Loop: Accountability Re-imagined

Even though the objective of the international aid paradigm is to bring about economic and social justice for people in poverty, it has itself become part of the problem. It is still largely top-down, project-driven, and shaped by donor rather than local agendas. The local realities of those who are poor and marginalised are often ignored or misread, if heard at all. 

Loop mobilises New Power to create systemic change. We harness existing technology already developed in the private sector and partner with telecom providers to offer a free platform enabling anyone, anywhere to feedback on aid they have received in a transparent, real-time manner. Service providers can reply directly and use the feedback to improve their services. At scale, Loop could benefit more than 100 million people annually (50% of whom are living on < $2/day), through improved dignity; improved trust and engagement; and improved services.

The problem is that:

The needs and perspectives of the most marginalised, vulnerable, and underserved people are not effectively incorporated into the design and funding of services aimed at supporting them.  They are treated as charitable beneficiaries rather than active agents of change.

This occurs globally, across the international development and humanitarian sectors.

It is a problem for:

Affected populations, who feel marginalised and not listened to, and who are not having their basic needs met in the most effective way for them.

Donors, because their funds could be used to deliver greater impact.

Service providers, because they need to build trust and engage with communities to be able to access populations, to empower sustainability and local ownership of solutions, and to deliver high quality support.

Over 50% of those receiving humanitarian aid say: aid does not go to the most needy; aid does not include the opinion of people it is supposed to help; and ‘I do not know where to report back safely about abuse.’

This means that the $21 billion spent every year on aid is not being used as effectively as it could be.

For the first time in history, we can communicate directly with people we’re trying to help, in multiple languages, at scale.

Loop is a free, global, independent feedback system, harnessing technology from the private sector to provide a free platform enabling anyone, anywhere to feedback on aid. Service providers can reply directly and use feedback to improve services.

Loop is vastly different to anything currently in the sector because:

• We’re independent – covering all sectors and contexts.
• We’re permanent – we don’t depend on Emergency Response funding. We’re present before, during and after a crisis
• We can scale easily and cheaply -  we don’t rely on field staff
• Our platform is easily accessed through a variety of channels, including SMS, USSD, free messenger services (WhatsApp, Imo, Facebook.) and email. It's available anywhere with text messaging/any kind or internet access
• We operate according to a) open data principles - all feedback, approved by a moderator, is available for anyone to see and engage with – and  b) decentralised control - local populations can give feedback on anything important to them, whether they have been asked to or not
• We’re complementary - to other existing feedback mechanisms, especially those which are face-to-face

Loop has three target stakeholders:

• People who receive Aid.
• Organisations that provide Aid and
• Donors who fund Aid activities.

We know we need to add value to all three groups in order to scale and function effectively. 

So we've included recipients, providers and donors throughout our design and  process, and we continue to build this into the Governance and HR structures, ownership, testing and roll out of Loop.

Our Governing Board is made up of people who come from affected populations and who work within Organisations who provide Aid, and we have an Advisory Board made up of key representatives of the sector, including the UN, Core Humanitarian Standards, Red Cross, NGO networks and local Civil Society Networks and donors.

Throughout the process of developing the Loop platform, we have co-designed and tested every aspect of the system with:

1) Local populations representing diverse backgrounds and needs and will continue to do so. This includes more than 500 local people (all ages, disabilities, rural and urban, illiterate, and literate, different language skills, various legal status, ethnicities and sexual orientations); 

2) 'Service providers' including: Networks of civil society organisations, including those working with populations in camps, prisons and temporary accommodation, those working for transgender people in contexts where this is illegal, organisations working on violence against women; Networks of NGOs including the NEAR network and Local to Global, the BOND network of UK NGOs and CHS Alliance members. 

3) Donors from government to Foundations to Social Impact investors.

We are offering a technology-based approach to building a more inclusive digital economy. 

Our global, safe, accessible feedback platform enables anyone, anywhere to share their feedback on services that are intended to help them lead dignified and productive lives. 

We are mobilising New Power and drawing on technology that exists in the private sector to re-imagine accountability, viewing ‘beneficiaries’ of aid as customers with rights. 

Our ultimate goal is to have a global platform that is driving social change and increasing dignity and understanding worldwide, with 100 million hits a year, which is free to use and 100% self-sustainable.

Loop is in the Pilot phase, because we have co-developed the current technology with local communities, civil society organisations, NGOs and donors, rolled out Loop in Zambia and the Philippines, and are exploring rollout in Somalia. 

In each context we are integrated into the local ecosystem, seeking out marginalised communities and those working with them.

