Case studies

Using vanguard technologies to report emerging atrocities

Supporting a humanitarian tech start-up to accelerate its mission through robust strategic planning

AtrocityWatch was selected to receive pro bono support in the first global call for applications to the Deloitte Humanitarian Innovation Program. Its proposal was to secure assistance in its journey towards developing a highly innovative atrocity technology, analysis, and information solution.

AtrocityWatch’s mission is to save lives by making critical technology, expertise, and information available to individuals, organizations, and governments seeking to respond quickly to emerging atrocities such as war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing, systemic gender-based violence, and crimes against humanity.

Led by a group of technology industry executives and atrocity policy experts, AtrocityWatch was born from a shared understanding that the atrocity response community could be better supported if it had access to the same mobile applications and big data analytics used by private industry. Serious gaps in existing sources of information, and the way the data is curated and screened, result in some current and emerging crises attracting enormous attention while others are largely overlooked until it is too late for effective action.

“People around the world are now able to connect and share information at a greater rate than any time in human history, yet atrocity activities continue to be perpetrated. I thought there had to be a way to use this new abundance of information to identify atrocity activity earlier and more accurately. I reached out to my trusted colleagues in the commercial data management sector and asked them ‘How would we tackle this problem? How can we use these new big data technologies to save more lives?’ This was how AtrocityWatch was born,” explained Geoff Green, CEO, AtrocityWatch.

After a successful start-up phase, AtrocityWatch sought strategic advice on how to accelerate its journey towards the deployment of its atrocity analysis and technology solution. A team from the digital strategy practice at Monitor Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP (Deloitte U.S.) worked in close collaboration with AtrocityWatch to develop a strategic plan and roadmap for organizational optimization and technology deployment. This culminated in a daylong workshop to review the findings of the work and gain consensus on the strategy.

This roadmap and overall support will be vital to guiding and informing the next stage of AtrocityWatch’s deployment. Over the next 18 months, AtrocityWatch will be working to solidify the membership of its advisory board and operational staff. Next steps also include the continued development of partnerships that will assist in getting their initial solution ready for testing and use. The organization will also be selecting the first deployment region and user group for the initial solution version. 

Did you find this useful?