Thursday December 1, 2011

International Federation of Red  Cross to deploy IVR in Humanitarian Aid Efforts in Haiti

Vocantas announced today that the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in Haiti has purchased it’s proven successful interactive voice response (IVR) solution to reach thousands of Haitians with critical information on health, weather alerts and Red Cross services.

The IFRC Haiti chose the Vocantas IVR to give Haitians access to information and an opportunity to play an active role in the recovery process. The IVR offers callers to the Red Cross access to information regarding availability and registration for shelter, disease control, family planning, disaster preparedness and mental health support. The solution offers a significant cost savings over staff manually managing thousands of inbound calls to field questions from the Haitian population and related community service organizations, impacted by the devastating earthquake in 2010.

The interactive inbound call also surveys callers anonymously, to gather and analyze information on peoples’ needs and opinions. An initial survey will monitor incidents of violence in Haiti and provide the IFRC Haiti with a barometer for the impact that violence is having on citizens and the general Haitian population and what can be done to improve the situation.

Sharon Reader, Beneficiary Communications Delegate with the IFRC in Haiti, said, “The Red Cross has prioritized communication and engagement with beneficiaries from the outset of the Haiti operation, believing in people’s right to information and to express themselves. The IVR system provided by Vocantas will be a key way for us to give Haitians a voice, ensuring their needs and opinions are represented in the  recovery process. Vocantas have quickly understood what we need and are designing a system that is flexible enough to respond quickly to emergencies, yet simple enough to be used by people without IT experience.”

Gary T. Hannah, President and CEO  of Vocantas said, “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the IFRC in  Haiti. Interactive voice is a technology that can enhance virtually any organization or business in the world with an easy to use interface – the telephone. This is a great opportunity for the Red Cross to streamline its’ inbound communications reaching thousands of people with life-saving information, at a fraction of the cost of staffing a call centre, to field thousands of daily calls to enable humanitarian aid efforts in Haiti.”

The IFRC Haiti chose Vocantas after a formal Request for Information process, and based on the thorough response given by Vocantas and the proven successful solutions that Vocantas has already deployed around the world.

About International  Federation of the Red Cross

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, providing assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. Founded in 1919, the IFRC comprises 186 member Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, a secretariat in Geneva and more than 60 delegations strategically located to support activities around the world. There are more societies in formation. The Red Crescent is used in place of the Red Cross in many Islamic countries.

The IFRC carries out relief operations to assist victims of disasters, and combines this with development work to strengthen the capacities of its member National Societies. The IFRC’s work focuses on four core areas: promoting humanitarian values, disaster response, disaster preparedness, and health and community care.  www.ifrc.org

Media  Contact IFRC Haiti

Sharon Reader
IFRC Haiti
T.  +509 2940 4619
C.  +509 3900 7619
E.  Sharon.reader@ifrc.org