The problem
The organisation needed a beneficiary helpline in Haitian Creole with an attached service level and protection-grade data handling, and had scanned the market for a year without finding a provider who could deliver it. Answer rates, case completeness and referral times were all poor, and beneficiary data in a protection context demanded unusually rigorous handling.
What we did
- Staffed native-to-C1 Haitian Creole from the Santiago cross-border talent pool
- Built case intake with completeness and protection-escalation protocols
- Established data-protection handling appropriate to a humanitarian protection context
- Released programme staff from helpline duty back to field work
Results
Monthly calls answered rose from 1,180 to 6,660, the answer rate rose from 49% to 98%, case record completeness rose from 46% to 94%, and median time to referral fell from 6.2 to 1.1 days. Protection escalations reached 99.4% within the protocol window, and eleven programme FTE were released back to field work, with agent attrition running below the sector norm.
Metrics
Before and after
- Monthly calls answered+464%
- Before1,180After6,660
- Answer rate+49 pts
- Before49%After98%
- Case record completeness+48 pts
- Before46%After94%
- Median time to referral-82%
- Before6.2 daysAfter1.1 days
- Agent attrition, annualised
- n/a → 14% (Below sector norm)
These metrics are shown as text only, because the client did not provide a comparable starting figure.
Bars compare the starting position with the measured result. Each row is scaled separately because the units are not the same.
Figures relate to the period stated and were provided by the client. They depend on that client's starting point, so they are not a forecast for another operation.
We scanned the market for a year and found no one who could do this in Kreyòl with a service level attached. The cross-border talent pool in Santiago was the difference.
What stayed in place
The case-intake completeness protocol and protection-escalation design are now organisation-wide standards, and the Haitian Creole capability has opened further cross-border programme work.