Data with Dignity: Refugee Feedback through AI DigitalAAP

DigitalAAP – Data with Dignity, led by Shahzad Asghar (Developer & Project Lead, UNHCR Jordan), took center stage at the UN 2.0 side event, bringing together senior representatives from 36 UN agencies for a hands-on look at an AI-based refugee-feedback platform that transforms voice notes into actionable insight within minutes.

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The session began with a concise overview of the platform’s design principles—privacy first, low-bandwidth friendly, and fully multilingual—before live demonstrations showed refugees validating their ID, recording a one-minute message via web, WhatsApp, or phone, and then watching the system transcribe, classify, and surface key themes on an interactive dashboard.

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Participants tested a RAG chatbot that answered complex policy questions using real-time feedback data, explored drill-down heat maps of emerging issues, and voted in app-based polls on future features such as offline capture and API links to existing monitoring tools. The discussion also highlighted governance safeguards, encryption, and alignment with UN data-protection standards.

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By the close of the 45-minute program, 14 agencies had expressed interest in piloting DigitalAAP, and attendees had logged more than 30 feature ideas—from text-to-speech outreach to automated trend briefs. The organizing team committed to launching a collaborative testing cohort and releasing an open-source reference build before year-end, positioning DigitalAAP as a practical path to faster, evidence-driven humanitarian decisions.

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For inquiries or feedback, please contact:
asghar@unhcr.org | Shahzad.cdcu@gmail.com