As part of CGI’s Dream Connectors program, a company-wide initiative to support the involvement of CGI professionals in their communities, a CGI team in Finland partnered with the Finnish Association for Mental Health (FAMH) to develop an app that matches volunteers to people in need.
By combining service design expertise with agile mobile application development, the CGI team developed a user-friendly application that helps FAMH mobilize its volunteer workforce in the digital age.
The “Helping Hand App” serves as a digital volunteering center where volunteers are matched with people who suffer from mental health issues and need help performing tasks.
In addition, the application acts as a communications channel between FAMH and its volunteers, allowing the organization to tap into the potential of the volunteering community on a larger scale.
Volunteers can connect with others who share their interests through the app’s built-in chat platform and receive real-time notifications about tasks for which they have signed up.
“The resources of our volunteering organizations are very limited. For that reason, we were excited that CGI approached us with the project, and happily accepted the offer. A lot of our time is spent replying to requests, finding volunteers for tasks and coordinating volunteer work. With the Helping Hand App, we are able to ease the workload of our coordinators as well as help the people in need receive help faster,” said Olli Valtonen, the Executive Director of HelsinkiMissio, which is one of the organizations benefiting from the Helping Hand app.
About the Finnish Association for Mental Health
The Finnish Association for Mental Health (FAMH) is the oldest organization of its kind with over a century of dedication to mental health. FAMH’s mission is to support and promote good mental health, while also stimulating interaction between individuals and communities and activating people to work for the welfare of their communities.
