Expanding Child Helpline International's Reach with Twilio Flex

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Child Helpline International, a nonprofit consortium of 160 helplines across 140 countries, was facing a significant challenge. Despite receiving over 30 million calls annually, a staggering 30% of these calls went unanswered due to limited resources. The organization's technology was outdated and unable to effectively handle the volume of calls. Furthermore, the organization was unable to adopt new channels that children felt more comfortable using than voice, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and SMS. The organization also lacked consistent data collection for advocacy purposes, which was crucial for understanding the challenges facing children and advocating for funding and policies to protect them. Lastly, the administrative tasks required of counselors were cumbersome and time-consuming, limiting the number of children they could reach.

Child Helpline International is a nonprofit consortium founded in 2003 by Jeroo Billimoria. The consortium consists of 160 helplines across 140 countries, all dedicated to providing support for children experiencing mental or physical abuse. Each year, these helplines receive over 30 million calls, but due to limited resources, a significant number of these calls go unanswered. The organization's vision is that 'every child has a voice, and every child has a right to be heard.' To fulfill this vision, Child Helpline International needed to upgrade its technology to more effectively answer calls, adopt new communication channels, and collect data for advocacy purposes.

To address these challenges, Child Helpline International partnered with Tech Matters, a nonprofit organization that leverages technology to support social sector innovators. Tech Matters chose Twilio Flex, a cloud-based contact center, to build a tailored helpline solution called 'Aselo'. Aselo is a cloud-based, open-source modern contact center system for child helplines that connects young people on the platforms they use with the help they need. The Aselo platform brings interactive voice and text responses online, allowing counselors to hold multiple conversations over phone, social, or text. Through Twilio’s programmable and cloud-based features, the Aselo platform provides a single-screen, browser-based interface that enables counselors to help more children at once. The platform also includes a customizable chatbot that captures basic demographic information about the child, freeing up counselors to spend more time aiding children in need. Lastly, the Aselo platform efficiently manages the data collection that child helplines provide to Child Helpline International, enabling the organization to see trends earlier and advocate more proactively.

• The implementation of the Aselo platform powered by Twilio Flex has brought about significant operational improvements for Child Helpline International. The platform's ability to manage multiple conversations at the same time has increased the efficiency of the helplines, allowing them to handle a higher volume of calls without sacrificing care quality. The single-screen, browser-based interface has simplified the work of counselors, enabling them to help more children at once. The customizable chatbot has reduced the time spent on capturing basic demographic information, allowing counselors to focus more on aiding children in need. The platform's efficient data management has also enabled the organization to identify trends earlier and advocate more proactively with policymakers and decision-makers. Furthermore, the platform's flexibility has been crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling helplines to run at full staff and provide a consistent community experience despite shelter-in-place restrictions.

• 100 million calls/year capacity achieved
• 20+ time-saving techniques created for contact centers
• 50% increase in call volume handled remotely