Finding Kakuma - Mike Gatman, Thoughtworks
A talk given by Thoughtworks at UKPA UK's 'World Usability Day' event - 10 November 2016. The challenge of reconnecting unaccompanied child refugees with their loved ones is a growing problem with the global refugee crisis. In Kakuma refugee camp filmmaker Lieven Corthouts sought out a solution after living there for 5 years and talking with refugees struggling to find their families. ThoughtWorks collaborated with Lieven to design and user test a Find Me web application with refugees, which exposed the challenges of cultural barriers, limited technical literacy and the western bias applied within the design process. Mike Gatman is a project manager and coach from ThoughtWorks who looked after the Find Me initiative. He is an agile/lean enthusiast who brings the user to the heart of every delivery, with a background in digital projects across media, telecommunications, banking and retail. Find Me was his first foray into the humanitarian sector.
Finding Kakuma - Mike Gatman, Thoughtworks
- 2. Kakuma refugee camp, NW Kenya Established in 1991 Over 193,000 refugees 53% are from South Sudan, mainly Nuer 12,700 South Sudanese children are registered as unaccompanied (UNHCR)
- 4. DISCOVERY
- 5. To help refugees in Kakuma find missing relatives through a web application which refugees are both involved in designing and, by its design, are given choice and self-determinism
- 6. PRINCIPLES OF THE FIND ME APP CHILD SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT COMMUNITY-LED, COMMUNITY-DRIVEN KEEP IT SIMPLE Minimise human interaction Only store necessary data Secure data storage Concept originated in the community Community to facilitate in data entry Idea will spread through word of mouth and through community establishments Limited data capture validation Engaging, simple user interface Technology and services in line with Kakuma capabilities
- 7. DISCOVERY INSIGHTS Low level of literacy and technical ability for South Sudanese refugees Refugees are usually familiar with SMS based services, such as M-Pesa Unaccompanied children often arrive in a guardianship arrangement Smartphone usage is growing in the camp; everyone knows someone with a smartphone Facebook and WhatsApp are popular amongst smartphone users Given the prevalence of unaccompanied children from South Sudan, the primary focus would be the population of South Sudanese refugees
- 8. PERSONAS
- 9. CHUOL 8 year old Nuer boy from South Sudan who lives in Kakuma with a guardian His goal is to let his mother know where he is Low English literacy and technical ability Very playful His guardian could decide that she can no longer care for him, making him vulnerable to gangs
- 10. BENCEE 20 year old South Sudanese teacher who can act as a facilitator, speaks Nuer, English and Swahili Lived in Kakuma for 3 years, good level of literacy and smartphone awareness Gained credibility within Nuer community in Kakuma, has a goal to help others May wish to leave Kakuma, or could lose interest in the facilitator role due to conflicting priorities
- 13. USER TESTING
- 14. Confirmed that Somalis and Ethiopians are sufficiently tech savvy to understand Find Me Nearly all South Sudanese struggled with navigational patterns and the wording of questions, and would need a facilitator Iterative updates to the flow and questions, with Lieven retesting each new version UI was adapted to the point it was understood by smartphone aware refugees
- 16. SECOND ITERATION
- 22. LESSONS
- 23. Establishing a cultures relationship with technology is essential - be prepared to trial a number of ideas Stopping is not necessarily failure: think alternative success models Any example of: A changed practice New business model Or new technology can be disruptive in the humanitarian space but must be facilitated by a shared write up Insights into technology, UX and typical organisational challenges allow the discovery of new partnership opportunities
- 24. THANK YOU