"1.4 billion people in the world are illiterate, one fifth of the world’s population, let alone the other 20 percent who can only read in their local language. How do you reach out and engage successfully with these populations?"

Question Box callbox networks extend program reach by deploying public helpline installations into underserved communities. These public callboxes allow community members to go for help and to provide feedback, near their homes and place of business. The methodology offers a new place to provide program services and a new stream of localized feedback data.

Question Box capacitates existing implementing organizations on how to deliver program content; collect information; and/or connect communities with service resources via callbox networks.Using callboxes, information provided to communities can be centralized; incoming data from communities benefits from timeliness and quality control; and limited human resources can serve more people.

 Question Box Network GSM mobile signal, and run on any local power source. Using Closed User Groups (CUGs), calls are free between the callboxes and the destination phone number, therefore reducing the cost of implementation. Calls can go to either a central location, or to distributed program staff and outreach workers.

USE CASE EXAMPLES

Rural Ambulance Dispatch

 At 8 remote locations on average 60 km from nearest hospital, identify community members with life-threatening emergencies, and provide 24/7 emergency dispatch services of motorcycle ambulance. Expansion requests from Community Health Workers and Nurses for clinician mentorship support. (NUMEM, Pader, Uganda)

Antenatal Care and HIV Testing for At-Risk Women

Antenatal and Postnatal Care Hotline to identify at-risk pregnant women in a region with 10% maternal to child transmission of HIV amongst HIV+ women. Provide direct antenatal and postnatal counsel to women. Connect identified pregnant women to Community Health Workers, who guide women through government system of antenatal care; HIV testing; andPrevention of Maternal to Child Transmission (PMTCT) services. (Spring 2015 Launch, Lotus Medical Foundation, Kolhapur, India)

Health System Patient Support

Connecting isolated fishing communities with information regarding location, cost, and availability of health care providers and essential medicines at county health centers, to inform them before they make the trip, and to help plan their seeking care. (In proposal,Buikwe, Uganda)

Rural Ebola Emergency Community Support

Rural Ebola virus best practice advisory and service linkage deployment. Provide live, on demand, updated information on the epidemic to rural Liberians, in local dialects. Service to be provided in conjunction with community radio stations, which will both host the callboxes, and broadcast regarding their availability across District catchment areas, where GSM coverage is spotty, but radio coverage robust. Call Center Hub in Monrovia to record incoming data regarding call queries and answers to survey questions, providing most recent social mobilization content and linkages to service provision when applicable. (In proposal, Liberia.)

Cross Sector Community Knowledge Services

Public information access service points, cross-sector. Permitting communities to make broad-based information inquiries cross topics, such as agriculture market prices; weather; improved agriculture practices; education; current events; politics; heath; and personal interests. Demonstrated validity of callbox concept; provided unique streams of information from remote rural and slum communities. (NIIT Institute, Noida, India; Europe Asia Business School, Pune, India.)

Rural Agricultural Extension Services

Rural agriculture and all-questions-answered extension service hotline, deployed via outreach worker in 40 rural Ugandan communities. Provide agricultural extension services and Internet search queries in 7 local dialects. Demonstrated utility of data stream to identify type and location of agricultural disease outbreaks (coffee & banana wilt diseases.) Demonstrated utility of on-demand, as-needed economic empowerment knowledge service to enable communities to source, retain, and disseminate locally high-value information.(Grameen Foundation, Mbale and Bushenyi, Uganda.)

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