Designing for victims of terrorism in low-connectivity and low-resource contexts.

 




Problem Statement
 
Digital tools are often designed for ideal conditions - high bandwidth, stable power, and high-spec hardware. For victims of terrorism in the Global South and rural areas, as well as many crisis scenarios where internet and power may shut down temporarily, these assumptions do not reflect reality. When connectivity is intermittent and energy is scarce, a text-heavy, high-data app isn't just inefficient; it is inaccessible. To bridge the digital divide, we must treat low bandwidth not as a bug to be fixed, but as a core design feature. Failure to account for these structural realities heightens the risk that the most vulnerable populations remain the least served. 

Local Realities and Technical Resilience 

As discussed in the Gap Analysis of Digital Tools to Support Victims of Terrorism, effective tools must be grounded in local realities. This requires a shift toward "low-tech" channels like SMS, USSD, and voice hotlines that function on basic feature phones. For web-based tools, "graceful degradation", where content loads gradually and functions offline or on-device, is essential. Practically, this also means prioritizing the design of tools to assist non-expert service providers such as community workers and designing for a wide range of accessibility challenges including low literacy. Ensuring that there is a digital tool offering that works in low-connectivity and low-resource environments – either through standalone tools or tools with offline or hybrid capabilities – is essential to ensure that we bridge rather than widen the digital divide.

 Core Questions for the Working Group

 To ensure digital tools are resilient enough for the most challenging environments, this working group will address questions such as: • How do we provide complex services in low-data formats like USSD or SMS without losing the necessary nuance and safety? • What are the design requirements for tools that allow non-specialist community workers to deliver evidence-based support safely and effectively, without a large cohort of expert care providers or government services to support them? • How can we integrate audio, pictorial guidance, and voice options to support users with varying literacy levels and accessibility constraints? • What are good practices for "offline-first" and “on-device” design that allows victims to access vital tools during connectivity blackouts? • How do we build for capable on-device performance in traditionally high compute tasks such as translation and speech recognition?

Global Victims of Terrorism support Programme


Location: 405 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017, USA

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