Rebuilding after ISIS: designing an app-based solution for distributing humanitarian assistance
The problem…
Humanitarian assistance is often given out to those in need in a camp setting, where everyone is living in temporary situation at a centralized location. However, distributing assistance in cities when households that have been displaced during a conflict are able to go back to their homes brings different challenges.
Ramadi, Iraq had seen considerable fighting during the ISIS conflict, during which many buildings had sustained damage. Most returning households were going to need to make at least minor repairs, and many had limited resources after being displaced for a long time. The design team needed to develop a system to distribute assistance to returning household (‘returnee’) users that would enable them to implement repairs and return their homes to a livable condition.
Images of Ramadi streets and apartment buildings before and after the conflict
Design challenge: Design a voucher-based solution that would enable returnee users to shop for themselves at local markets and enable shopkeeper users to verify the eligibility of vouchers and receive payment for items purchased.
My role: I was the research lead supporting the design team, which consisted of the cash distribution and camp management vertical managers. I scoped the research needs, designed the user research at each stage of the design process, managed a team of three researchers, managed the data collection and analysis, and facilitated learning debriefs with the design team.
Types of research: Generative, multi-method, and tactical/evaluative research
Design phases: Empathize → Design → Ideate → Prototype → Test
Methods and tools: Desk research, structured interview, observational assessment, descriptive data analysis, market assessment, in-context interview, usability testing
To design a solution, the team needed to understand…
what returnee users needed in order to be able to return their homes to a livable state, their purchasing priorities and preferences, and what shopkeeper users would need to be able to participate in a voucher-based purchasing system. I started the research by meeting with the design team to review the grant agreement and discuss design challenges, and scoped the following research questions:
What are the goals, motivations, needs, and challenges for users returning to homes that had sustained minor damages?
How do returnee users make purchasing decisions for the items they need? What are their shopping and purchasing preferences and motivations?
What are the goals, motivations, needs, and challenges for shopkeeper users to participate in a voucher program? How might we design a digital solution that would align to those needs?
Once the team developed a prototype design, the research objective was to evaluate whether users can complete tasks efficiently using the prototyped solution, how long it takes them, and if they were satisfied with the experience.
So, I developed a research plan…
with a multi method design spanning the end to end design process, from empathizing through to testing the prototyped solution from the design team .
The design team was on a limited timeframe from the project’s funder to carry out the distribution within three months, so I selected methods that could deliver timely research insights that would help them quickly design and iterate on a solution. As an outsider in the community, my presence in the field and need for translation would have been overly distracting for participants, so I developed tools I could train my team of researchers who were locally based and fluent in Arabic to carry out the in-context data collection methods.
We started with understanding our returnee users’ experiences, problems, and needs…
Reviewing existing returnee user data
Our organization and partners tracked refugees and returnees, had carried out previous needs assessments, and had registered individuals and households eligible for humanitarian assistance.
Household assessment
I developed and tested a household assessment to understand what kinds of assistance items returning households needed, using a structured interview and in-home observational assessments.
We learned…
Our returnee users were coming back to homes that had sustained minor damages during the ISIS conflict. They needed a range of basic building and plumbing items to carry out repairs and return their homes to a livable standard.
Quality, price, shop accessibility, opening hours, and language spoken in the shop were important to users in selecting and obtaining the items they needed locally.
Then, we turned to understanding the local market and our shopkeeper users’ context…
Local market assessment
carried out by the research team doing an observational assessment of major markets in neighborhoods that had sustained minor damages. Observations included location, accessibility, opening hours, languages spoken, inventory, pricing, quality, and shopper volume.
In-context user interviews
with shopkeeper users to understand their existing systems, goals, motivations, and potential challenges participating in the distribution program and using a voucher-based system.
We learned….
The system would need to operate in real time to also allow our shopkeeper users to verify eligibility of the person redeeming the voucher and to ensure it wasn’t being double-used.
Our users did not have WiFi internet access, but cellular networks were up and running.
Our users were highly smartphone literate, and largely utilized Android-based devices.
Based on this, the design team developed a prototype to test…
The design team decided on a solution they could build in our organization’s existing survey platform that would create printable QR Code vouchers that they could distribute to eligible returnee users and shopkeeper users could scan, verify, and process in-store. The platform had a built-in Arabic function so that it was easy to build for our users’ language requirements. The solution would check the items the user was purchasing against the allowable items, verify the voucher and user, and would generate an invoice for the shop to submit to our organization for payment. The solution was designed to work on Arabic- enabled Samsung tablets that could be pre-installed with the survey software and a cellular network Internet connection.
And we tested it…
Field usability testing with shopkeeper users
I developed a test plan and supported the research team to implement walk-throughs with staff members from 5 participating shops. Staff from the design team observed the walk-throughs.
Field usability testing with returnee users
I developed a test plan and supported the design and research team to implement it in the field through observing 5 eligible voucher recipients while they attempted to utilize a test voucher. Staff from the design team observed the walk-throughs.
We learned…
The voucher system was easy for our returnee users to understand and use, and they really enjoyed being able to select their own assistance items instead of being given items that they didn’t need or want in a traditional distribution.
In some communities the shops that had been selected to participate weren’t in convenient locations for our users.
Some of our users wanted to buy different types of items that weren’t marked as pre-approved in the verification system but were allowable under the grant agreement.
The tablet-based solution was easy for shopkeeper users to operate after being trained.
However, the solution for verifying the customer’s identity and verifying the voucher were in two different programs, which some of our users found overly confusing and time consuming.
And as a result of the research…
Based on this learning, the design team selected additional shops in areas convenient for voucher users. They worked with shop owners to expand the items eligible for purchase using the vouchers within the scope of the grant agreement. They also modified the solution for scanning the voucher to also have an access point to the database to verify the user’s eligibility so that there was one process flow.
The cash distribution and camp management teams implemented the program at scale and provided needed assistance to 1,000 households. All of these households purchased necessary materials to carry out home repairs, and participating shops received payment for all of the assistance items they distributed.