What happened
The Asian Development Bank financed a $400,000 technical assistance grant to Mongolia's Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs during the pandemic. Under it, Anduub Lab LLC, a Mongolian IT company, built two chatbots on Facebook with a mobile texting function. The National Center Against Violence chatbot gave information, referrals and access to live counselors. The National Legal Institute chatbot gave legal information and referrals. Both launched in April 2021. In July 2024, the bank's Independent Evaluation Department validated the completion report. It found that the chatbots led to an increase in calls from new users and that 90% of chatbot users, survivors of violence, were satisfied. It rated the assistance successful and likely sustainable because the chatbots reached vulnerable, at-risk populations. The bank's own compilation of April 2024 reports that 26 women and 16 children were rescued because of the chatbot service. The evaluators note that the usage data came from the project's impact assessment and that the total number of users is unclear. Neither document describes the chatbots' method or compares outcomes with the hotlines alone.
Sources
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Evaluation report, by authors with no tie to the system.
On the second outcome target, the launch of the two chatbot services by NLI and NCAV led to an increase in calls from new users; and legal advice, referrals, and counseling on family-related issues were provided. Chatbot statistics indicate that 90% of chatbot users, who are survivors of violence, were satisfied to receive online domestic violence services.
The TA is likely sustainable since the chatbot services enabled broader reach to vulnerable, at-risk populations.
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Report, by an evaluator that the makers or users commissioned.
Asian Development Bank, Information Technology Department. Artificial Intelligence in Action: Selected ADB Initiatives in Asia and the Pacific. Manila, April 2024. Chapter 1, Chatbots as Lifelines for Domestic Violence Survivors, page 9. The financier's own compilation, which relays the technical assistance completion report and the project endline. Copy mirrored by ICTworks in May 2024.
A total of 26 women and 16 children were rescued because of the chatbot service, while around 30% of the chatbot users were referred for in-depth psychosocial and legal services. The project endline showed that 90% of the users of the chatbot service reported that they were satisfied with receiving online domestic violence support and service.
Anduub Lab LLC, a local information technology (IT) company, was engaged to develop an AI-powered chatbot service.
Details
AI system
- Workflow
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Anduub Lab LLC built the chatbots with content drawn from consultations with survivors and frontline workers. Both chatbots ran on Facebook, with a mobile texting function for people in rural areas and people with hearing or speech difficulties. The technical assistance paid for NCAV live counselors and NLI operators who took the conversations that the chatbots did not answer. A national multimedia campaign promoted the chatbots from October 2022.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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Survivors must be able to reach Facebook or SMS and trust an anonymous channel. Funding for the counselors and the chatbot services must continue, which the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs secured from the state budget. Unrecognized questions must be reviewed and added to the chatbots' content.
Entry details
- Sector
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Social services.
- Purpose
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Anduub Lab LLC built the NCAV and NLI chatbots, under ADB technical assistance, to give domestic violence survivors in Mongolia information, referrals and counseling through Facebook and SMS during the pandemic.
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model, release, provider, role, configuration, inputs and outputs, autonomy, human oversight, AI contribution, beneficiaries, reach, distribution and access, duration, every measurement question, every money question, ownership and control, dependencies, cross-border connections, geopolitical implications, replication attempts, availability, institutional decision, grounds, action and result, success criterion, every evidence question, observed or intended, alternative assessments, related entries, other identifiers, category mappings.
Cite this benefit
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). NCAV and NLI chatbots bring calls from new survivors in Mongolia (AIBD-1177). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 2 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-1177.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 9.0)