Aurora Chatbot: Empowering Transit Migrants with Reliable Information and Humanitarian Aid

Summary

The Darien jungle, the Colombian-Panamanian border, is known for being one of the most challenging and hazardous migration corridors to the United States. The needs of the population transiting through Darien and Central America are diverse and can change through the journey, in which the migrants can confront dis- and misinformation. 

UNICEF, together with iMMAP, designed Aurora. This chatbot provides reliable, safe and accessible information to the migrants in transit through northwestern Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica to make informed decisions. Aurora shows audio, videos and infographics about the humanitarian aid location along the route, self-care and safety recommendations, news, and children's stories. 

The increased number of people migrating through unsafe corridors in the region has led to the need towards high-frequency and good-quality data on human mobility patterns and trends to improve the response plans and to generate an early warning system for decision-makers. Aurora aims to estimate the population in transit profiles and monitor the migration flows, with a particular emphasis on migrant children and the humanitarian aid available to people on the move. The data is used to guide humanitarian organizations. The project is expected to be extended to other countries in South, Central and North America.

Results

Through a dual approach - in which data is collected and information is delivered to the population simultaneously - Aurora reached over a thousand migrants through WhatsApp in the first month. UNICEF, iMMAP and other humanitarian organizations have produced simple language and easily accessible outreach material. The information includes audio, infographics, maps and news to help the population make informed decisions on the move.

The chatbot sends audio with an average duration of one minute with self-care recommendations, such as steps to make water drinkable or safety recommendations during the route, like what to do in case of identifying children or adolescents travelling alone. Simultaneously, experts analyze the collected data (including mixed migratory flows) to generate automated information for the migrant population, care and aid service administrators, and humanitarian organizations.

The chatbot sends audio with an average duration of one minute with self-care recommendations, such as steps to make water drinkable or safety recommendations during the route, like what to do in case of identifying children or adolescents travelling alone. Simultaneously, experts analyze the collected data (including mixed migratory flows) to generate automated information for the migrant population, care and aid service administrators, and humanitarian organizations.

This project can be replicable in other regions with humanitarian organisations as implementers for a better allocation of aid services, improving disaggregated data regarding migration, and protecting migrants' identities. The coverage of mobile phones worldwide is high enough for its implementation, and locations with WLAN can be installed along the borders to ensure a higher representativeness for knowing the current needs of people on the move.