Using Mobile Technologies for Social Purposes: DRR awareness

campaign

Mission East: Technical expertise on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), a network of organizational contacts and programs, and funding. BABILON Mobile GSM: country-wide mobile service and internet customer base, commercial marketing experience and tools, and the drive of competition. CoES: Government mandate, authority, manpower, expertise.

The expected result:

“The general public is exposed to a campaign co-sponsored by private sector that delivers key messages on disaster risk reduction and response.”

A component of Mission East’s DIPECHO V

Purpose:

Attract the private sector to participate in social

actions to their benefit

Educate the company’s customer base about key

actions and behaviors to adopt that will improve their

ability to manage in a disaster situation

Interest other key players (CoES) in non-traditional

partnerships

Why a Mobile phone company?

Efficient communication before, during and after a disaster is essential to proper information, alert, and coordination of emergency operation.Mobile phone companies have a role to play in dealing with disaster situations.

Strategy:

1)Educate BABILON Mobile GSM on the key elements of Disaster Risk Management in order to develop the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform,

2)Use the positive public image of the company to communicate social messages on DRR that are tangibly related to the core business of mobile telephony and internet services and,

3)Build an alliance between CoES and BABILON for their future expansion in other mobile technology directions (EWS).

Main OutputsA 60 second video (teaser spot) twice a day over 4 weeks on: TV1 - 27.04.09 – 23.05.2009 TV Safina - 23.05.09 – 14.06.2009 TV Khatlon - 01.06.09 - 15.06.2009 А 15 mn video spot

broadcast on main Tajik station on 05.05.09 and 20.05.09

30,000 leaflets disseminated nationwide via Babilon-M dealer agencies in cities of Tajikistan.

Main Outputs

Partner websites post DRR information and links

Monitoring actions Monitoring of leaflet dissemination by Mission East

and other organizations

‘Mystery Client’ calls to Mission East, CoES, and

Babilon Call Center to test response of callbacks.

Feedback from Babilon-M dealers about people

interested in the leaflet

Number of visitors on Mission East DRR dedicated

website

Cross–Visit to Uzbekistan

• A team went to Tashkent: Mission East, CoES, BABILON and Beeline

• To meet with LLC “UNITEL” - Beeline Uzbekistan and MoES/Uzbekistan…

• To discuss the development, processing and sending information, communication and educational SMS-mailing to the population.

Uzbekistan – What did they learn?

• Hydromet is a key player as the

information provider• Collaboration is mandated by the

government, even though Beeline is a private company.

• Information dissemination is the priority – there is yet no mechanism to monitor acceptance of the message, actions taken, or questions generated by the information.

The Media Campaign: What Effect?

• Mission East, Babilon and CoES are currently conducting a Rapid Recall Survey.

• 2700 respondents will indicate if they saw the TV clips, and/or received a brochure.

• Survey will check for recognition of the sponsors.

• Survey will be disaggregated by gender and by age.

• Results by mid-December.• Good visibility for all partners.

Next steps

Publish the results of the Cross Visit and Lessons LearnedPublish the results of the Rapid Recall Survey

Potential Directions

Explore partnering with Hydrometeology

Dept.

Call Center at CoES

Questions for Discussion

1. Should ‘partnerships’ between public/private sectors be ‘mandated’? Advantages/disadvantages of this…

2. How to capture the public’s interest in warning or alert messages without causing panic?

3. Is the benefit for the private sector worth the investment?