Dialling into digital skills: Using interactive voice response technology
Building a connected future for displaced people. Part 1 of 2.
By Tala Budziszewski — Associate Innovation Officer, Digital Inclusion Asia and the Pacific
Imagine that you suddenly went back in time and no longer knew how to use your mobile phone, your computer, or the many devices most people take for granted in today’s increasingly digitised world. Financial services, job applications, and even proof of COVID vaccination require people to have online accounts and navigate digital portals.
What you’ve imagined is the reality for many refugees and asylum-seekers, who often face barriers to being digitally included. In addition, those without access frequently have limited digital literacy skills that prevent them from using the services they need and want — putting them at risk of being even more marginalised than they already are.
To help displaced people use digital tools to stay connected and engaged in society, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is testing approaches to enhancing basic and more advanced digital literacy. One example is a pilot in Indonesia using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to deliver digital literacy training through short recorded modules displaced people can listen to on a basic, feature, or smart mobile phone.
IVR uses pre-recorded messages and gathers information from callers so they can access information without a person on the other end of the phone. For example, IVR is commonly used by call centres when a customer is asked to “Press one for your bank account balance” or state what they need — such as “Give me my bank account balance” — to receive information from the automated system. IVR is a proven solution that can be used by people with low functional literacy and digital literacy. In addition, it provides a way to reach people remotely and conveniently using already-available mobile phones.
The IVR pilot’s design
The pilot was developed to improve the skills of people with few opportunities to use mobile phones. This included people with limited functional literacy, those who share a phone with others, and those who do not have consistent access to connectivity. UNHCR worked with Refugee Representatives to recruit individuals interested in being participants. They represented groups from different ages, genders, language skills, and nationalities in addition to having low digital literacy but access to their own phone or a shared phone.
Each lesson in the pilot was no longer than five minutes and included an introduction, key messages, and a wrap-up. The curriculum was designed using existing materials on digital literacy, focusing on basic skills. Lessons were adapted to the context of refugees and asylum-seekers in Indonesia, and challenges they commonly face in accessing and using digital technology. The lessons were delivered using IVR over the course of eight weeks, with one lesson per week. Each lesson was a standalone module, so participants could choose to learn only what was relevant to them without having to go through every lesson.
Before the pilot, community leaders and refugee volunteers introduced the purpose and modality of the project to participants. This was found to be a more important step than initially expected, so people would expect calls from UNHCR for the training. Despite IVR being simple to navigate, it was necessary to explain how it worked because most people who participated in the pilot were unfamiliar with the technology.
Unexpected results and stepping stones
The pilot revealed strategies that worked and others that needed improvement — all useful information for similar training initiatives in the future.
Offline work and explanations: Although IVR was simple enough for people to navigate, it couldn’t be solely relied on to explain the purpose of the training, remind participants about how it would be delivered, and how the calls would work throughout the eight weeks. Although the IVR modules included an introductory message to explain the purpose of the calls and how the pilot would work, the in-person and direct support was needed to ensure people understood the explanation and would answer the introductory call in the first place. A lack of understanding of why a call was being received specifically resulted in lower engagement with the training, so more regular offline engagement was needed.
Call recognition and trust: Knowing who is calling can impact how much trust a person has in the call and if they answer it, and can also cause confusion. People became concerned if they missed a call from UNHCR, in case it was related to their access to services. Notifying people to expect calls from a different UNHCR number and what the call will be about is important to prevent fears that people had missed out on services.
Targeting for varied skill sets: Participants rated IVR as convenient and easy to use, but said the content needed to be more relevant. This was a difficult balance to strike, because some people had more skills than others. The training was geared toward people with the most limited skills, which impacted how useful it was for those with slightly higher skills.
A digital literacy package
The pilot demonstrated that IVR can be a tool to support digital literacy, as part of a broader programme that involves other ways of designing and delivering training. Particularly when face-to-face interaction is limited, IVR can broaden the reach of training, as long as it’s accompanied by the necessary orientations and community champions that can explain things more readily. In addition, developing the training in collaboration with displaced people can help ensure the training is relevant to their needs. UNHCR Indonesia is expanding its efforts by implementing a new pilot, partnering with refugee leaders and refugee-led organizations to co-create digital literacy modules to be shared and taught by refugees themselves. This pilot supported by the Innovation Service’s Digital Inclusion Fund will directly build on the learnings from this experiment. Now that the operation knows how well IVR works in these kinds of endeavours, IVR is a tool that can support training delivery that is even more targeted and effective.
Looking further ahead, these learnings will contribute to a broader effort UNHCR is undertaking as part of its digital transformation, to further the digital inclusion of forcibly displaced people. In the months ahead, UNHCR will be reviewing approaches it is currently taking — and those of others — for improving digital literacy of refugees, adapting efforts, and making additional investments, informed by having learned what works.
If you’re interested in more information, please contact hqconref@unhcr.org.
