International initiative Ukraine Global Taskforce develops technical solutions to minimise the impact of the war on the Ukrainian population.
The Ukraine Global Taskforce (UGT), a Swiss-based NGO including world-class developers from Silicon Valley, has developed a suite of on-the-ground technological solutions to challenges Ukrainians face as a result of the war. UGT has established connections with Ukrainian government supported Spivdiia and People for Ukraine.
UGT”s first product is a request form for necessities (such as food, water or medicine) for people in Ukraine. The platform generates a heat map of requests by category in real-time. The data is then shared with distributors on the ground. The web app helps to avoid the unstructured and chaotic situation that is prevailing in Ukraine and creates transparency for NGOs and authorities in terms of needs.
UGT has successfully established connections with organisations such as Spivdiia (which is supported by the Ministry of Health), People for Ukraine (which is supported by the Ministry of Defence), Nova Ukraine (which has a wide network of partner organisations and suppliers in Ukraine) and Plast Scouting (which operates distribution centres and last-mile deliveries).
“In the mid-term (post-war) we would like to leverage technology to help civilians who are going to return to Ukraine. Potential use cases we”re considering include how to bridge information gaps, remote work in destroyed areas, a combination of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to detect bombs, and online education. UGT”s long-term strategy is to build a framework for digital support for aid logistics and people affected by political or economic conflicts as well as natural disasters. The framework incorporates a deep understanding of typical conditions and parties involved, negotiation strategies and processes, as well as the software platform ready for integration”, Google Product Manager and founder of Ukraine Global Taskforce, Gustavo Iwanaga, explains.
In addition to the aforementioned product, the team is currently working on other features, e.g. enabling refugees to report incidents (assault, harassment, etc) while seeking shelter, a centralised repository of documents needed in foreign countries, and emotional support for children using chatbots.
If you are interested in an interview with a member of the initiative, or if you are an organisation that would like to cooperate with UGT, please contact us at [email protected].
For further reference, see the member interviews with Capital Magazin and Handelsblatt (Germany).
On Feb 24th of 2022, a LinkedIn post by Google Product Manager Gustavo Iwanaga went viral; Ukraine Global Taskforce was born. Now an NGO, UGT is made up of a group of more than 1200 volunteers from more than 70 countries with one clear goal – to use skills and determination to minimise the impact of the war on Ukrainians. At UGT, there are various top developers from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Meta.