Glific is a 2-way low-code (drag & drop) platform that enables organisations to create their own WhatsApp chatbots based on their use case. There are multiple ways in which our NGOs use chatbots, and in the blog, we are going to cover a few such use cases. (I say ‘a few’ as our NGOs surprise us with new ways of using chatbots.)
- Sending content – Send personalised content to engage user and build a habit
- Content library – Build a mini-content mgmt system using the chatbot
- Collecting data from users- Collect qualitative & quantitative data from users
- Sharing data to users- Share data & progress back to the users
- Query resolution- Automate responses to FAQs
- Nudging- Send reminders to users to complete an action
- Integrating with existing platforms- Send/ Receive data from Chatbot to your other existing platforms to build a comprehensive program
Sending content – One primary use case of chatbots is sending personalised content to users based on their demographics, progress, or preferences on a periodic basis, enabling them to use the content and build a habit. You can send various formats of content (text, audio, video, image, PDFs, links, stickers) except GIFs.
| Sector/Category | NGO name | How do they use it? | Bot link to try |
| Early Childhood education/ Parental engagement | 1. Key Education Foundation (KEF) 2. DOST Education 3. One Billion Literates Foundation (OBLF) | – Send content to Students to learn & practice english – Send content to Parents through which they can engage with child through play, activities | KEF https://wa.me/+918951227123?text=hi School ID – Use ‘clapguest’ all small letters, without space. OBLF BOT https://wa.me/+918277282081?text=demo (Roll number to enter- ‘655’ and ‘656’) |
| Teacher/ Head master engagement | 1. Saturday Art class 2. Pehlay Akshar Foundation(PAF) 3. Schools and Teachers Innovating for Results (STiR) 4. VOPA 5. The Apprentice Project (TAP) | – Sending content (like Lesson plans, learning material, resources) for teachers on Teaching/capacity building/ other assistance | SARC https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=919967285895&text=demo |
| Skill development- Entrepreneurship, Internship, Social & Emotional Learning, Computational thinking,Art etc | 1. The Apprentice Project (TAP) 2. Udhyam 3. Quest Alliance (QA) | – Sending content (weekly/any frequency) for students to self-learn | TAP https://wa.me/+918454812392?text=tapdemo Udhyam https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=%2B919513477756&text=mpemctask3 QA https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=916366753120&text=lightscamerademo |
| Legal | 1. Nyaaya | – Sending/ Accessing content (simple, actionable legal information or legal implications) of choice | |
| Civic Participation | 1. Reap Benefit 2. CIVIS | – Broadcasting opportunities to youth to participate in campaigns and events to become change makers-Send content as media (simplified policies) | Reap Benefit https://wa.me/918095500118?text=solvebox CIVIS https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=918976926914&text=Finance |
| Water Safety/ Climate | 1. India Natural Resource Economics and Management (INREM) | – Educate small fishing farmers by giving training for aqua internship – Educate users on the water quality of the water sources near them and suggest methods to improve the quality | INREM https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=919724090832&text=puzzle |
| Gender / Women Empowerment | 1. Durga India 2. Mukkamaar | – Shares awareness content to promote active bystander behaviour against sexual harassment in public spaces – Delivers interactive self-defence lessons, quizzes, and safety tips for adolescent girls, reinforcing confidence and agency beyond the classroom | |
| Education/Youth Development | 1. Enpower 2. Step Ahead India 3. Learning Links Foundation 4. Project Potential | – Delivers structured curriculum to government school students via a gamified WhatsApp chatbot, enabling scalable and consistent learning – Communicates with students and volunteer mentors via an AI-enabled WhatsApp chatbot, delivering personalised updates, reminders, and learning content – Delivers multilingual learning content and FAQs to train and support teachers – Provide youth from marginalized backgrounds with the information, awareness, and connections they need to pursue safe, secure, and dignified careers | |
| Livelihood / Women Empowerment | 1. Suryoday Foundation | – Shares bite-sized financial literacy content with domestic and informal workers across rural and urban areas using Whatsapp Group Automation | |
| Health / Disability | 1. Noora Health | – Send broadcast messages, such as caregiver education, follow-ups, and reminders, to family caregivers at scale, supporting better post-care recovery and reducing hospital readmissions using WhatsApp Group Automation | |
| Sports + Gender Empowerment | 1. Maitryana | – Provides training content, drills, and games as a digital netball coach | |
| Wildlife | 1. Humane International | – Provide easily accessible, myth-busting information on snake species, safety tips, and first-aid guidance in local languages |
Content Library – If you prefer making the complete content accessible to users instead of sending it periodically, then this method is for you. This will enable users to access content at their own pace and convenience. You can create a mini-CMS-like experience within the chatbot.
