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t the end of 2018, two charities, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and Missing People, jointly won the WCIT
Charity IT Award. Each received a grant commitment of £300,000 as a result of their win. The WCIT award considered
four finalists, drawn from 76 entries, and, in the end, it was impossible to separate two of them.
Both winning charities face the problem of rising call and online chat volumes with insufficient human resources to service all the
contacts they receive. They are therefore both seeking to make innovative use of chatbots supported by Artificial Intelligence and
Machine Learning to prioritise the calls and increase the number of enquiries successfully handled.
The awards will make a great difference to these two charities and both winners welcomed the substantial grants from the WCIT
Charity. The awards will then have enabled not just one but two projects.
Furthermore, the winning projects inspired WCIT to create the Artificial Intelligence Learning Exchange in order to build a
leadership role in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the charity sector. Among our 800 members are leading practitioners in
the AI and security sectors, and their skills will underpin this initiative. The WCIT Charity has invested in, and provided support for,
this new initiative, to ensure an approach that quickly promotes collaboration between the winners and rapidly acquires
momentum in the charity sector.
Here is an update to highlight what Missing People aims to achieve with the
Charity IT Award in 2019.
The “One Safe Click” programme of work is made up of three main strands: Is It OK?
(their AI triage chatbot for young people seeking help); Digital (Website and Online
Communities); and finally the Case Management (Database) projects.
Is It Ok? is progressing well, with the Chatbot flow built as a closed prototype, ready
to be tested by an audience of young people. By the end of 2019, the Is It OK? project will have completed the first release phase
and the pilot service (funded by BBC Children In Need) is planned for launch in October 2019 to two regions in the UK.
The CMS (Case Management System) and Digital Project (Website and Online Communities) governance has now been
established and their full project team identified. They will be completing their business process reviews and digital user
journeys, establishing a clear CMS requirements brief, as well as user stories for the Website and Online Communities.
Tendering for the CMS will have been completed and their first partner-led workshops will be in full flow, ahead of design and
monthly implementation sprints in 2020. With user testing of their Online Community planned for late summer, they aim to
complete their first development cycle at the end of 2019. They will also run proactive marketing campaigns to support the launch
of the Online Community (Phase 1) and the Is It OK? pilot.
“With your support this year, we will start enabling more people to access expert support digitally. From the first vulnerable
children to use Is It Ok? to families with a missing loved one who test the new Online Communities, they’ll help shape it. For the
charity itself, your support means that phase one of digital transformation will begin – setting up Missing People for long-term
sustainability and growth in the numbers of people we can help. Thank you for the amazing support!”
Annette Piper, Senior Grants Manager, Missing People
B Stratton, a recent beneficiary of Missing People, commented “There has been nothing in my life more frightening than the reality
of my son going missing, and that is where this story starts. On 8th July 2017, Finn, who was only 17 at the time, went
missing from Tintagel in Cornwall. The shock, trauma, disbelief and chaos of the loss are all-consuming. As the days, weeks and
months have passed since I last saw Finn, I have had to face so many difficult situations while still maintaining some balance in
life for my younger son.
About a week after Finn went missing, a close friend told me about Missing People. I was given a
caseworker, Caroline, who has been by my side on this journey to help and advise me. To know that
the help and support from the charity was there among the chaos of everything going on around me
was like a lifeline. From that moment, Missing People have shown total compassion for our situation.
My family and friends are my anchors, but it can also be a very lonely place to be as the thought of
having your child missing is such a difficult situation for people to comprehend. The charity very
clearly understands this. Finn is always at the forefront of my mind and while he is not here I feel like
Missing People are by my side to help me.”
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