| 9 | | |
| 10 | | Pulso ONG is a platform for collecting migrant data via SMS surveys. |
| 11 | | |
| 12 | | == Full Description == |
| 13 | | |
| 14 | | NGOs cannot respond well to migrants’ needs without quality metrics on migrant demographics, activities, interactions, and quality of life. Collecting this data is challenging because migrants are a not a settled population, may not have easy anonymous access to internet, and may distrust submitting their details in a non-anonymized form. SMS is widely used in Latin America, with prepaid phones frequently used by migrants. |
| 15 | | |
| 16 | | ''Pulso ONG'' is a platform for executing brief questionnaire campaigns by SMS to an arbitrary set of mobile phone numbers. The responses are collected, stored, visualized, and made available through open data initiatives. |
| 17 | | |
| 18 | | Spontaneous surveys sent to large sets of people can be useful in quickly determining if proposed legislation has a factual merit; or a survey can be sent twice, once before and once after policy is enacted, to determine the effect it has had on migrants. |
| 19 | | |
| 20 | | This functionality completed for the America's Datafest includes a web-based interface to manage a set of surveys and their questions, groups of participants, a question queue manager that sends SMS messages, and a web hook that receives responses. In the future the platform can be extended to function as a general communication intermediary between migrants with mobile phones and NGOs. |
| 21 | | |
| 22 | | == Features == |
| 23 | | |
| 24 | | * Survey participant is only a phone number (i.e. it's basically anonymous). |
| 25 | | * Questions are associated with surveys, which are scheduled to be sent on a specific date. |
| 26 | | * Once survey begins, questions are frozen to prevent changing parameters. |
| 27 | | * Responses are associated to the participant and survey. |
| 28 | | * Questions are formatted using a simple markup syntax to allow short questions < 160 characters. |
| 29 | | * Question format is parsed to ensure options can be validated against participant responses. |
| 30 | | * Participant is notified if they send an invalid response. |
| 31 | | * Participant is notified when the survey is complete. |
| 32 | | * Reports viewable for each survey. |
| 33 | | * CSV download of survey data. |
| | 9 | ''Pulso ONG'' (“NGO Pulse”) is a platform for collecting data through SMS surveys with migrants. The current lack of data on migration patterns and trends is a barrier to migrant advocate organizations in their quest to mitigate abuses and improve migration-related policy. This tool will allow migrant advocates to rapidly and efficiently collect large amounts of previously unavailable data on migration. Survey data could be used to identify and address the most pressing issues faced by migrants, research migration patterns, raise the voice of migrants in policy debates, and support the creation of migrant-focused legislation. |
| 37 | | … |
| | 13 | {{{ |
| | 14 | #!html |
| | 15 | <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8YU032NNNeY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> |
| | 16 | }}} |
| | 17 | |
| | 18 | == Context == |
| | 19 | A critical barrier faced by migrant advocacy organizations is a lack of statistically-sound data about migration patterns and trends. In many instances, data on migration is not published or simply not collected by governments. In light of this information vacuum, many advocate organizations use resource- and time-intensive methods for collecting data, such as in-person interviews with migrants. While this method allows advocates to collect detailed, narrative accounts from migrants, it is not effective for collecting large volumes of data or for making statistical claims. |
| | 20 | |
| | 21 | ''Pulso ONG'' was developed to address this problem. Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (Center for Migrant Rights, or CDM), a team member of ''Pulso ONG'', is a U.S. non-profit with headquarters in Mexico City and additional offices in Baltimore, Maryland, and Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca. Part of CDM’s work involves research, education, and policy advocacy related to the H-2A and H-2B temporary work visa programs. In 2012, over 110,000 migrants workers were employed on H-2 visas in the U.S. and over 80% of those workers were from Mexico. |
| | 22 | |
| | 23 | The H-2 visas and employer-sponsored programs, meaning that workers must be selected by an employer and are unable to self-petition for a visa. The recruitment process through which migrant workers are selected is highly problematic and rights violations are routine. However, very little information about recruitment for these visas is available to the public. Neither the U.S. nor the Mexican governments adequately monitor recruitment and the few regulations and laws that regulate it are under-enforced. |
