Designing User‐Centered Humanitarian Technologies with Displaced People in Iraq: Lessons from Refunite's Mobile Family Tracing Platform

Abstract

As almost all adults in Iraq own a mobile phone, there is great scope to reach and engage with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq through mobile technologies. This article argues for the importance of a user‐centered design approach when using mobile technologies in humanitarian response. A user‐centered approach considers context and places IDPs’ lived experiences as active technology users at the forefront of project design and implementation. The argument is supported by a case study of Refunite, a family tracing platform that uses mobile technologies to help people find their missing loved ones. This article seeks to address the gap in the literature on user‐centered humanitarian mobile technology projects, particularly in relation to the Middle East. Given the current lack of guidelines on mobile technologies in humanitarian response, the article concludes by recommending that humanitarian practitioners draw on an existing framework, the Principles for Digital Development (2016).

Lessons from humanitarian clusters to strengthen health system responses to mass displacement in low and middle-income countries: A scoping review

“…Robehmed proposed Iraqi users be involved in technology design phases to ensure relevance to their needs ( Robehmed, 2019 ). Moorthy et al .…”

“…Power dynamics between displaced people, humanitarian organisations, and host or origin governments need to be examined and addressed to strengthen any intervention ( Clark-Kazak, 2010 ). Many sources emphasised the importance of ensuring displaced people could participate in designing and delivering interventions ( James, 2012 ; Ensign, 2016 ; Robehmed, 2019 ; Olivius, 2013 ). For example, Olivius explored how participatory community-based approaches could promote gender equity ( Olivius, 2013 ).…”

Contributing Factors in Whether Displaced Households Want to Receive Humanitarian Information from Humanitarian Actors: Iraq Multi-Cluster Needs Assessment

“…Most IDP and returnee households have at least one member with access to a smartphone. Accordingly, humanitarian organizations have begun to use mobile technologies and other new technologies to provide humanitarian assistance [ 24 ]. As the best example, the Iraq IDPs Information Center offers free, multilingual services for IDPs and refugees to obtain relevant, up-to-date information on a variety of issues [ 25 ].…”

“…Many women have fewer opportunities than men to use technology to receive humanitarian assistance. Married women tend to use the mobile phones of their husbands, and some more conservative women are not willing to provide their own personal information online [ 24 ]. Traditional cash and voucher assistance remains a key component of humanitarian assistance for female HOHs to meet their basic needs and access health care services [ 3 ].…”

Management for International Development and Aid Projects: A new conceptual model

“…Consequently, TQM theory has been recognized as a holistic organizational framework for improving performance and ensuring sustainability within INGOs (Anderson & Lannon, 2018; Saleh et al, 2017). Likewise, CHS (CHS, 2014) has been agreed upon by almost all of INGOs around the world as field‐specific and people‐centered criteria (Robehmed, 2019), that must be adhered to, committed to, and have to be adopted and operationalized in order to ensure the ultimate quality and accountability of humanitarian interventions (Hemsley & Achilles, 2019), and to address complexities of these interventions (Hilhorst, 2015). Therefore, the current research acknowledged TQM theory and CHS to advance the PM theory, and more specifically, the standard PMBOK (R) Guide for the interest of IDAPs and vulnerable people benefited from these projects.…”