Refugees and migrants arriving in Europe need clear information they can understand at every point in their journey. They need it in order to move, to find their way through complex asylum procedures, and to keep themselves and their families safe. However, in the ever-changing, often chaotic situation that many of them endure, information can come in many forms. It can be unreliable, incomplete, in the wrong language, or just plain untrue. Crisis responders for their part face the challenge\u00a0of operating in an environment where people are often mobile, under intense pressure, and unlikely to be able to communicate their needs effectively. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As one of three teams selected by the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) for support to scale up a humanitarian innovation,\u00a0the TWB Words of Relief team is using this opportunity to improve how we provide remote language services to vulnerable people affected by a\u00a0crisis.\u00a0Join the team as they document their\u00a0challenging and exciting journey to tackle the communication challenges that hinder relief efforts,\u00a0by developing new tools and approaches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This first vlog gives a behind-the-scenes look at how remote crisis translation works, and includes demos of <\/span>TWB’s translation platform<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>glossary app<\/span><\/a>. The app, which was developed specifically with\u00a0humanitarian responders and field workers in Greece in mind, is a\u00a0collection of\u00a0open-source\u00a0glossaries in the languages of the refugee and migrant populations in Greece. The translation platform uses language technology to lend speed and consistency to efforts to relay vital information to those groups in their own language. These innovative tools open up new opportunities for communication in a crisis that\u00a0is unique for the linguistic and demographic mix that exists within the host community, the responders and the people directly affected.<\/span><\/p>\n