KABUL, Afghanistan — Time is one of the most critical components to survival during a crisis and the amount of time it takes to reach help in an emergency situation can mean the difference between life and death.
To protect the citizens of Afghanistan, a national call center was established providing callers a direct line to the government, as well as access to immediate emergency assistance.
Initially established in 2008, the 1-1-9 call center provides Afghans an access line to report corruption and insurgent activity directly to the authorities or request personal emergency services.
Canadian Lt. Omar Masood, 1-1-9 project manager, said the call center has increased the populace’s confidence in the government, as well as give the citizens an increased sense of security and control.
“This definitely shows the people of Afghan that their government cares about their safety and each call that comes in is a success for GiROA,” he said.
According to Masood, the call centers are Afghan led and run, with minimal advising and training from U.S and European coalition forces, allowing ordinary citizens to work hand-in-hand with the government to make Afghanistan safer and corruption free.
The centers are modeled similarly to most emergency service centers. Phone calls are received by civilian call takers, who assess the situation, and forward calls to the appropriate agencies. Masood said calls are kept anonymous per the callers request based on the nature of the call.
Capt. Anas Khurasani, Afghan National Police 1-1-9 call center shift supervisor, said on a typical day the center receives calls related to traffic, fires, improvised explosive device locations, verbal altercations, physical altercations, insurgent activity and medical emergencies.
“That’s the benefits of the 1-1-9 center, this number can handle all types of problems, our call takers have been trained to do so,” he said.
Though 1-1-9 is a fairly new service in Afghanistan, Anas said he values his job because he knows he is appreciated.
He remembers one particular call where he and his team were able to make an immediate impact on the outcome of the situation.
One of my call takers got a report about an insurgent placing IEDs and called the 1-1-9 center,” he said. “We immediately reported the information up and a team was sent to the site. They discovered the IED and diffused it. Also, as soon as we got the report they stopped ANP and ANA convoy movements in the area so no one got hurt. The citizens appreciated our help, the ANP and ANA appreciated our help and the minister of the MOI appreciated our help.”
Anas said in some cases they’ve had citizens go up to the ANP on the scene and kiss them to thank them for taking such good care of them as a result of 1-1-9 efforts.
However, the job satisfaction extends beyond the ANP officers who manage the center; the call takers who operate the lines also expressed an overwhelming sense of pride in their jobs.
“I love my job,” said Damana, 1-1-9 call center operator. “In the one year I’ve been working here I’ve gotten to interact with a lot of different people I would not have otherwise. I love to help people, I feel I am honestly helping people here and everyday when I come here I get to help solve problems. I hope to work here for my country a long time.”
Masood said currently, there are call centers located in Kabul, Laskar Gah and Kandahar, but plans are to put locations in Herat, Nagarhar and Mes soon in order to provide each region with a call center staff in the local area familiar with the language, customs and locations.
Though some areas had direct lines to report insurgent activity to coalition forces, Masood said 1-1-9 is fundamentally different because of the emergency service access it offers and should be used for official use and emergency situations only.
“Due to the high rate of corruption and crime here, this is an outlet for people to stand up against that and stop the people responsible by holding them accountable for their actions,” Masood said. “With that being said, the main challenge we’re having with the centers are nuisance calls, but we’re coming up with solutions to try to deter the crank callers.”
He said one of the options being looked into is charging a small fee for the currently free service. The charge would be per call rather than for amount of time spent on the call, and once the amount of crank calls decreased, the fee would be dropped.
“Despite the amount of illegitimate calls received, 1-1-9 is still providing a good service,” Masood said. “Even if it was just one call a week it would still be worth it because it’s still providing a means for the populace to talk to the government and get emergency help.”
Col. Hamayon Ayani, 1-1-9 call center chief, said the citizens of Afghanistan have somewhat of a responsibility to use the call center as much as possible for its intended purpose.
“We established the call center to assist the people of Afghanistan and to support and assist the police as well,” he said. “It is an easy way to contact the police and this way people should feel comfortable that they have easy access to the government. People need to use the call center to stop corruption, and decrease security issues in our country.”
“This was created for them, they need this, so they should use it. I am confident that once someone uses 1-1-9 to solve their problems and it works they will continue to use it, ” said Ayani.
| Date Taken: |
02.14.2012 |
| Date Posted: |
02.21.2012 23:12 |
| Story ID: |
84141 |
| Location: |
KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: |
60 |
| Downloads: |
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