REGIONAL ROUND-UP
AFRICA APAC EUROPE MIDDLE EAST NORTH AMERICA
THE UN REFUGEE AGENCY PARTNERS WITH INDUSTRY EXPERTS TO BRING CLOUD- BASED TECHNOLOGY TO CALL CENTRES FOR REFUGEES
UNHCR , the UN Refugee Agency , with the support of the United Nations International Computing Centre ( UNICC ), has partnered with industry experts , ServiceNow , British Telecom ( BT ) and Thirdera ( formerly Silverstorm Solutions ) to set up a regional contact centre ( RCC ) for refugees fleeing the ongoing war in Ukraine .
UNHCR , with its mission to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees , reports that there were more than 8 million Ukrainian refugees recorded across Europe by the end of February 2023 . UNHCR works to ensure that refugees can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state , and to return home voluntarily when they choose and when it is safe to do so .
Bringing together the best of ServiceNow , BT , Thirdera and UNICC ’ s digital expertise and solutions , the new UNHCR RCC solution offers refugees a user friendly , multilingual platform to access vital information on emergency services , assistance and psychosocial counselling services , as well as identifying vulnerable refugees and referring them to specialists for follow-up support . The RCC also provides information on education , employment , healthcare , housing and legal support .
Mohammed Ghafour , Community-based Protection Officer , UNHCR , said : “ Since the onset of the full-scale war in Ukraine , UNHCR has been working on innovative solutions to ensure that those forced to flee have access to the information they need as part of our accountability to affected populations .
“ Partnering with UNICC and the private sector has allowed us to launch this RCC , the first-ofits-kind , enabling us to communicate with the people we serve , providing them with information and referring those with vulnerabilities to the services they need .”
The service , which is a cost-free phone calling system , is now available in Hungary and Poland and can be scaled up to other countries in the region , depending on needs .
The RCC is operated by teams based in Poland and Hungary , who speak both Ukrainian and Russian .
Rian Butcher , Senior Managing Director , EMEA , Thirdera , said : “ At Thirdera , our goal is always to use transformation to improve the lives of the many and this initiative is a perfect example of how we can provide that value . We believe that our strength and depth on the ServiceNow platform and Customer Service Management solution will make for a fast implementation , allowing Ukrainian refugees to get access to the necessary support that they need in these difficult times .”
The RCC platform offers a cost-effective , cloud-based solution for UNHCR ’ s efforts in the field . It is built around a BT solution integrated with case management from Thirdera , using ServiceNow ’ s Customer Service Management ( CSM ) application , to create and keep interaction records with callers and identify and refer vulnerabilities to UNHCR and its partners for follow up and response .
With a global blueprint in mind , this RCC solution is designed to be used in other situations and can be rapidly deployed to support UNHCR and partner UN organisations dealing with emergencies elsewhere around the world . x
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