• In Zambia, we partner with the Zambian Governance Foundation, a leading Shift the Power actor, and a network of 140 local CSOs. We are also working with NGOCC, who convene 98 national actors working on Gender based Violence.
• In the Philippines, we work through a National Coordination Committee, who represent five local actor networks working on Emergency Response, Human rights etc with over 2,000 members in total.
• In Somalia, we are partnering with the NEXUS consortium of 8 local NGOs, supported by Save the Children and Oxfam.

Feedback from our prototyping sessions includes:

• 'This is the Tesla of the Humanitarian Sector'. 
• 'I can't believe this simple solution doesn't exist already'.

We are adapting a range of existing technologies from the private sector, repurposing it for specific contexts and populations, and integrating it into the architecture of the humanitarian and development system to systemically shift power to customers of Aid. 

Our solution is innovative because we default to open and transparent and through the use of technology we are raising the voices of the most marginalised up for anyone to engage with and, through data analytics, to inform policy and funding decisions.

We do this by reducing barriers to providing feedback in an open way through: a multi-channel platform (SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, USSD, Interactive Voice); machine translation into main languages (Arabic, Spanish, French, Tagalog etc); machine assisted translation for use with underserved languages; Use of a Network effect by tagging in those who can best act on the story; Real time dashboards analysing the qualitative data through multiple filters; safe anonymised reporting of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; Safe whistleblowing and reporting of fraud and corruption by an independent neutral service.

This will create a catalytic systemic change by enabling an Accountability Framework that is informed by financial reporting but also the experience and views of customers of Aid.

We are currently prototyping and testing Loop with 600 people, including local people from Zambia and the Philippines, CSOs and donors.

In one year, we will be working across 5 contexts, generating 10,000 pieces of feedback from 7,000 people, primarily people from affected communities and service providers. 

We will capture how people have been directly and meaningfully affected through the Measurement Framework and Learning Agenda we have developed to evidence and the test the assumptions in our Theory of Change. We have an evaluation scheduled for Q1 of 2022.

In five years we want Loop's platform to have a million hits a year across all continents - and 100 million hits within 10 years.

Rough calculations suggest that Loop will positively impact 490,000 people* per annum over the long-term, through:

• Improved dignity, by having the chance to raise their voice
• Improved services, through feedback being listened to and researchers finding evidence of what is working or not
• Improved trust and engagement between citizens and organisations
• Improved culture within organisations.

Of the 100 million people using the platform when it reaches scale, we estimate 50% will live on under $2 per day and 70% on under $5. 

*The direct measurable benefit per person will only be perceptible for 1% (= 700,000 people per year). The Investing for Good survey rates Loop as an Impact Improver, with a 70% probability of success. 70% of 700,000 = 490,000 people per annum.

Our Measurement Framework articulates how we are monitoring and evaluating Loop's performance against our Theory of Change.

Our mixed methods approach combines data generated through the Loop platform itself (% of feedback that generates a conversation thread), data collected through a MEL partner (% of users who report trusting Loop, with qualitative data collection to explore rationale), and data sourced through existing key sector initiatives and frameworks, such as the Core Humanitarian Standard, the IASC's Accountability to Affected Populations M&E framework, and key data protection and transparency standards (e.g. audit against USAID's principles for digital development), to help us demonstrate Loop's contribution to the broader sector.

We are using approaches that lend themselves to assessing the kinds of complex, multi-faceted, somewhat unpredictable changes that we envision Loop is driving - such as Most Significant Change.

In addition to tracking indicators such as vision, mission, outcome and output level, across all key user groups (as detailed in our Measurement Framework), we have developed a set of learning questions addressing the key assumptions within our ToC relating to scale, valued add, our business model etc.

Data will be available from piloting the platform in Zambia by the end of 2021.

Governing Board:

• Geoffrey Kateregga
• Salama Bakhalah
• Adeline Sibanda
• Tey el Rujla 
• Marcia Alarcon  

Staff:

• Alex Carle - Managing Director 
• Ciaran Duffey - Lead Designer

Advisory Board:

• Degan Ali
• Christina Bennett
• Rachel Maher
• Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque
• Elise Ford 
• Tanya Wood
• Sorcha O’Callaghan
• Kimberly Gire

Loop is led by a Governing Board of people who come from and understand the needs of vulnerable and marginalised communities. Eg: A Yemeni woman who has worked for the United Nations and specialises in gender inequalities. A Ugandan man who manages the Humanitarian Open Street Maps Africa communities, a Zimbabwean woman who is a professional consultant working on Monitoring and Evaluation for local people with local people.