| | 24 | |
| | 25 | ''Pulso ONG'' would provide CDM with the crucial ability to fill the information vacuum about recruitment under the H-2 temporary work visa programs. For the past 5 years, CDM has collected information on recruitment through in-person surveys with migrants. The in-person survey is costly and slow, when taking into account personnel time and travel costs and considering that many migrant-sending communities are located in remote areas of the country. In recent years, however, CDM has noticed a significant increase in access to and familiarity with mobile technology. Almost all temporary migrant workers, especially the younger generation, regularly use mobile phones and SMS technology. A short survey sent to CDM’s database of migrant workers would generate rapid results, with the number of responses likely topping the total number of surveys collected by CDM during the past 5 years. SMS surveys typically generate a higher response rate than email or web-based surveys. |
| | 26 | |
| | 27 | == Description == |
| | 28 | ''Pulso ONG'' is a platform to send short surveys to mobile phones via SMS. The platform allows administrators to easily create new questions and group questions into surveys. Administrators can select from three question structures: 1) multiple choice/single answer, 2) multiple choice/multiple answer, and 3) open text or number answers. Once a survey recipient answers a question, the next question in the survey is trigged to send. The platform allows for advanced question logic, enabling and disabling questions based on the participant's replies. This permits administrators to design detailed surveys without unnecessarily increasing length for the respondent. |
| | 29 | |
| | 30 | Administrators upload mobile phone numbers of migrant contacts to the platform. Additionally, new users can register by texting UNETE to the designated phone number. Organizations can easily increase their survey pool through advertising and promotional campaigns in migrant safe houses, on public transit, through social media, and through traditional media. SMS service providers will charge the surveyor for outgoing messages (survey) and the migrant for responses. |
| | 31 | |
| | 32 | The platform also contains a data visualization component that allows administrators and website visitors to analyze the survey results in real time, as well as downloading the data in a CSV file. The platform requires only phone numbers (no names, addresses, etc.), making the platform anonymous by default. The exported data will identify participants only by a unique participant ID, rather than including their phone number. In an effort to increase data transparency and foment collaboration in the civil sector, data collected through this platform will be made available publicly. Administrators can reserve the right to be credited in any secondary material published using the survey data. |
| | 33 | |
| | 34 | === Features === |
| | 35 | * Simple question syntax allows rapid creation of surveys. |
| | 36 | * Realtime question syntax validation feedback. |
| | 37 | * Actions and triggers can be specified for question options: ”continue,” ”go to question,” and ”end survey.” |
| | 38 | * Anonymous (no personal information beyond mobile phone number is collected). |
| | 39 | * Administrators can bulk import participant phone numbers. |
| | 40 | * Participants can join by texting JOIN/UNETE to register and EXIT/SALIR to opt-out. |
| | 41 | * Text INFO to receive more information about the survey and surveying organization. |
| | 42 | * Explanatory and invitation texts (YES/NO) before survey initiates. |
| | 43 | * Participant status and last activity date are tracked. |
| | 44 | * Surveys can be scheduled to begin automatically on a specified date or run immediately at the click of a button. |
| | 45 | * Surveys can be closed manually to freeze the dataset once it is determined enough responses have been received. |
| | 46 | * Data visualization displays summary of responses in real time. |
| | 47 | * Data available for download as a CSV file. |
| | 48 | * Participant status is maintained: they can respond now or later and their reply will apply to the correct question. |
| | 49 | * Dashboard gives overview and statistics of currently running survey. |
| | 50 | * Authentication system prevents unauthorized access. Multiple users can be logged-in simultaneously. |
| | 51 | * Searching, filtering, and sorting of record lists. |
| | 52 | * Extensive form validation ensures data is entered correctly. |
| | 53 | * Full system logging maintains a history of events and can alert administrators whenever an error occurs via email or SMS. |
