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Requirement
Save the Children – A Global NGO
The client Save the Children is a global not for profit organization that is on the mission to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need in the U.S. and around the world. Save the Children works in 50 countries across the globe and helps more than 64 million children globally.
Their priorities are to ensure that children in need grow up protected and safe, educated, healthy and well-nourished, and able to thrive in economically secure households.
Save the Children provides a wide range of programs, including:
- Training community health workers to care for newborns and young children;
- Protecting vulnerable children from abuse and exploitation;
- Helping communities in at-risk countries to be prepared in advance of natural disasters; and
- Improving children's health through regular exercise and nutritious food in the U.S.
Achievements in 2009
In 2009, The Save the Children Rewrite the Future campaign has reached more than 12 million children in conflict-affected countries with access to improved education.
U.S. programs in literacy, early childhood development and nutrition, and physical activity are reaching 18,000 children in 13 states.
Save the Children responded to more than 25 emergencies in 2009, providing food, shelter and medical care to families, as well as protection for children.
Training need
One of the major missions at Save the Children is to provide relief to children during natural calamities. The staff at Save the Children is employed across 50 countries and it is critical that during a natural calamity; the emergency communication ensures that the right message and plea is sent across to the local and international community to mobilize resources required for providing immediate relief to the children caught up in the natural calamities.
The Emergency Communications toolkit was a PDF file that was developed by members of the All Members Cooperating in Emergencies Communications Working Group. The goal of this toolkit was to teach media and communication staff in country programs whose major role is to communicate the Save the Children Emergency Response.
The requirement was for an interactive and engaging eLearning module that could be delivered on the internet and as a computer based training module to teach how to become better at communicating the emergency response.
The training need was to teach the users the importance of making high quality communication material available for a variety of media outlets (we, print, TV, digital, etc.) so that the organization can raise more money, influence more key decision makers and ultimately save more children’s lives.
  
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Project Brief
The Emergency Communications toolkit was a PDF that was distributed to the members of the working group. It was text heavy and the mandate was to make the content engaging and easy to understand.
Also, the course needed to be widely distributed globally and hence it was built to be deployed both on a SCORM compliant LMS as well as standalone CD.
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Technical
The course was designed to:
1. Meet the global branding requirements for the Organization – Save the Children
2. Be Interactive
3. Be engaging and easy to comprehend
4. Structured into learning chunks to make it easier for the users to access the
topics they would like to know more about / refresh their knowledge
5. SCORM compliant
6. Meet requirements of different Learning Styles – Auditory and Visual
7. Summary of topics to ensure that learning is re-enforced
8. A summary quiz at the end that can be taken any number of times with a
passing score (80%) to ensure retention of learning
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Completion
WITS Philosophy of Corporate Social Responsibility
At WITS, we believe that it our responsibility to use our financial and human capital to help individuals lead a better life and help them in need. The development of the Emergency Communications course is our contribution to the children across the world that need help and support to grow into healthy adults. It is also our endeavor to help them get timely help during devastating natural calamities.
Project Challenges
It was also commendable that the WITS team was able to complete the project since we were coordinating with stakeholders across the globe and also the devastating effects of the Haiti earthquake had the stakeholders’ attention during the project execution.
It is worth mentioning here that the solutions won the Honorable Mention at the eLearning Global Giveback competition and won industry accolades too:
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Client and User Speak
User Speak
"The Emergency Communication Toolkit PDF has become an engaging, interactive online solution! The course structure and navigation allow users to easily progress through the course as well as track their progress. The course design enhances the learning experience. The features such as summary and assessment quiz reinforce the learning in the module. The course also has features that help it adapt to different learning styles – auditory and visual".
Client Speak
"It is with gratitude that I wish to thank you and your whole team for the wonderful effort that you displayed in completing the “Communications in Emergencies” online course. The final product is wonderful, very professional and worthy of the Global Giveback competition. Alas, I am very disappointed that we were unable to submit the work into the competition in a timely manner. By no fault of yours did this happen and you and your whole team are to be commended on the level of professionalism that you displayed. Alas our response to Haiti and its disruptive effects to normal operations is a reality of the work we do and who we are. It is my sincere hope that you and your team can take satisfaction in having successfully completed a project that will help us in our work for children.
From the initial consultation, scope of work documents, to the story boarding, to the creation of a VO script you have convinced me that you are indeed a world-class organization to whom we are very grateful. I was amazed at how quickly you were able to insert the voice over files into the correct slides and return to me in less than 24 hours the completed project files. Bravo!"
Justin Birtswell
Project Manager, Save the Children
"Thanks so much to you and the WITS India Team for participation in the first eLearning Global Giveback Competition – what a fantastic course you all did for Save the Children!"
Marian Abernathy
Director, Member Services & Communications, LINGOs
"WITS India have been a pleasure to work from the start - enthusiastic, solution-focused and committed to developing the right solution for our needs. The learning tool they've developed will help us reach staff with vital training in countries all over the world - from Angola to Brazil, Uganda to Vietnam. It will ultimately help us to be better at communicating about the injustices facing children affected by emergencies".
Hannah Reichhardt
Subject Matter Expert, Save the Children
"I found the emergency communications toolkit very interactive and user-friendly. The layout was good – the modules used colour and images very effectively and it wasn’t too text-heavy. I also liked that the text can be read at the bottom of each slide. I thought the content of the toolkit had a really good balance; it was informative but without too much detail. Lots of information about emergency communications was provided in a clever and concise way without leaving the user feeling overloaded. The toolkit also signposts sources to access more detailed information, which I found very helpful. The content in the modules flowed well and there was a logical progression from each topic. The toolkit contained very practical information that I will definitely use in my daily work. Concrete examples were provided throughout, which makes the toolkit more relevant and less abstract. In general I thought it was very effective in highlighting the importance of communications during an emergency as well as how crucial it is for programme staff to coordinate with the media team. The test and summary of the main points at the end of each module in the toolkit was also very useful and helped to contribute to active learning. Overall, I would definitely recommend it – it is a useful tool for both communications staff as well those involved in other areas of an emergency response".
Kate Nolan
Humanitarian Skills Development Programme
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