Confidential & credible answers, when there’s no one else to ask. Designing Liberation Technologies Spring 2011 Pablo Fernandez Katie Hill Risa Kitagawa Eric Ruth nishauri Confidential & credible answers, when there’s no one else to ask.

The problem Evelyn is a 23-year-old community health worker, highly dedicated to helping young people in Mathare avoid sexual health risks.

The problem She needs a way to reach more young people and make them feel comfortable asking sensitive questions.

The problem But the scale of youth at risk is overwhelming. And she can only be in one place at a time.

Connect Inform Build The solution Nishauri will connect existing, MYSA-trained counselors to hundreds of youth seeking information from a safe, private source. Inform Nishauri disseminates reliable, timely information about sexual health and other sensitive topics, while preserving confidentiality. Build Nishauri harnesses and builds on existing knowledge and local capacities. The solution Nishauri is a mobile counseling service.

How it works In three simple steps.

centralized information system Counselor user Youth User Youth user MYSA Counselors Nishauri Nishauri Server Guru centralized information system Asks confidential question to counselor, or views FAQs organized by category, via USSD. Question Responds via USSD to youth’s query, also has the option of asking a follow-up question. If a follow-up is initiated, the counselor can view history via USSD to provide most appropriate response. Receives counselor’s response. Can follow up, forward the response to phone by SMS, or ask a new question. Ends session with opportunity to provide feedback. Step 1. A youth user sends in a question via his/her mobile phone, or views FAQs organized by category, via USSD.

centralized information system Counselor user Youth User Youth user MYSA Counselors Nishauri Server Guru centralized information system Asks confidential question to counselor, or views FAQs organized by category, via USSD. Question Question Responds via USSD to youth’s query, also has the option of asking a follow-up question. If a follow-up is initiated, the counselor can view history via USSD to provide most appropriate response. Receives counselor’s response. Can follow up, forward the response to phone by SMS, or ask a new question. Answer Ends session with opportunity to provide feedback. Step 2. A counselor stationed at one of three MYSA Resource Centers receives the question, and supplies a response via USSD. (S)he also has the option of asking a follow-up question, in which case the server stores the conversation history.

Step 3. Youth User MYSA Counselors Nishauri Server Question Question Answer Answer Step 3. The youth receives the response on his/her phone. The youth can follow up if necessary, forward the counselor’s response to his/her phone by SMS, or ask a new question. Ending the session provides an opportunity to give feedback.

Would young people use it? User testing The “Question Box” Test Strong demand from young people for a confidential service Types of questions young people wanted to ask Counselor SMS Test Feasibility of responding with a character liimit Would young people use it? In addition to the user tests, we conducted extensive interviews with peer counselors (including Evelyn herself!) in order to generate FAQs, and counselors’ responses to them. This constitutes the “FAQ” component of our service.

Sustainability Skills & context Sustainability User acquisition Costs High mobile penetration Strong SMS literacy among youth Trained counselors to ensure quality response Sustainability Strong sense of local ownership Leverage existing MYSA infrastructure and counselor logistics User acquisition Confidentiality will attract new youth Marketing campaigns Costs Technology Operating costs Marketing Training Viability What it takes to make it work. Skills & context High mobile penetration Strong SMS literacy among youth over 16 years old Trained counselors to enusre quality response – talk about how for “subjective” questions, counselor can tell youth to come in for in-person counseling User acquisition Confidentiality will attract new youth users who are otherwise hesitant to engage in in-person counseling Marketing campaigns Implementation costs Server development and maintenance [talk about approximate costs; and how to phase from mobile-originating to mobile-terminating structure] Piloting costs Additional counselor training Sustainability Strong sense of local ownership Leverage existing MYSA infrastructure and counselor logistics

Sustainability Skills & context Implementation costs Preliminary Budget Pilot Phase Ramp-up Phase Scale Phase Timeline (months) 3 12 12+ Technology SMS USSD Up-front Tech Cost   $600 $3,000 $1,000 Transaction Costs Users per day 15 30 75 Users per month 375 750 1875 Cost per month (USD) $26.09 $139.17 $347.93 Transaction cost for timeline $78.28 $1,670.06 $4,175.15 # of Users for timeline 1,125 2,250 5,625 Operating Costs Customer Acquisition /Marketing $300.00 $500.00 Training costs $1,000.00 $1,500.00 Total Cost $978.28 $6,170.06 $6,675.15 Skills & context High mobile penetration Strong SMS literacy among youth over 16 years old Trained counselors to enusre quality response – talk about how for “subjective” questions, counselor can tell youth to come in for in-person counseling User acquisition Confidentiality will attract new youth users who are otherwise hesitant to engage in in-person counseling Marketing campaigns Implementation costs Server development and maintenance [talk about approximate costs; and how to phase from mobile-originating to mobile-terminating structure] Piloting costs Additional counselor training Sustainability Strong sense of local ownership Leverage existing MYSA infrastructure and counselor logistics

Carrying the project forward. Formalize nature of collaboration with MYSA Pilot Small-scale pilot to assess adoption rate (3 mths, target of 1000 users) Negotiations with PRSPs & development of server (3-6 mths) Potential funders: Stanford, NOKIA Ramp-up Marketing campaign in lead-up to launch Formal launch Q1 2012 Potential funders: Omidyar Network, NIKE Foundation, FIFA Next steps Carrying the project forward.

Carrying the project forward. MYSA Responsibilities Counseling MYSA counselor in each Resource Center will be point person Operations Maintain relationship with PRSP, including monitoring PRSP’s work to ensure server development meets allotted timeline, and PRSP provides quality of work Marketing Promote nishauri among member base, place physical media advertising nishauri, host high-impact promotional events Cost Cost-free to youth users; if this model were pursued, MYSA or outside funder would bear cost of SMS /USSD interactions Next steps Carrying the project forward.

Confidential & credible answers, when there’s no one else to ask. nishauri Designing Liberation Technologies Spring 2011 Pablo Fernandez Katie Hill Risa Kitagawa Eric Ruth Confidential & credible answers, when there’s no one else to ask. Thank you! Our sincere gratitude goes out to our instructors Josh Cohen, Terry Winograd, Zia Yusuf; our TA Eric Mibuari; Jofish Kaye, NOKIA; our classmates; and last but not least, our inspirational partners at Mathare Youth Sports Association.

nishauri system Youth user Counselor user Asks confidential question to counselor, or views FAQs organized by category, via USSD. Responds via USSD to youth’s query, also has the option of asking a follow-up question. If a follow-up is initiated, the counselor can view history via USSD to provide most appropriate response. Receives counselor’s response. Can follow up, forward the response to phone by SMS, or ask a new question. Ends session with opportunity to provide feedback.