mikkelsen type refugees united is a 501 c 3 non profit working to provide refugee families that have lost contact with each other during escape from conflict with an anonymous platform to reconnect . purpose humanitarian location copenhagen denmark hq san francisco usa and nairobi kenya . mission to help refugees and internally displaced persons idps reconnect with lost loved ones website refunite.org refugees united refunite is a non profit organization established by two danish brothers david and christopher mikkelsen with the stated mission to help refugees and internally displaced persons idps search for their missing loved ones . it focuses on online and mobile solutions to help families reconnect . families can search for their missing loved ones using various touch points including https m.refunite.org sms unstructured supplementary service data ussd and by calling a helpline . the refunite family reconnection platform allows users to register search for and message their missing loved ones that have also signed up on the platform . the organization works through partnerships with like minded individuals organizations corporations and humanitarian agencies . the headquarters are located in copenhagen denmark with a technology development lab in nairobi kenya . contents 1 history 2 refunite s technology 2.1 web 2.2 sms 2.3 ussd 3 data collection 4 outreach volunteers 5 films by refunite 6 awards 7 partners 7.1 corporate partners 7.2 free basics by facebook 7.3 humanitarian partners 7.4 funders 8 references 9 external links history edit refunite was founded in 2008 by two danish brothers david and christopher mikkelsen after their personal journey trying to reconnect a young afghan refugee with his family . in their search the two brothers discovered that existing family tracing programs lacked cross border collaborative technology and the process of family tracing was also often tied to cumbersome procedures and paperwork . this is what prompted david and christopher to develop an international platform that would allow refugees and other internally displaced persons idps to search and reconnect with their missing family and loved ones . refunite empowers refugees and separated families to search connect and communicate with family and friends they have lost along the way . the organization provides the family reconnection service but puts it in the hands of its users to conduct the actual search . out of the 65.3 million 1 forcibly displaced people worldwide many do not have access to internet and have very basic and simple mobile phones . therefore refunite focuses on making their service available on very basic technology . together with ericsson refunite has partnered with a global coalition of mobile operators . through these partnerships the organization is able to communicate directly with millions of forcibly displaced people through sms . with the help of these mobile operators refunite is able to make access to the platform free of charge . so far there are over 500 000 people registered on the refunite platform . refunite s platform helps an estimated 100 150 families get reconnected every month . thousands of new users are coming on to the refunite platform every week from all over the world . part of their effort to make this service available to all is making sure that it is available in as many languages as possible . refunite is constantly adding new languages to the platform with its web service currently being available in seven languages including english swahili somali arabic french sudanese arabic and amharic . refunite s technology edit refunite outreach volunteer helping a beneficiary register via mobile phone web edit the family reconnection platform can be accessed through the official website or straight from https m.refunite.org . the search tool is available in seven languages english amharic arabic somali swahili french and sudanese arabic . the website can be accessed by anyone with internet connection . sms edit in countries where refunite has partnerships with local mobile network operators the platform is accessible for free via sms . beneficiaries with even very basic feature phones can register and interact with the platform without access internet . the sms service is currently available in four countries somalia jordan turkey and iraq . subscribers to certain mobile networks can sign up for refunite by responding to a message sent by refunite . once they reply they will be taken through a set of steps that will register them for the service fill in their profile let them search for missing loved ones and if they find who they are looking for message them . ussd edit refunite s family reconnection platform can accessible via unstructured supplementary service data ussd making it accessible from even an entry level mobile phone . this service is currently available in kenya jordan and the democratic republic of the congo drc . users can search by using a certain shortcode . they can also send and receive messages from other users straight through ussd . data collection edit users provide only the information they feel comfortable and safe enough to share which gives them the option of staying anonymous . while providing a phone number is necessary to sign up this number is kept hidden and only used for signing in via our web service or to receive messages straight to your phone . while refunite encourages users to provide as much information as possible they understand that sharing certain information causes a safety concern for some . therefore users choose what public information they want to share giving them the option to for example have their profile show personal information that only their family or closest friends would recognize e.g. birthmarks favorite foods or other person specific information . outreach volunteers edit refunite s outreach volunteers help beneficiaries register search and even share their reconnection story with the organization . refunite works with outreach volunteers in kakuma refugee camp in kenya . the organization has teamed up with unhcr as well as other aid organizations operating in camps in order to train local refugees on refunite s technology so these refugees can help others sign up . refugees themselves many of the outreach volunteers are still looking for their own families as well and are helping others while waiting to be reconnected themselves . they walk around the camps promoting refunite s service and help anyone interested to register and search . they are some of the most important people to refunite as they are instrumental in advocating the service and help foster trust between the organization and its beneficiaries . films by refunite edit lost and found the story of refugees united 2 created with mediastorm estelle s story 3 created with ericsson and house of radon more videos on refunite s vimeo page https vimeo.com refunite awards edit 2016 25 most daring by cond nast vanity fair and wired 4 2013 prix ars electronica award of distinction in the category digital communities 5 2013 lovie award lost and found the story of refugees united 6 2012 webby award winner lost and found the story of refugees united 7 2008 mobile pioneers award 2008 poptech social innovation fellows partners edit corporate partners edit refunite s corporate partners include among others mobile network operators that enable the organization to communicate directly with refugees and send text messages to their phones . refunite s partners are ericsson 8 safaricom in kenya vodacom drc in the democratic republic of the congo telesom in somaliland avea in turkey asiacell in iraq zain group in jordan and south sudan free basics by facebook edit internet.org in partnership with internet.org by facebook refunite s mobile search tool m.refunite.org is accessible via free basics in 14 countries democratic republic of congo ghana iraq kenya liberia malawi niger nigeria pakistan philippines republic of congo rwanda south africa and tanzania . humanitarian partners edit refunite has partnered with a number of humanitarian organizations including the international rescue committee irc and the un refugee agency unhcr . funders edit refunite is funded by the ikea foundation . they have also been funded by omidyar network maersk foundation danfoss foundation lego foundation sap and many others . references edit http www.unhcr.org figures at a glance.html lost and found the story of refugees united . mediastorm . retrieved 2 december 2014 . estelle s story . youtube . retrieved 2 december 2014 . http www.vanityfair.com daring25 winners prix ars electronica 2013 . ars electronica blog . retrieved 2 december 2014 . refugees united receives a lovie award . refunite blog . retrieved 2 december 2014 . lost and found the story of refugees united . webbyawards.com . retrieved 2 december 2014 . in kind donations . info.refunite.org . retrieved 2 december 2014 . external links edit official website m.refunite.org platform retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title refunite & oldid 743970689 categories refugee aid organizationshidden categories pages using infobox organization with unsupported parametersarticles prone to spam from december 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 09 12 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may 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