Innovation isn’t easy‚ but it’s worth it!

Who knew being innovative would be so hard? Surely you just come up with a good idea, the HIF will give you the money and you implement it? The problem with innovation is that no one has done it before, so there are not the usual lessons learned, evaluations, how-to guides and checklists to follow. We are literally trying something for the first time, which means the process is one massive learning curve.

When the IFRC in Haiti first decided to launch a new 2-way telephone line using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology we scoured the internet for journal articles to help us plan. Unfortunately there were very few examples of how this type of telephone technology had been used in the past to increase beneficiary participation recovery following a major disaster.

The idea is simple enough; use technology which has been around for years in a new way. You have most likely come across IVR when calling your bank or the local cinema. By working through a list of menu options you can access the information you need or provide responses to the company. For the IFRC in Haiti this means giving people access to a wealth of information on Red Cross services and advice on staying safe and healthy – as well as the chance to feedback on all aspects of Red Cross work and their lives through touch tone surveys. A simple enough idea, but as they say, the devil is in the detail.

Our first mistake was to estimate we could build and launch a system within 4-6 months. However we need a system that the Haitian Red Cross can continue to maintain and update easily for years to come so it needed to be easy to use for non-technical people. This meant a custom built system, taking even longer to develop. We thought we could write and record the information in a month – but we found everyone wanted to be involved and provide information, including the Haitian Government, so the process took several months. Who could anticipate floods in Taiwan would lead to a world-wide shortage of servers, slowing the project by another month or two. The critical support of Digicel also meant adding a second server to ensure the telephone line could be accessed free of charge by anyone on either of Haiti’s two major mobile networks. While slowing the project, these setbacks have all had major benefits and will make the final result a stronger, more accessible system for people in Haiti.

Now one day before the launch we face our final (hopefully, but unlikely) set back – one of the servers has broken down! With a major country-wide publicity campaign due to launch this week using billboards, TV and radio adverts, SMS, street banners and sound truck, our project is in the hands of an HP technician due to arrive this morning. If he can’t fix it, we face another 6-8 weeks delay while our Canadian IVR partner Vocantas order a new server, load the system and re-ship it to Haiti for installation.

While these setbacks are massively frustrating and a little bit heartbreaking, they have taught us that this is all part of the process of innovation. The lesson is innovation takes time and determination.

A recent set of focus groups by American Red Cross have shown us though we are on the right path and encouraged us to keep persevering.

They found that people cite access to information as critically important to them, agreeing information can save lives and allow people to protect and look after themselves.

One female participant commented: “Having access to information like for example on cholera – if you have a son or a daughter who gets bad diarrhoea and you don’t even realise that it is not a normal illness because you don’t have the right information it is serious. So having access to information allows you to plan the future.”

These focus groups also confirmed that using a phone line to provide and get information is the right way to go. Eight-five percent of participants owned a mobile phone and 100% had access to one and while receiving information via SMS is seen as a unanimously good thing in Haiti, only 36% of participants know how to write SMS messages. Phone lines are very popular though and 100% of participants said they would use a free information line if it existed. Additionally when asked if they would like to take part in more monitoring and surveys, 100% said yes and telephone was the most popular way to provide feedback.

One of the first surveys planned will ask Haitian people about safety in their community and their personal experiences of violence. This kind of survey has not been done before and people tell us these are questions they wouldn’t feel comfortable answering face-to-face. The data we get from this will be shared with Government and Civil Society and will help us plan interventions that will make communities safer for people.

The latest from the HP technician is that we need a new motherboard. So while we wait for that to arrive from Puerto Rico, we can remain safe in the knowledge that despite the delays and problems, this innovation is definitely worth the hassle.

Latest resources:

Interview about the new telephone line with Canadian Broadcasting Coorporation’s Dispatches show:

http://www.cbc.ca/dispatches/episode/2012/01/26/jan-26-29-from-haiti---kingston-jamaica---butare-rwanda---nicaragua/

A new video on the importance of beneficiary communications on the IFRC website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlmGkU7qKxQ

Sharon Reader, Beneficiary Communications Delegate, Haiti