Mobilizing the Unheard Voices of Aid Recipients

Arjun Venkatraman of Environics Trust in India and colleagues will use an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to collect 10,000 personal narratives of the impact of aid programs in rural India. The system will be developed to record a brief audio phone message from low-literate citizens who have benefited from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which guarantees employment to any citizen who seeks it. They will train a team of moderators to solicit contributors, who will receive a nominal fee, and to review and cross-check contributions. Validated stories will be disseminated along with geographic location using the web and social media. The impact of this project on how young people perceive foreign aid will also be assessed. If successful, this approach could be broadened to other types of foreign aid programs and to other countries.