WakeUpCall

With a bachelors degree in Media Technology, a certificate in leadership and entrepreneurship Joseph Mulabbi is a proud winner of the African Union Humanitarian Innovation Challenge 2019, grant winner @Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program 2018. He is an entrepreneur, an advocate for youth empowerment, business coach and consultant. He is founder/Director of WeKonnect platform that connects refugees to relevant information and services in Uganda, founder @ExpertBoda a transport company, and Youth Contact Association working to transform and empower African youth through social economic initiatives.

As an advocate for youth social empowerment, he strongly supports youth entrepreneurial growth and development initiatives and has experience in scheduling programs and projects that promote community engagement and urge positive participation to elevate the status of both young and old, has participated in various community solution programs and activities through which he has developed strong interpersonal, communication skills and the ability to work in multicultural environments.

In the face of a humanitarian crisis such as the spread of COVID-19, grassroots organizations, such as faith-based organizations, youth groups, and social justice movements are among the most important disaster responders at the frontline especially across vulnerable communities. However, limited experience and operational constraints to respond to humanitarian crises, poor coordination across stakeholders and inadequate information about the community’s vulnerabilities and resources disaster response work becomes hectic and ineffective.

By leveraging a Ready2Act&Connect human-centered approach to data collection and use in grassroots community organizations in times of health crises, WakeUpCall intends to bridge the gap in current disaster management efforts and bring together grassroots organizations, aid agencies and philanthropic entities to maximize their impact in helping the most vulnerable populations. Our impact will include better outcomes for traditionally vulnerable populations after the COVID-19 crisis as well as improved capacity for organizations to marshal volunteers outside of crisis scenarios.

At the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, decisionmakers put senior adults at the center of relief efforts. The media highlighted what practitioners already knew: as we age, we develop chronic health problems; our social networks thin out; we become less mobile and less able to access public programs and support. Despite targeted efforts during the pandemic, nearly eight of every ten deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States for instance were persons aged 65 and older. The death toll from COVID-19 that has swept over 500,000 people globally is due in part to particularities of the virus, but the elderly historically disproportionately suffer in the wake of crises. Humanitarian responses have yet to marshall the power of data and information exchange to effectively reach and serve these isolated and vulnerable populations regularly, and our efforts can entirely break down in times of crisis.  Additionally, with limited experience and operational constraints to respond to humanitarian crises, grassroots organizations find it difficult to pivot to humanitarian response; with inadequate information about the community’s vulnerabilities and resources, disaster response work becomes hectic and ineffective; with different organizational structures and information management procedures, coordination across disaster management stakeholders has been challenging. 

Leveraging a Connect&Ready2Act model for natural disasters response to introduce a new human-centered approach to data collection and use in grassroots community organizations in times of health crises. WakeUpCall is a collaborative solution to boost disaster resilience for communities through a more connected ecosystem of people and data in Uganda and beyond suing three key components: 1)Connect: Work with community organizations to formalize a buddy system that connects community members with the elderly and others in need to provide assistance; 2)Ready: Through the buddy system, communities collect and manage crucial information about the vulnerabilities and resources to get ready for disasters; and 3)Act: Be able to help integrate crowdsourced local information and provide actionable insights to disaster management agencies to help maximize their impact through targeted support in response and recovery efforts.

We aim to develop training materials and management systems in collaboration with grassroots organizations for effectively recruiting and supporting volunteers to meet disaster management demand and build long-term resilience; Co-design easy-to-use mobile and web-based platforms to crowdsource, manage, and communicate community needs with a focus on vulnerable individuals; and Bring key-players together to plan and implement disaster response and recovery efforts with trusted and data-driven insights.

Rivers, lakes, islands and mountainous areas are prone to natural disasters. We look to start in these areas to maximize our impact in building community disaster resilience beyond COVD-19. Our potential total target population size (people over 65 and people with disability under 65 living under the poverty line) across four of the most vulnerable areas (East, South, West and Northern regions) could add up to 5 million. We look to reach 5% of the total target population or 250,000 people in five years. For the most vulnerable populations particularly in these disaster prone, low-income communities, within 3-6 months, we envision WakeUpCall to: 1) improve ease of access to essential services and supplies; 2) reduce health and mortality risks; and 3) reduce mental health challenges due to isolation and disruption to normal life. For grassroots organizations, in 6-12 months, WakeUpCall will 1) enhance management capacity; 2) broaden and deepen community engagement; and 3) improved partnership and access to funding and resources. Lastly, for disaster aid agencies and philanthropic entities, between 3 - 6 months, WakeUpCall will 1) improve efficacy of disaster response efforts; and 2) minimize negligence and target aid and service provision to where the greatest needs are.