| | 54 | * Internationalization ready: consistent use of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettext gettext] methods will enable the site interface to be translated into any language. |
| | 55 | |
| | 56 | |
| | 57 | == Impact == |
| | 58 | CDM envisions several uses for such data in its own work. These survey models could be easily replicated by other advocacy organizations working on migration issues. |
| | 59 | |
| | 60 | * Single-use surveys for research. Some of the most egregious abuses faced by internationally recruited workers are all but invisible to policy-makers and governments. For example, temporary migrant workers are often forced to take out exploitative, high-interest loans to cover recruitment, visa, and travel costs, meaning that they arrive in the U.S. with considerable debt. Using ''Pulso ONG'', CDM could design a short survey about the use of loans to highlight the problem. The research could be presented to government officials and policy makers to support the creation of policies that would mitigate this problem. |
| | 61 | * Single-use survey about a current policy proposal. CDM believes that migrant workers should be included in the policy discussions that directly affect them. For this reason, when lawmakers and federal agencies publish new laws and regulations related to the H-2 temporary visa programs, CDM often seeks out the opinions of migrant workers and includes them in public comments, briefs, and senate hearings. Given the short timeline associated with this process, CDM is often unable to collect a substantial response from migrant workers and instead relies on anecdotes from a handful of individuals. ''Pulso ONG'' would allow CDM to gather significant feedback from the temporary migrant worker population in a timely manner. Findings would be made public and included in debates related to the proposed policy. |
| | 62 | * Ongoing baseline survey about recruitment. CDM would use ''Pulso ONG'' to gather baseline data on recruitment patterns through a regular survey sent to workers every 4-6 months. In addition to monitoring trends in recruitment practices and abuses, CDM could use the data to evaluate the effectives of new legislation and regulations. For example, the Department of Labor implemented a prohibition on recruitment fees in 2009. CDM’s field work and survey responses indicate that the prohibition did not have a significant on-the-ground effect on the use of recruitment fees. Statistically significant responses through a ''Pulso ONG'' baseline survey would allow CDM to collect critical information about the implementation and enforcement of new legislation and regulations. |
| | 63 | * Alerts and polling about urgent actions. In early 2013, CDM began receiving reports by migrant workers about a fraudulent recruitment company operating in over a dozen states in Mexico. The agency, called Chamba Mexico, was charging workers 7,000 pesos in exchange for an H-2 temporary work visa, though no worker ever receive one. Subsequently, the offices were closed and the agency owners fled. Thousands of workers have come forward as victims of the fraud scheme and, to date, none has received a reimbursement of their fee. Unfortunately, these fraud schemes are not uncommon. CDM could use ''Pulso ONG'' to prevent and investigate recruitment fraud schemes by sending alerts and collecting crucial information about fraudulent actors through worker polls. |
| | 64 | |
| | 65 | == Expansion == |
| | 66 | While ''Pulso ONG'' is currently designed to draw information from the migrant population, the tool could be expanded in the future to dispatch center between migrants and advocates, to which migrants could submit requests for information and/or assistance via SMS. Keyword identification would allow incoming SMS requests to be sorted by theme and directed to the appropriate respondent. These switchboards could be established by a single organizations or by networks of migrant advocacy organizations. Example use cases: |
| | 67 | • NGOs such as Foro Migraciones, a network of over 70 migrant advocacy organizations in Mexico, can register to be notified when a keyword they define is submitted to the platform. E.g., an NGO assisting migrants to find work can respond to users who submit "TRABAJO" to ''Pulso ONG''. |
| | 68 | • Migrants can report violence, accidents, emergences and ask for help (who may be afraid to summon local police or government authorities). An NGO who responds to emergencies can be notified through the platform (a “grassroots 911”). |
| | 69 | • Migrant knowlegebase: users can receive information or guidance by texting AIUTO followed by a description of their need. Dispatchers can reply with a simple answer or contact information for an organization where the user can receive the help they need. |
