How the International Committee of the Red Cross uses social listening to navigate crisis and deliver aid

Challenge
The core mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is to protect the lives and dignity of those impacted by violence and provide humanitarian aid when and where it’s needed most. To deliver assistance in dangerous, volatile situations, the ICRC relies on accurate and timely information to coordinate strategy and communicate directly with at-risk communities.
When ICRC president Peter Maurer embarked on a mission to Kabul, Afghanistan following sudden political turmoil there, he needed a clear source of news and insight into public sentiment in a rapidly changing situation. ICRC needed to hear thousands of conversations on social channels in the region to filter out misinformation, communicate opportunities for assistance, and protect their team — all in an uncertain environment without guaranteed access to computers or traditional technology infrastructure.
To complete its mission, the ICRC needed a solution that would:
Provide real-time, mobile-first access to news and social media conversations in English and Pashto, one of Afghanistan’s official languages
Create customized dashboards to synthesize and visualize unstructured data and prescribe action
Coordinate strategic planning remotely on a single, unified platform
Assist in developing and delivering timely, accurate messages to those in need
Solution
In a crisis situation where minutes matter and good information can protect lives, it is essential that the ICRC has the resources it needs to communicate and deliver critical assistance. With social listening through Sprinklr’s Sprinklr Insights and the support of Sprinklr’s customer success team, the ICRC found a reliable tool and a dedicated partner aligned with their mission.
The Sprinklr team helped the ICRC develop customized dashboards powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to collect and analyze real-time conversations happening throughout Afghanistan. AI-powered reporting also helped ICRC detect anomalies in unstructured data, so the team could filter out false or misleading claims, including identifying fake Red Cross accounts, and avoid transmitting misinformation in their own messages. These dashboards were delivered through a unified platform with a seamless, multilingual mobile experience, so ICRC could meet their goals remotely and without reliance on computers.
Digital communication across multiple, disparate channels creates increased uncertainty and complexity across the globe, especially in times of crisis. But the right technology synthesizes real-time, unstructured information to alleviate this complexity and suggests the right steps the ICRC needs to take next.

Outcome
Because they were able to leverage customized, reliable dashboards supported by a strategic partnership, the ICRC could:
Listen to real-time conversations happening across all social-media channels in both English and Pashto to deliver the specific assistance most needed by the people of Afghanistan
Protect the safety of their internal teams by remotely transmitting messages on a daily basis, ensuring ICRC agents could adapt to rapidly changing circumstances
Build on their reputation of trust that is essential to delivering aid by communicating accurate information to those in crisis
Collaborate and share actionable data across enormous geographic regions with a mobile-first, unified platform
The ICRC’s mission to support the lives and dignity of those at risk of violence will, by nature, always face challenges.
"Digital communication across multiple, disparate channels creates increased uncertainty and complexity across the globe, especially in times of crisis,” says a social media strategy lead for the ICRC. “But the right technology synthesizes real-time, unstructured information to alleviate this complexity and suggests the right steps the ICRC needs to take next."
Industry:
International Aid, Non-Profit
Company Size:
20,000+ team members in 100+countries
Location:
Geneva, Switzerland (Global HQ)
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