In the current Covid-19 pandemic season, the need to empower and strengthen the resilience of communities faced with disaster and humanization crises is no longer a debate. The effects of these crises require a more connected ecosystem of people and data for mitigation, and that's where WakeUpCall comes in to ensure front-line grassroots organizations have the right tools, resources, people and data to effectively execute services. This way, we drive action to solve the most difficult problems of our world by ensuring grassroots organizations are well Connected and Ready to Act amidst crises. Hence it aligns with The Elevate Prize.

The breakout of Covid-19 took the world by surprise and its effects can't be denied. Today companies,airports, markets  are closed, social distancing, StayHome to StaySafe is order of the day. Thousands have died with millions infected. That aside, the anticipated effects of Covid-19 during recovery are likely to be more severe than the virus itself yet many families and governments don't have streamlined solutions towards recovery. As the first case of COVID-19 in Uganda was confirmed on 22-March, we (Joseph Mulabbi, Akiteng Suzan, Dr. Nicholas Kibuye, Mary Amuge, Agnes Apio), started to think for the way forward on how best frontline fighters can well be prepared and placed to handle disasters and humanitarian crises like Covid-19 and beyond. We believe Grassroots organizations are best positioned to deploy the right response to the right places during and after crises, because of their knowledge of local needs, resources, and being a trustworthy  source among community members. Across the nation, aid agencies and philanthropic entities are also stepping up to scale, shift, and direct resources and supplies products and support to address these needs. However, there are clear gaps in making these initiatives more effective to help the most vulnerable populations:

We are so passionate about this project given the impact we anticipate to have more especially in the lives of the most vulnerable populations more especially in Africa.

We have all seen and observed how much disastrous being unprepared and a lack of information, tools and resources at hand in the wake of a global health issue can be. We have witnessed our loved ones die rich or poor. How many have to die before we join hands to prepare ourselves for the unexpected?

We have whatever it takes to overcome if we can focus more on availing the tools, resources and connections that we can use in times of a crisis. We are passionate about designing real human-centered solutions that tackle the real issues of our time. We are more concerned about building an environment that favours all of to grow health and work on our economic independence with ease.

That is what makes us have sleepless nights to make sure we design solutions that will make this world a better place for us the generations to come and that is why we are so passionate about this project.

Joseph Mulabbi (team lead) is an innovative entrepreneur and business coach with several years of experience in humanitarian project management. He is founder and director of an award winning humanitarian project (WeKonnect) that is working to provide and connect refugees and their service providers to essential information and services for socioeconomic grow, development and self-sustainability. Some of the project members are among the fronline individuals who are in the field to make sure Covid-19 patients are well catered for, these have direct contact with grassroots organizations and are well placed to provide all the necessary efforts to deliver this project. We have gone a head to share this same project with the Uganda Ministry of Health, we have brought onboard software engineers and currently we have 4support organizations that are providing the resources to make sure the project is developed and prepared to launch in order to achieve its vision. Given the team's experience, skills and partnership with both private and public entities, it is a sure deal that this project will live to serve its purpose.

When I cameup with this idea, I shared it with field experienced friends but all of them had one concern in common (MONEY) "Man this project can't be achieved especially in Uganda or Africa where we only depend on donations" one told me. Even though it's true about the need for money before starting up a wide vision project like this, I chose not to be confined in the corridors of money, as long as I still have the brain and eyes that see the problem and the ability to think of a solution that will turnaround people's lives for the good, I got to move forward "I tell myself". I realized that the best weapon I have is "How far am willing to go in constructing ideas that benefit millions than MONEY, that is a weapon I have always deployed amidst difficult times, there are times I feel like giving up but then I ask myself "Who will do it if not me?" and I find that I owe this world an opportunity to live a better life given the brains and abilities bestowed upon me by God. There is no excuse for failure.

I think that a good leader is a decision maker and takes into account others' opinions and feelings, but also willing and able to admit when they're wrong and course correct.

In my last role, my team and I were responsible for giving a big presentation to a prospective client that involved a lot of research ahead of time. I quickly assigned different tasks to members of my team, including giving the newest employee a chance to actually give the presentation. However, the project never really got moving. I asked my team about their concerns and gave everyone an opportunity to share their input, and it turned out that they were struggling in the roles I’d given them. I ended up switching a few people around.

Meanwhile, the employee I had assigned to give the presentation was nervous, but still wanted to give it a try. I worked with them to make sure they were ready and even held a practice session so they rehearse in a more comfortable environment. at the end they nailed it! I’m really glad I took the time to listen to everyone’s concerns to re-evaluate my approach and help my team be the best.

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