USAID Digital Development
Jumla_2022_SurajRatnaShakya-33
In an effort to align with the USAID Digital Strategy and recognize USAID Missions, Bureaus and partners that are empowering countries in a digital age, USAID launched the 2022 Digital Development Awards (the Digis), the fourth round of these awards. The Digis recognize and celebrate USAID-funded projects and activities that use digital technology to sustain open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems in order to improve measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes. After receiving nearly 200 applications from USAID Missions around the world, five winners were selected for the 2022 Digital Development Awards, including USAID/Nepal: Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (BHAKARI), implemented by MercyCorps Nepal.
The remote Karnali River Basin is home to some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded communities in Nepal, and, when a crisis hits, reaching families with life-saving humanitarian assistance can be extremely difficult. Organizations often provide cash and vouchers as assistance so that participants can satisfy their own specific needs. However, it can be complex and costly to meet with rural participants in person to enroll them in these types of programs.
The USAID/Nepal Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (BHAKARI) program, implemented by Mercy Corps Nepal, deploys a suite of digital solutions to address these and other challenges throughout the phases of an emergency. BHAKARI partnered with Viamo, a global social enterprise, to transmit free, trustworthy, and accurate messages to complement the cash and voucher assistance to over 3 million people in Nepal. BHAKARI has used Viamo’s Platform (hotlines, IVR calls and mobile trainings) to provide training on cash and voucher assistance and spread educational, informational, and interactive messages about nutrition, hygiene and health, disasters, gender equality and social inclusion, and how to maximize effectiveness of cash assistance to ensure food security and nutrition.
BHAKARI also uses cloud-based software Laligurans, developed by Aria Technologies Nepal, for cash and voucher project management. The software helps BHAKARI register cash and voucher assistance participants, distribute cash and vouchers, and connect local vendors to wholesalers.
Pushpa, a single mother in a small village in Nepal’s remote Karnali River Basin, is part of a Community Disaster Management Committee (CDMC), along with many other women in her community. As part of this committee, the women work together to help their community prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Additionally, as part of BHAKARI’s emergency response program, she and other vulnerable households from her community receive support in the form of cash and vouchers which can be redeemed for food and supplies.
She shares, “The program staff use their phones to make a list of what we need…rice, eggs, soap. They provide us vouchers after which we come to the shop and receive the items from our list, which is packed and ready for us when we arrive. The items are provided to us after the shop owners scan our voucher in their phones.” These vouchers help Pushpa, and others in her community, provide for their families during the dry season when food is more scarce.
The BHAKARI program has intentionally designed each intervention to make cash and voucher assistance more accessible to the most marginalized and underserved groups—including poor laborers and their families, women, and people with disabilities. Interactive voice response “push messaging,” which disseminated key program messages by calling participants’ mobile phones, allowed BHAKARI to reach even those with low digital literacy.
BHAKARI has been incredibly collaborative, partnering with a national technology service provider, 101 local vendors, two transfer service providers, 22 regional and local agriculture input suppliers, and multiple departments of the Nepal Government and district governments. Additionally, private sector actors and local vendors can be mobilized quickly to respond to communities in remote geographical regions in the case of shocks or disasters.
Photo Credit: Suraj Ratna Shakya for USAID
Jumla_2022_SurajRatnaShakya-33
In an effort to align with the USAID Digital Strategy and recognize USAID Missions, Bureaus and partners that are empowering countries in a digital age, USAID launched the 2022 Digital Development Awards (the Digis), the fourth round of these awards. The Digis recognize and celebrate USAID-funded projects and activities that use digital technology to sustain open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems in order to improve measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes. After receiving nearly 200 applications from USAID Missions around the world, five winners were selected for the 2022 Digital Development Awards, including USAID/Nepal: Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (BHAKARI), implemented by MercyCorps Nepal.
The remote Karnali River Basin is home to some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded communities in Nepal, and, when a crisis hits, reaching families with life-saving humanitarian assistance can be extremely difficult. Organizations often provide cash and vouchers as assistance so that participants can satisfy their own specific needs. However, it can be complex and costly to meet with rural participants in person to enroll them in these types of programs.
The USAID/Nepal Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (BHAKARI) program, implemented by Mercy Corps Nepal, deploys a suite of digital solutions to address these and other challenges throughout the phases of an emergency. BHAKARI partnered with Viamo, a global social enterprise, to transmit free, trustworthy, and accurate messages to complement the cash and voucher assistance to over 3 million people in Nepal. BHAKARI has used Viamo’s Platform (hotlines, IVR calls and mobile trainings) to provide training on cash and voucher assistance and spread educational, informational, and interactive messages about nutrition, hygiene and health, disasters, gender equality and social inclusion, and how to maximize effectiveness of cash assistance to ensure food security and nutrition.
BHAKARI also uses cloud-based software Laligurans, developed by Aria Technologies Nepal, for cash and voucher project management. The software helps BHAKARI register cash and voucher assistance participants, distribute cash and vouchers, and connect local vendors to wholesalers.
Pushpa, a single mother in a small village in Nepal’s remote Karnali River Basin, is part of a Community Disaster Management Committee (CDMC), along with many other women in her community. As part of this committee, the women work together to help their community prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Additionally, as part of BHAKARI’s emergency response program, she and other vulnerable households from her community receive support in the form of cash and vouchers which can be redeemed for food and supplies.
She shares, “The program staff use their phones to make a list of what we need…rice, eggs, soap. They provide us vouchers after which we come to the shop and receive the items from our list, which is packed and ready for us when we arrive. The items are provided to us after the shop owners scan our voucher in their phones.” These vouchers help Pushpa, and others in her community, provide for their families during the dry season when food is more scarce.
The BHAKARI program has intentionally designed each intervention to make cash and voucher assistance more accessible to the most marginalized and underserved groups—including poor laborers and their families, women, and people with disabilities. Interactive voice response “push messaging,” which disseminated key program messages by calling participants’ mobile phones, allowed BHAKARI to reach even those with low digital literacy.
BHAKARI has been incredibly collaborative, partnering with a national technology service provider, 101 local vendors, two transfer service providers, 22 regional and local agriculture input suppliers, and multiple departments of the Nepal Government and district governments. Additionally, private sector actors and local vendors can be mobilized quickly to respond to communities in remote geographical regions in the case of shocks or disasters.
Photo Credit: Suraj Ratna Shakya for USAID