin Burton

www.ifrc.orgSaving lives, changing minds.

TERASaving Lives By

SMS

TERASaving Lives By

SMS

Robin Burton


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWho We Are

• The largest humanitarian organization in the world

• 187 National Societies

• 100,000 employees

• 14 million volunteers worldwide


TERASaving Lives By

SMS

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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWho We Are

IFRC Vision

Three strategic objectives (S2020):

1. Save lives, protect livelihoods, and to help communities to prepare for, and recover from, disasters and crises

2. Enable healthy and safer living3. Promote social inclusion and a culture of non-violence


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWhat 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.


TERASaving Lives By

SMSYour Network Can Save Lives

“An SMS from the Red Cross … gave me more hope”Andrena, Annexe Camp, Haiti


TERASaving Lives By

SMSLocation 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSAutomated 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWith 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWhy 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWhere 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSPerformance in Haiti

Delivered 70 Million messages

Prompted over 1 Million people to respond and ask for help and information

Improved effectiveness of aid effort


TERASaving Lives By

SMSHow We Used the TERA SMS System


TERASaving Lives By

SMSResults 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMS

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.

Naomi Fils-Aimé, Champs Mars

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.

Andrena, Annexe Camp

What do people think?

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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSThe Development of TERA


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWhat 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWhat 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSSafeguards 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSWhy 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


TERASaving Lives By

SMSShall We Get Started?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE TERA PROJECT PLEASE

CONTACT:

ROBIN BURTON, TELECOM CONSULTANT

TEL. : +447843241371

EMAIL: [email protected]

THIS PRESENTATION IS PUBLISHED BY

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF

RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES

P.O. BOX 372

CH-1211 GENEVA 19

SWITZERLAND

TEL.: +41 22 730 42 22

FAX.: +41 22 733 03 95

Robin Burton

Documents

Transcript of Robin Burton