Twilio : As COVID-19 Hits Displaced and Conflict-Affected People, Norwegian Refugee Council and Twilio Join Forces to Transform Communications and Accelerate Humanitarian Aid During the Pandemic

Twilio-powered Digital Community Hub enables two-way communications to better serve refugees across 25 countries, supporting scale and increasing impact

London --19 January 2021 -- Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform, today announced that it is teaming up with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) to enable the digital transformation of its services across the globe and to accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. NRC is an independent, humanitarian organization, working to help those impacted by crisis in more than 30 countries, providing social services and support to people displaced by conflict in some of the most challenged parts of the world. In response to the pandemic, NRC has developed the Digital Community Hub (DCH), an innovative omni-channel community engagement solution, and is using Flex, Twilio's programmable cloud-based contact center solution, to provide two-way communications to people in need, wherever they are, helping to save lives and rebuild futures.

Today, 79.5 million people globally are fleeing war and persecution, and in 2019 alone the Norwegian Refugee Council assisted 9.1 million individuals and families. Refugees are often forced to focus on surviving one day at a time, and COVID-19 restrictions have had a significant impact not just on their health but also their livelihoods. Many are therefore experiencing even greater difficulties in feeding their families, keeping a roof over their heads and sending their children to school. At the same time, as for many other organizations, COVID-19 has made NRC review its way of working to adopt approaches that don't rely solely on the ability to be physically present.

To overcome issues impacting the delivery of aid during the pandemic, NRC and Twilio joined forces to build a number of contact centers, leaning on Twilio Flex for rapid customisation and deployment. NRC's Digital Community Hub uses Twilio's services in countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Myanmar and Libya, to expand the reach of humanitarian response beyond in-person contact, working alongside consulting partner Zing. The new contact centers have enabled NRC to reestablish communication and assistance services to displaced people whose difficulties were further exacerbated by COVID-19. This has allowed NRC to deliver on its vision of providing help to those for whom survival has been further exacerbated by COVID-19, ensuring they continue to be able to access crucial information and assistance.

The results NRC has seen were delivered at scale and with impact exceeding their initial expectations. A contact center in Colombia has managed over 8,500 calls since late July and supports both conflict affected Colombian communities and Venezuelan refugees. NRC is enhancing its programme with a range of social, legal, and educational services that will be delivered via the contact center, providing solutions both in Colombia and in neighbouring Ecuador and Venezuela. NRC's DCH in Libya supports refugees and asylum seekers facing great risk of abuse, exploitation, trafficking and serious harm. The contact center allows them to access crucial legal information and receive assistance with asylum claims. NRC had expected the Libyan contact center to manage 400 calls a week, but it received over 20,000 calls during its first two weeks in operation.

NRC was able to take advantage of the new capabilities to complete a survey to understand the impact of the pandemic on displaced people's livelihoods. This phone-based survey, which allowed respondents in 8 countries to select their responses using their keypad, highlighted that 77% had lost a job or income, and 30% said that they had to borrow more money now than before the pandemic. The survey findings will enable NRC to enhance the humanitarian response to the impact of Covid on vulnerable communities, as well as to secure funding to respond to increased demand.

Paul Cornu, emergency response adviser at Norwegian Refugee Council comments, 'NRC delivers assistance to people displaced by conflict in some of the hardest to reach communities. Our goal was to ensure that those whose need for help was even greater during the pandemic crisis could continue to get assistance. Working with Twilio, NRC has been able to achieve this by taking advantage of digital communications to reach more people faster and with greater efficiency. We are incredibly proud of this result and expect the relationship with Twilio to provide NRC with the foundations to transform aid so that it can be connected to people rapidly and in a way that suits them. Furthermore, with help in the form of a grant from Twilio.org's impact fund, we have been able to add human capacity to set up and staff the contact centers.'

Erin Reilly, chief social impact officer at Twilio, adds 'Twilio.org, Twilio's social impact arm, exists to help organizations like NRC use communications to tackle some of the world's biggest problems and change people's lives for the better. Being able to work with NRC to deliver vital assistance, especially during COVID-19, highlights the vital role that social impact programs can play and why this is such an important area for Twilio. The work that NRC has done to transform refugee crisis lines puts them at the forefront of the digital transformation of humanitarian services, and brings help and hope to those forced to flee. '

About Twilio.org

Twilio.org is the social impact arm of Twilio, the leading cloud communications platform. At Twilio.org, we've seen how social impact organizations use communications to tackle some of the world's biggest problems and change people's lives for the better. From the Red Cross to the International Rescue Committee, Twilio.org empowers over 6,000 organizations to respond to crises, provide life-changing resources, and inspire action. Our team supports social impact partners in reaching 225 million people a year with signature programs for technology adoption, employee engagement, and grant funding.

About Norwegian Refugee Council

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. In crises across 31 countries, NRC provides emergency and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. NRC promotes and defends displaced people's rights locally, nationally and on the world stage. NORCAP, NRC's global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.