“AnenaSawa”: GBV SMS Bot for Community Outreach Workers

What is the Humanitarian Need being Addressed?

Conflict and crisis have driven internal displacement and gender-based violence (GBV) in South Sudan to near the top of global rankings. Nationally, two-thirds of women and girls will experience GBV; internally displaced persons (IDPs) are especially vulnerable. Almost 50% of IDP women avoid basic activities like collecting water or using latrines for fear of exposure to GBV. 

IsraAID provides comprehensive case management for GBV survivors in IDP camps. We ensure they understand their rights and can access meaningful psychosocial, medical, legal, and security services. This project strengthens case identification, referral, and follow-up processes, improving survivors’ access to quality confidential support. 

What is the innovative solution and how will it improve existing humanitarian practice?

With limited GBV specialist training, outreach workers (OWs) in IDP camps cannot always identify cases correctly or provide adequate immediate support to survivors. Our bot will guide OWs through case identification and referral processes. It will also suggest appropriate basic psychosocial support for them to facilitate, so survivors can access this even before case managers follow up on referrals. 

Protecting client privacy is vital amid heavy stigmatization of GBV survivors. Whereas paper can be lost, wrongly digitized, or tampered with, the bot will immediately transfer client data to a remote secure server and delete it from outreach workers’ devices. 

The bot is more cost-efficient than paper, including because low-tech SMS functions in remote areas. Outreach workers serving these especially vulnerable communities need not drive paper records to central offices, often through areas where violence is prone to spiking. Finally, digital data facilitates advanced monitoring and evaluation toward constant improvement.

What are the expected outcomes?

1. Bot development: A user-centered, remote-functioning SMS bot will be developed by IsraAID’s humanitarian and DTI (digital technology and innovation) experts, as described above. Users will have continuous opportunities to provide feedback and the bot will be refined. 
2. Improved services for survivors: The bot will be used continuously for eight months in selected IDP camps. We anticipate an increased number of cases identified and referred, better adherence to follow-up case management protocols, and the provision of meaningful support for more survivors in settings where the bot was used. 
3. Evaluation: A comprehensive evaluation will use qualitative and quantitative data to document the bot’s impact in supporting OWs. It will also examine the benefits of merging currently separate community outreach and case management workflows into a unified process. 
4. Promotion: Key stakeholders will be engaged with the evaluation findings, toward scaling this solution to advance GBV response in South Sudan and other humanitarian settings.