Testimonies: How humanitarian technologies impact the lives of affected populations

Abstract

Digital technologies are changing the very processes we use to serve affected people. In this issue, the Review has chosen to profile the testimonies of two affected people, based in Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who expressed their opinions on two digitally driven projects by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); these projects respectively facilitate restoring and maintaining family links.¹ Being of the view that affected people should speak for themselves and that their testimonies should not be cut down or “reworked” to fit the purposes of humanitarians and their outputs, in this section the Review has directly translated the quotes we received from field delegations, word for word, sentence for sentence, making no changes except for the redaction of information to ensure the extent of anonymity requested. By keeping the framing of the quotes to a minimum, we aim to ensure that the Review serves as a platform for the voices of the featured affected people.