Mobile technology: Listening to the voice of Haitians

This case study analyses the innovative development and use of an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system for the first time in a humanitarian setting by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) through the national society, the Haitian Red Cross (HRC). Haiti’s 2010 earthquake was a major opportunity for international aid agencies to address the challenge of improving twoway communication with disaster-affected communities – a facility emphasised as central to emergency response following previous disasters. The IFRC sought to use mobile technology to disseminate crucial information and to gather beneficiary feedback about its operations, to enable greater accountability of international agencies to local communities and to allow these communities a greater decisionmaking role in its disaster response efforts.