Their Story
Happy Baby Community supports 650 new mums who have fled form violence and traffickers and have sought international protection in the UK, for themselves and their babies.
The Problem
Data poverty is the number one issue for the Happy Baby Community, amplified during lockdown and with COVID restrictions, we are unable to meet face to face, but also in general, as they are unable to access medical care, education and are in danger of true isolation.
New mums were forced to make a choice between topping up the balance on their phones to call midwifes or buying food for their family.
With the huge number of new mums’ part of the Happy Baby Community, costs could easily get out of hand, sims could go missing and managing the account could become very time consuming.
Overview
Most of the women in the community are supported by an allowance of £38 per week, meaning buying a smart phone is not possible.
Without the ability to connect to the Happy Baby Community and friends and family, mums struggle with the impact of being isolated and lonely, as well as the risk of being unsafe and at risk of being re-trafficked.
Lucy, Trustee
“God only know where we would have been without this. The urgent services such as the Red Cross went to virtual support only and for the mums in this community there would have been no support.”
The Solution
Flexibility and control of the account would be key for the Happy Baby Community, as the number of mums needing support could change on a regular basis.
SwitchAid recommended a shared plan that could be split across the 400 sims which minimises costs by only paying for data that is needed. This also enables sims to be reallocated at any time, ensuring data is provided to the mums that are most in need.
Spend caps were added to each sim and blocks were put on calls to premium numbers and selected restricting sites.
In addition, SwitchAid also recommend and helped buy handsets that are suitable for the daily needs of the mums within the community.
The Benefits
HUGE – over 460 mums have joined the virtual community. Over 60 people have had welfare and psychological support and 90 people a week attend English lessons online. Happy Baby Community have also been enabled to support 67 mums through the birth of their new babies during COVID.
Why did you choose SwitchAid?
SwitchAid listened to our requirements and worked with us to find a solution that responded to:
- our community member needs
- our administration needs
- our financial constrains
- our need to work with flexible and supportive organisation.
Lucy, Trustee
“Without the support of SwitchAid we would have had to make a very difficult choice to priorities some more vulnerable members as the costs would have been much higher.
This would have been painful and difficult for the charity. We would also have had to reduce some services to pay for the data
I have already made a number of recommendation to other charities to encourage them to use Switch aid. the ethos, can do approach and support is very different to other providers.”