Loop's Managing Director is a seasoned Humanitarian and Development worker with 25 years experience across all continents. She left her role as Director of Programs and Partnership for the British Red Cross to found Loop - the idea was born out of operational frustrations combined with an optimism that change can happen.

Loop's Lead Designer specialises in prototyping new digital services in the humanitarian and global health sectors. Past clients include UNHCR, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2016, he co-founded Refugee Text, an award-winning chatbot for refugees that delivered free and personalised asylum regulation information to refugees travelling to Europe. 

Loop's Advisory Board is made up of people who actively support us to bring Loop's vision to fruition vision, representing key stakeholders in the sector, including the CEO of the START network and the ED of the Core Humanitarian Standards Alliance, as well as representatives from the ADESO and NEAR network, Humanity United Foundation and the Humanitarian Policy Group at the ODI) and a social investment expert.

Loop wants to be a sector leading in 'walking the talk' in terms of our commitment to Shifting the Power.

We have a strong Governing Board made up of people who come from developing countries and can represent their contexts and experiences to hold Loop to account. 

We have more women than men in all positions. We have representation from South America, Middle East, Southern Africa and East Africa, and we're recruiting an representative from Asia. We also have a youth representative. Finally we have representatives from multiple faiths.

We always require our local tech teams to include local professionals and a strong gender mix.

'Loop embodies our vision through our structures, values, policies and behaviours' is an indicator in our Measurement Framework, which will be tracked through continual review of our policies, practices, meeting minutes etc. and a regular survey of staff and other representatives, with an accompanying action plan to respond to any discrepancies identified. 

Solve is a well respected player in identifying new innovative solutions which have real potential. We would be honoured to be among a small group of winning solutions.

We would invest the funding directly into the development of new features to the platform. 

We would welcome in-kind support in the areas of: communications and marketing, negotiations with mobile operators, support to build a global community of supporters to use Loop, advice in financial modelling and cost analysis of Loop at scale etc.

Financial management support would help us to build up a relevant financial model for Loop at scale. To better understand the inherent costs at scale and through this to identify and build out further relevant potential revenue streams. We have developed a few based on existing knowledge but professional guidance and support would help this significantly.

Public Relations is a key area we need to invest in to help build a trusted, recognisable global public good that people can easily access, invite others to join, talk about and actively use as an accountable global community.

We need help in all areas including the website, content (wide range), social media, radio etc. All done informed by and in coordination with local partners and actors.

We have a wide range of interested local partners to lead our integration and adaptation to the local communities. 

At the global level we would like to partner with actors including:

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - exploring how Loop could partner with donors to increase Aid accountability e.g. integrating Loop into donor requirements/suggestions for partners for 1) reporting on views of local people, 2) informing decision-making and impact assessment, 3) ensuring safe avenues for independent complaints and reporting SEAH and fraud, and 4) integration into due diligence.

University of Cambridge - shaping our approach to learning and data analytics. We would benefit from their work on behaviour change and measuring impact.

McKinsey and Company - thinking through innovative revenue streams for a charity, developing business models and testing them with possible clients/partners.

Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation to ensure our data and tagging   complements existing approaches to data collection.

Support to unlock global partnerships with Mobile Operators, through GSMA or others, to establish zero-rated numbers, negotiate integration options with Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and IMO at low/ no cost, and get AWS reduced rates. 

Support on encryption, data protection standards and legal considerations would also be welcomed.

As the founder and managing director I am a New Zealand woman and single mother of two daughters.  I have mentored and supported many woman throughout my career.

Loop as a platform will directly benefit women who are currently significantly under represented in reporting and evaluations.  Their voices are often not heard for a variety of reasons including: 

1) limited access to a phone (through Loop they can feedback safely through anyone's phone), 

2) limited access to meetings where decision are taken due (through Loop anyone can share their views and they can be accessed by anyone), 

3) More likely to be illiterate and have missed out on a school education (through Loop they can feedback through the use of voice)

4) less likely to speak one of the larger languages and therefore (Loop provides translation for a variety of different languages)

5) women or people from the LGBQT+ community are less likely to share their views due to oppression and fear of reprisals if they do, from their communities, state forces or distributors of Aid (Loop provides an option to feed back anonymously and safely for anyone).

6) and probably most devastatingly an inability to safely report if they have been sexually exploited or abused (through the 'Closed Loop' service they can safely report and Loop will refer it on to the appropriate actor and track accountability in a dashboard).

The design of Loop is especially for the purpose of shifting power to these types of women and girls and under represented at risk groups who cannot engage, or engage safely through other mechanisms.