Humanitarian Assistance

Eric King and colleagues from Leo Burnett in the U.S. will create a working stock ticker on the New York Stock Exchange that will track the daily performance of aid to publicize that investment in humankind (HMKD; i.e. aid) is working. They will work to list HMKD on the New York Stock Exchange and create a news site containing daily updates of activities, such as where new wells have been dug. They will also present data on the type and distribution of aid, and on the return, such as changes in literacy rates and disease control.

Tony Morain of Ogilvy in the U.S. will develop and launch an online platform for university student teams to campaign for their chosen development challenges. The platform will allow the teams to generate a "profile page" and develop a strategy for communicating success with the aid of proven communication tools and access to relevant resources, including case studies of effective communication strategies. Team voting will be used to select a winning campaign to support, which will be provided with funding.

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.

Chip Carter and colleagues of Plan International USA in the U.S. will evaluate a proven marketing model, the House Party, as a new distribution mechanism to enhance participation in international development causes. Supporters of child-focused international programs have been recruited in the U.S. to host house parties that use literature, short films, and other materials to directly engage and educate a broader network of long-term supporters. They will measure and document the effectiveness of this approach and its potential for replication at scale.

Jamie Lundine and a team from Spatial Collective in Kenya will promote communication between citizens, service providers, local government, and members of the international community, to help improve living conditions in developing countries. They will create an interactive community platform accessible via SMS for citizens to present local development challenges, such as water supply shortages, and suggest possible solutions. Service providers and potential donors can then use the multi-media platform to identify these needs, and develop and evaluate solutions.

Christoph Nann, Alex Schill, Maik Kaehler and a team from Serviceplan in Germany will test a simple and modern method for generating donations to developing countries. They will use location-based network applications such as Foursquare, which has over 25 million users who record their locations in cafés, shops and restaurants. By setting up collaborations with local retail partners in Germany, they will label their stores on Foursquare with charity projects in developing countries, such as building water pumps, to promote visitors to the stores.