SAHAT Chatbot

Helping Volunteers in West Bengal communicate effectively during Human trafficking rescue operations using Whatsapp Chatbot 

Context

• West Bengal accounted for one-tenth of India's trafficking cases in 2017 and 2018 [1]. 

• Trafficking occurs primarily in regions where low income groups reside. One such area is the North District of West Bengal (tea estate area). The community there shared that mostly children are kidnapped and sold off, mainly girls, either for marriage to a groom in another state or as a house help in cities, or for prostitution.

• There are over 350 Active Volunteers, several NGOs and other members (which includes local police, members from department of women and child welfare, doctors, etc) who get activated when a case gets alerted

Problem

• Coordination - Every Volunteer is not receiving rescue mission alerts and updates - All communications currently happen on whatsapp and phone calls. Many volunteers are in multiple whatsapp action groups and there are many who are not in action groups. When information is forwarded / shared, often there is nearly 15-20% of volunteers who are not receiving information. During a rescue operation, all resources are critical. Volunteers are also not able to easily disseminate information because of this.

• Ease of use - When information is forwarded in groups, or shared, many times information gets diluted. There are many instances of information being forwarded and the image below left out or as different volunteers have different ways of sharing information, updates / leads received are in 1 out of 4 cases illegible. 

• Reliability - Volunteers currently have very limited avenues and always no time for checking for reliability of information.

• Security - There is no security around information / updates being shared over groups which has chances of alerting infiltrated kidnapper group members

Whatsapp chatbot for volunteers for effective communication during Human trafficking rescue operations

Coordination - All volunteers will be identified and added to a group in the back end ensuring all volunteers receive instant updates. 

Ease of use - Volunteers will have simple templates to upload information / updates. 

Reliability -  Information received in the backend will be reviewed by a committee of senior volunteers before being shared with the entire network 

Security - All volunteers will be vetted and onboarded to the chatbot.

IMPACT - This will solve for effective use of all 100% volunteering resources, no wasted effort, timely updates, and potentially speedy rescue ops (In 3 year span, a study to be conducted to understand the significance in increase in successful rescue operations conducted)

Users - Citizen Volunteers working on anti human trafficking efforts, and local government officials.  

Impact

The impact of the solution would be a significant improvement in the coordination, ease of use, reliability and security of communication during human trafficking rescue operations in West Bengal. The use of a WhatsApp chatbot for volunteers would ensure that all volunteers are identified and added to a group, ensuring that all volunteers receive instant updates. The chatbot would also provide simple templates for volunteers to upload information and updates, reducing the chances of important details being left out or becoming unreadable. The information received through the chatbot would be reviewed by a committee of senior volunteers before being shared with the entire network, ensuring the reliability of the information. Additionally, all volunteers would be vetted and onboarded to the chatbot, increasing the security of the communication and reducing the risk of alerting infiltrated kidnapper group members. This would ultimately lead to more successful and efficient rescue operations, potentially saving the lives of more trafficked individuals in the region.

There are several ways in which the impact of the WhatsApp chatbot solution can be measured:

• Increased Volunteer Participation: The number of volunteers who are active and receiving updates through the chatbot can be tracked and compared with the number of volunteers who were active and receiving updates through the previous communication methods.

• Improved Response Time: The time it takes for volunteers to respond to alerts and updates can be tracked and compared with the response time before the chatbot was implemented.

• Increased Success Rate: The number of successful rescue operations can be tracked and compared before and after the implementation of the chatbot.

• Improved Information Quality: The quality of information shared and received by volunteers can be tracked and compared with the quality of information shared and received before the implementation of the chatbot.

• Security Compliance: The number of security breaches can be tracked and compared with the number of security breaches before the implementation of the chatbot.

• Feedback from volunteers: Surveys can be conducted to get feedback from volunteers about the chatbot, which can provide insight into its ease of use, reliability and security.

