Giving a voice to a new era of activists
Context
Active in 150 countries and territories, Amnesty International brings global human rights violations to the forefront of the public mind, and encourages everyday people to be the engine for change.
Amnesty’s Urgent Actions taps into a network of over 100,000 individuals to write letters calling out the most dire of human rights abuses. These messages let authority figures know that the world is watching, throwing a spotlight on over 300 cases a year.
Challenge
Mailboxes long ago transitioned to inboxes. The new generation of campaigners prefer digital petitions and social media bullhorns to pen and paper.
Following up on these new norms, PALO IT subsidiary Marmelab worked directly with Amnesty International France to merge the intimate and personal touch of a letter with the ease and functionality of today’s communications technology.
Outcomes
The project was shaped over four sprint sessions in two years, ultimately yielding a new end-to-end communications platform for Urgent Actions:
- The process starts with an SMS alert sent directly to Amnesty subscribers.
- Within the message is a web address leading to a dynamic website detailing a pressing human rights violation.
- Users are then asked if they’d like to “send mail”, opening an auto-filled, personalised letter directly into one’s preferred email app.
- In addition to email communications, users are also given the option of tagging authorities responsible for human rights violations on social media platforms, or passing the web address along through any number of portals.
- The process is supplemented with an in-house web app for Amnesty staff to quickly and easily modify Urgent Action digital alerts.
