Can you please describe what Kolorob is about and how it developed?
Kolorob grew out of a funding call for projects addressing urban innovation, issued by Save the Children Australia. In Bangladesh, there is a lot of internal migration from rural areas to cities, especially to Dhaka. Unfortunately, most people arriving in informal settlement and slum areas are not really aware of what services are available around them, how to determine the quality of the services and what are their costs.
The solution to this problem was to develop a directory of services that could be accessed either by a mobile app, or with the help of community centres. We established three community centres in the first phase of the project.
We soon realized that Google Maps (and similar applications) didn’t provide detailed mapping, at least at that point in time, for informal settlements and slum areas. Even though there are small shops in these areas, you couldn’t see them on any of these existing map services. So, we decided to use open-street map and identified service points for education, health, protection, government and financial services. We asked our volunteers to collect information (contact, services information, operating hours and costs, etc.). And then we created a tool with which this data was collected and put it into a directory. One could say that our approach was a cross between Google Maps and Trip Advisor.
It’s a long story, almost six years! Over the years, Kolorob has gone through a lot of changes.
What happened when the first round of funding ended?
We received further funding and started to focus more on accountability. We went back to the service providers in the informal settlement and slum areas and tried to convince them that they should be more accountable towards the users of their services, and not only towards the organizations who pay them.
Many good initiatives came out of that. For instance, we facilitated requests by students for a computer lab or a library in their schools through the platform, and we worked with service providers on how to respond to them.
The third phase of the project focussed on employment – Kolorob Jobs. We started this initiative in two small, densely populated areas of Dhaka where most citizens were seeking opportunities in employment, income generation and skills.
How does Kolorob Jobs work?
The platform connected TVET-institutes (Technical vocational education and training), employers who are looking for low-skilled workers and people looking for jobs. We have worked a lot on this, but have not been very successful, as these are marketplace platforms and marketplaces require a balance which is hard to create. If you have 10,000 job seekers and there are only 10 jobs advertised every week, people feel disheartened. We also discovered that Google is funding a start-up that provides the same service in Bangladesh. Google has extended this service to India, Indonesia and a few other countries.
In the next phase of Kolorob Jobs we will look at how our platform can collaborate with other platforms that are similar and link it to existent TVET-projects.
Has Kolorob received any funding support outside Save The Children? What is the current funding situation?
The Kolorob Jobs app was awarded a Solver's prize in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 2017 Solve Challenge.
In the last six months we have received funding from Unilever. We have used the Kolorob platform to create a lot of community awareness related to Covid-19.
In total, Kolorob has received around $400,000 from Save the Children, but as of January 1st, 2021 there have been no funds allocated for the project. In between funding rounds, we try to keep the platform and the app running and to ensure that the data is available for the community.
Is the municipal government involved in the project?
Yes. From the start, we have involved counsellors and we work hard to keep them actively involved. However, as Kolorob solicits feedback about government services, it needs to be independent and not owned or managed by the municipal government.
The Kolorob project has been ongoing since 2015. What are the main lessons that you and your team have learned?
One of the key learnings is that people are much more willing to give feedback online, suggestions or complaints, as it is anonymous!
We have also had good experiences with working with young people. At Save the Children in Bangladesh, we tend to work with very experienced people employed, but in this project, we decided to give opportunities to new graduates. Over the years, we have hired more than 50 – 60 young people, some of whom now work at well-established NGOs.
After six years of developing and implementing Kolorob, what would you do differently if you were to start the project in another city?
One thing that I would do differently is to look at Kolorob more like a start-up instead of focussing only on grant funding. With grant funding, you are very active during a designated period, but suddenly funds are cut off and you have to shut everything down. We should see it more like an organic operation that can grow and evolve as a social enterprise. However, this is something we couldn’t achieve due to the organisational framework of Save-the-Children.
How has Covid-19 influenced the way Kolorob is working?
I think Covid-19 has proven worldwide that a lot can be done in the digital space. However, there was some doubt and a lack of understanding from our Save The Children colleagues as to how much could be done in the digital space for people who live in informal settlements and slums and have limited access to the internet.
Another thing that we realized from Covid-19 is that the Kolorob platform needs to be much more flexible and versatile, so that it can adapt to different situations and community needs. We should not reinvent the wheel, however, in 2021, we will try to use it more as a tool to communicate with the community.
Could the Kolorob approach be transferred to other urban contexts? If so, what would be required?
Yes! If you go to Jakarta or New-Delhi, or to any other large urban area with informal settlements and slums, the problems are most likely to be quite similar. So, the idea and the concept of Kolorob could be replicated – and the lessons we’ve learned could be passed on.
The software technology and tools that we use are open source, so they can be easily shared with others, and we’d be happy to explain to people how to modify or adapt them for their own cities.
Copyright for all images: Save the Children Bangladesh