A global audience of more than 100 social impact organisations attended the recent “Chat for Impact in the time of COVID” webinar which underscored the vital importance of chatbot solutions in pandemic times – and beyond.
Presented by Fundación Capital and Turn.io, the November 18th virtual webinar got underway with opening comments from Praekelt.org founder, Gustav Praekelt, who described the way that chat is being used by social impact organisations as a “new medium”.
“We are inventing new paradigms in communication,” said Praekelt who is also the co-founder of Turn.io, the cloud-based application that has been instrumental in enabling government health departments and other social impact organisations to scale chat using WhatsApp.
“This year we have seen a massive amount of acceleration and iteration of the service and it has been incredible to see the shifts and changes but also the learnings and support being shared with the greater community,” added Praekelt. “This is crucial as we continue navigating the pandemic and the roll out of vaccines.”
The learnings and opportunities of chatbot solutions in different countries were described after a rapid-fire question from moderator Catherine Cheney, a US-based journalist who covers technology and philanthropy for Devex – and who recently wrote about why NGOs are turning to chatbots.
In response to Cheney’s question - “What are your biggest learnings this year when it comes to chat for impact"? - Andy Pattison of WHO highlighted the speed with which the Health Alert service was able to get to market, with the “solidarity and support of the tech community”. “We were able to launch quickly and iterate often - and that's what we did. We were able to reach millions of people with health information, in their own language, when they needed it most. For many, it was the first time WHO had ever spoken to them.”
Praekelt.org’s Debbie Rogers used the organisation’s experience with the South African National Department of Health’s Contact NDOH WhatsApp Service and HealthCheck to note that “technology itself is not enough”. “We have launched services in many different countries with different partners and it's not about having the technology - having the content and putting it out there. It is about how you are talking to people but also about how you attract people to the platform – and how you partner with various organisations to make sure that there's wide usage and that it remains relevant to people over time.”
The importance of civil society in reaching people was highlighted by Ludwing Moncada, of Nicaragua’s Chatbot Hora Cero. Referencing the government’s curbing of citizen's ability to access facts about COVID-19, Moncada said: “The current blackout situation in my country has shown that civil society can solve problems with simple solutions with an easy-to-access app like WhatsApp. Chat is a useful tool.”
Rodrigo de Reyes of Fundación Capital said the biggest learning had been to further understand the digital divide - but also how the “human touch” is relevant, alongside the tech. “We always try to find solutions using tech, and combine them with human interaction to create technology that is human centred. For example, we have a call centre that talks to people in a language that they understand." He added that during the pandemic they have understood that the digital divide "is not just about having a smartphone or about having connectivity. It is about understanding that a chatbot can be a way in which you can get information and that it is automatic. This call centre helps us bridge the digital divide and for now is an essential part of our strategy.”
Noora Health’s Shahed Alam gave insight into how COVID-19 had enhanced the prominence of their tech platforms. “We have always used tech platforms but our in-person training and the work that we do was always primary. COVID-19 flipped this and it became tech first.” Alam added that it was important to bring through to the tech platform the elements of empathy, support and engagement provided by Noora Health’s in-person trainings. “It is possible (but) it takes some intentional design, it takes testing out things like play and humour and conversation and feedback from the people we are trying to serve.”
“We are convinced that chatbots have played a crucial role amidst this pandemic all over the world, bringing important information and services to people in a timely manner,” concluded Nelly Ramírez, VP of Advanced Digital Services at Fundación Capital. “We have been investing in technology for development for many years to provide information and services to the most vulnerable populations. Chatbots have the potential to improve the quality of lives and strengthen people's economic citizenship - which is our vision and purpose. This global crisis has certainly brought us all closer and in many cases it has taken us on a journey of transformation and innovation and closer to a vision of a better world.”