• Product Management Experience
• Connect with the social workers in the community
• Connect with non-profits working in the West Bengal community
• Experience building chatbot tools

• Primary research
• Secondary research
• Co-designing the solution with users

• The use of a WhatsApp chatbot for volunteers is innovative as it utilizes a widely-used and accessible platform for communication and coordination during rescue operations.
• The solution's ability to identify and add all volunteers to a group in the backend, ensuring that all volunteers receive instant updates is innovative as it eliminates the problem of volunteers not receiving information and improves the coordination of rescue operations.

• The solution's use of simple templates for volunteers to upload information and updates is innovative as it reduces the chances of important details being left out or becoming unreadable, improving the ease of use for volunteers.

• The solution's ability to review information received through the chatbot by a committee of senior volunteers before it is shared with the entire network, is innovative as it ensures the reliability of the information shared.

• The solution's ability to vet and onboard all volunteers to the chatbot is innovative as it increases the security of the communication and reduces the risk of alerting infiltrated kidnapper group members.

• The solution's ability to track and measure progress over time and regularly evaluate its effectiveness in improving coordination, ease of use, reliability and security is innovative as it allows for continuous improvement and fine-tuning of the solution.

A. Building prototype and Piloting (3 Months)

Phase 1 (1 Month) - Completed - 

1. Setting up and Developing the first version of whatsapp chatbot prototype

2. Building the first version of the user analytics dashboard using Google Data Studio

Phase 2 - Pilot: Co-design with users (2 Months) - Ongoing -

1. Sharing the first version of the prototype with 5 social workers and officials in one high risk district in WB

2. Conducting structured open ended interviews with the first set of users

3. Analyzing learnings and feedback

4. Iterating the product based on learnings from pilot and finalizing a MVP for large scale roll out

B. Large Scale Roll Out (9 Months)

Phase 3 (3 Months):

1. Partnering with civil society and volunteer leaders for onboarding all volunteers to the chatbot

2. Setting up back end volunteers and committees for information review and dissemination

3. After 3 months, interviewing users to understand if their problem is being resolved with the product. Plus additionally doing a customer satisfaction survey (for a quantitative measure) 

4. Executing a Systems Useability Test with a users to assist with focus areas for iteration of the MVP

5. Using the learnings and insights to finalize the MVP. Adding in-app feedback prompts

Phase 4 (6 Months):

1. Managing the tool for the volunteers use and documenting all activities and cases for end of year review and product iteration

Core technology is a whatsapp chatbot (off the shelf) - Whatsapp chatbot by Glific (a communications non-profit) is being used as central to the solution. Apart from this, to store data, we are using Bigquery and for visualizing the data and tracking user engagement we are using google data studio. 

Yet to lauch but this year, we aim to serve all ~300 in West Bengal working on anti human trafficking efforts

Financial

Video Volunteers

• Grant-based model: The solution could be funded by government grants or contracts, which would provide a steady stream of revenue over a specified period of time.

• Sponsorship-based model: The solution could attract corporate sponsorships from companies that are interested in supporting the fight against human trafficking.

• Crowdfunding-based model: A crowdfunding campaign could be launched to raise funds for the solution from the public, which would provide a one-time injection of funding.

• Partnership-based model: The solution could be offered as a service to other organizations and entities that are working on similar issues, and charge them for the service.

Achieving financial sustainability for the WhatsApp chatbot solution for human trafficking rescue operations would likely involve a combination of funding sources. Below are a few potential options:

• Government funding: The solution could be funded by the government through grants, contracts, or other forms of funding. This could come from various government organizations such as the department of women and child welfare, and local police etc.

• NGO funding: The solution could be funded by NGOs that are working on human trafficking in the region. They might fund the solution as it is aligned with their goals and objectives.

• Corporate sponsorships: The solution could attract corporate sponsorships from companies that are interested in supporting the fight against human trafficking.

• Crowdfunding: A crowdfunding campaign could be launched to raise funds for the solution from the public.

• Partnership with other organizations: The solution could be offered as a service to other organizations and entities that are working on similar issues, and charge them for the service.