The Malaysian Insight

THERE are many Malaysians raising the white flag for aid on the Kita Jaga Malaysia website but there are not enough people ready to help them,  Terato Tech CEO Zara Aida said.

Website developer Terato Tech built the platform, which went live on July 5, for those in need to raise a white flag for aid.

“In July, the trend was whenever someone requested help, they will receive it within an hour,” Zara told The Malaysian Insight.

“Since then, the number of individuals offering help has gradually gone down. Their focus is different now, they have to go to work. They are also experiencing donor fatigue, so it’s quite hard to get people to help at the moment.”

Donor fatigue is a phenomenon where people no longer donate to charities, although they have in the past.

Since the platform started in July, around 100,000 individuals who raised the white flag have received help, she said.

There were also 29,320 volunteers in that period.

“For the month of November, 501 white flags have been raised on the platform. However, there are only 105 people on the platform who have raised the blue flag (an indication they are willing to help).”

Compared with July, the platform had around 73,750 requests for help while there were 25,723 volunteers offering help.

In August, there were 25,634 white flags, 9,490 in September, October (1,323) and November (510).

In terms of blue flags, there were 3,073 in August, September (525), October (256) and November (105).

“One of the main reasons there was such a huge number in July, August and September was also because some people requested help multiple times.

“We have since updated the website to ensure that one phone number can only be used to request for help once and it has to be verified.

“This mechanism is also to ensure there are no scammers on the website taking advantage of good samaritans.”

Once a person has received help, their request will be marked as complete.

Food aid remains the highest request among those who raise the white flag, Zara said.

“Most common requests are still groceries, pampers and milk powder. Some ask for money, but very few. We received the most requests in Selangor. There were 196 requests from Selangor this month, followed by Kuala Lumpur (51) and Johor (48).”

Donor fatigue

In order to ensure those who have raised the white flag get the help they need, the website has come up with several initiatives and collaborations, but it has not seen a lot of success.

“Right now there are few initiatives. We have launched the impact page. That is because we want people to know the current status and contributions made on the platform.

“We have the back-to-school campaign, which allows people to donate or sell pre-loved school supplies to vulnerable communities.

“We decided to take an approach where people can sell their preloved items at a reasonable price as many are experiencing donor fatigue.”

The reception on the programme is, however, slow. Since it launched several weeks ago, only 19 people have participated.

Another initiative the group is currently working on is a food basket programme.

“We have partnered with a civil society group, Ikhlas, to collect RM50,000 in the hope of supplying 1,000 food baskets per month.

“Each food basket is worth RM100 and it contains items such as rice, cooking oil, bread, flour, salt, sugar and egg, among others.”

Despite having launched this initiative in September, it has failed to reach its target, having only collected RM2,732 so far.

To maintain the website, Terato Tech started a crowdfunding initiative in August to raise funds for the upkeep of the website.

“We have started fundraising with Global Sadaqah, a corporate social responsibility platform to raise funds for the website’s upkeep.”

The company had a goal of collecting RM70,000 but has only managed to collect RM14,786 to date.

According to Terato, it needs around RM63,500 per month to maintain the website.

About RM53,000 goes towards paying developers, designers and support staff while RM10,500 is used for general upkeep and project administration.

Although it has not reached its crowdfunding goals, Zara said they will keep maintaining the website.

“Our mission is to keep the website running until there are no white flags around,” she said. – November 25, 2021.