New aid solutions for people affected by disaster
510 - An initiative of The Netherlands Red Cross
The Netherlands Red Cross developed an app called "121" where people affected by disasters could sign up to receive Cash Based Aid, have an overview of helpful information, or could chat with a Red Cross volunteer through WhatsApp.
Cash Based Aid is a new form of aid where people receive a digital voucher that can be used to spend on supplies.
The goal of this graduation project was to discover what barriers exist to implementing 121 and what a possible support system should look like. Starting point was a case study on undocumented migrants in Amsterdam.
Interviews and ethnographic research were used to create migrant personas and journeys. Mapping several touchpoints and barriers undocumented migrants encounter during their journey and whilst living undocumented in the Netherlands.
Five barriers to the implementation of 121 have been identified. These barriers have been the input for a worksheet that can be used by employees of the Red Cross to brainstorm and create possible solutions to solve bottlenecks in any specific context. This makes 121 scalable and implementable in a wide variety of humanitarian situations and contexts.
