Care International's Success Story

NGO, Non Profit

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Written by Stephany Pagliaccia
Updated over a week ago

Introduction

CARE is a non governmental organization that runs humanitarian programmes that includes; refugee assistance, health, water and sanitation, financial inclusion, adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction, agricultural value chains and humanitarian/ emergency response.

The problem

CARE was in need of a communication platform to help them to continue a social empowerment program referred to as Adolescent Empowerment Project (AEP) which had been disrupted by the current Covid-19 pandemic. The ongoing project was aimed at educating adolescents on Economic and Sexual Health information, that would also sensitize them on information over the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants would also take part in periodic surveys to enable CARE to measure the impact of the project. The project was aimed at engaging adolescents comprising 771 male and 1,092 female in informal settlements of Mukuru in Nairobi and rural Kajiado.

They were also in need of a provider who would enable them to get started in the shortest time possible in order to limit delays with their program deliverables, which would negatively impact their donor confidence. They also needed to continue with the program in order to fulfill their mandate to the adolescents, as they were no longer being trained.

CARE considered various options to resolve the issues including; sharing the information to the teachers and facilitators, who would then forward the messages to the participants. However, this was not a cost effective option and it would also not allow the organization to confirm whether the information had reached the intended audience.

The solution

Mteja ready made solution offered CARE a communication solution that would enable them to run SMS surveys, and send informational messages. Participants could send in their responses and queries which CARE facilitators would be able to respond to. The platform also allowed for tracking of individual and group responses, this would allow the organization to monitor delivery of messages as well as engage with one on one conversations with respondents.

Challenges

Due to the short go to market period, they would only be able to communicate with the participants on one telecommunication provider. This was because each provider had its own set up times, which would have delayed the program even more.

Other challenges faced by the facilitators was the passive interaction of the participants, this was a key metric that would have enabled them to draw insights into the impact of the information shared with a larger audience.

Lastly, while Mteja allowed the participants data to be consolidated on one dashboard, CARE required a way to decipher the data from the platform that would not require additional tools. This was due to the fact that not all interactions were structured like surveys, but revolved around receiving responses and questions based on the lessons.

In conclusion

Mteja’s solution enabled CARE to run its project seamlessly by offering a one-stop shop where they could engage with their participants. The platform also provided anonymity to the participants that encouraged the participants to engage with the facilitators. This improved responsiveness which would not have been easy to get, due to the reluctance of participants to share their views usually experienced in the presence of an audience though they may be peers.

To increase participation of participants in future projects, CARE would consider incentivized programs.

Key learnings derived during this engagement that Mteja could incorporate into our offering; include capability to track individual and group responses via sentiment and entity analysis that would enable the platform to be more data centric.

The team applauded the on hand assistance offered during this engagement, describing the customer service team as very helpful.

CARE further endorsed that the tool would be valuable for them in future projects where they could engage with students during the holidays as the platform is able to facilitate virtual learning over mobile channels such as SMS and Calls.

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