| Sector/ Category | NGO name | How do they use it? | Bot link to try |
| Career Awareness/ Guidance | 1. Antarang 2. India Literacy Project (ILP) | – Content Library on topics like-How to find suitable career, Skills to career mapping, Skills/ qualifications/courses required, Next steps/ exam details, CV/Interview preparation methods etc(complimentary to offline program) | Antarang https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=+917208473080&text=Antarang%20Demo ILP https://wa.me/+919384880336?text=hi |
| Skill development | 1. Quest Alliance | – 5 week course to introduce students to computational thinking in a story format | QA https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=916366753120&text=lightscamerademo |
| Early Childhood education/ Parental engagement | 1. Key Education Foundation (KEF) 2. Dost Education | – Resource library for parents (how to engage & take care of children, stories, activities etc) | KEF https://wa.me/+918951227123?text=hi |
| Disability & Inclusion | 1. APD (Association of People with Disability) | – Multilingual WhatsApp chatbot that creates awareness about central and state-run social security schemes for persons with disabilities (PwDs) | |
| Justice / Human Rights | 1. PAAR | – AI-powered conversational assistant providing accessible, empathetic information on Indian prison systems, women’s rights in custody, legal aid, and rehabilitation resources. |
Collecting Data (Submissions/Feedback/Questions) from Users – A chatbot is a two-way communication platform, meaning it can be used not only to send information but also to receive users’ data, submissions, feedback, and questions in an organised format. You can collect data in various formats such as text, audio, video, images, links, PDFs, etc.
| Sector/ Category | NGO name | How do they use it? | Bot link to try |
| Early Childhood Education | 1. Key Education Foundation (KEF) | – Receiving submissions for the offline material shared (complimentary to offline program) | KEF https://wa.me/+918951227123?text=hi |
| Teacher/ Headmaster engagement | 1. The Apprentice Project (TAP) 2. Udhyam | – Collecting data (Class attendance, Student submission/assignment details- Pre & Post tests, Feedback, School/Class details for registration/ competitions) | TAP https://wa.me/+918454812392?text=tapdemo Udhyam https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=%2B919513477756&text=mpemctask3 |
| Skill development- Entrepreneurship, Internship, Social & Emotional Learning, Computational thinking,Art etc | 1. The Apprentice Project (TAP) 2. Lend a Hand India (LAHI) 3. Udhyam | – Collect data (Pre & Post assessments, submissions on content, student details, Feedback, Learnings from the day, Registrations for program/competitions) | TAP https://wa.me/+918454812392?text=tapdemo LAHI https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=918956411022&text=internshipdemo Udhyam https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=%2B919513477756&text=mpemctask3 |
| Civic Participation | 1. CIVIS | – Collecting feedback on the policies | CIVIS https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=918976926914&text=Finance |
| Disability & Inclusion | 1. Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation(ABBF) | – Collecting data from PWDs, caregivers, and allies, and handling event registrations for inclusive sports events | |
| Education | 1. Learning Links Foundation | – Structured surveys to collect baseline, midline, and endline feedback | |
| Climate/Disaster Response & Preparedness | 1. SEEDS | – Collect real-time disaster damage reports |
Sharing Data with users – Sharing data back to the user or related stakeholders is equally as important as collecting data, as it builds trust and demonstrates the significance of the collected data. Here are some examples of the kind of data NGOs share with their stakeholders:
| Sector/ Category | NGO name | How do they use it? | Bot link to try |
| Parental engagement | 1. Vowels of the People Association (VOPA) 2. Top Parent | – Updating progress of the child to the Parent | TOP Parent https://wa.me/919811432874?text=hello |
| Teacher/ Head master engagement | 1. The Apprentice Project (TAP) 2. Udhyam | – Sharing data (progress of class/ school/ group) | TAP https://wa.me/+918454812392?text=tapdemo Udhyam https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=%2B919513477756&text=mpemctask3 |
| Skill development- Entrepreneurship, Internship, Social & Emotional Learning, Computational thinking,Art etc | 1. Udhyam 2. The Apprentice Project (TAP) | – Sharing data (Personalized certificates, Scorecards,Progress bars, Leaderboard) | Udhyam https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=%2B919513477756&text=mpemctask3 TAP https://wa.me/+918454812392?text=tapdemo |
| Climate / Disaster Response & Preparedness | 1. SEEDS | – Shares verified updates and response information back with affected communities during disaster situations and enabling faster climate-response decisions |
Query Resolution/Support – A chatbot would be one of the best mediums if you aim to address frequently asked questions from your stakeholders/users. There are two approaches to this: One involves a drill-down approach categorizing the questions, while the second involves integrating LLM to handle natural language questions (in audio/text).
| Sector/ Category | NGO name | How do they use it? | Bot link to try |
| Early Childhood education | 1. Key Education Foundation (KEF) | – Extended support/Query resolution on offline/ online materials shared | KEF https://wa.me/+918951227123?text=hi School ID – Use ‘clapguest’ all small letters, without space. |
| Maternal health | 1. SNEHA 2. NayiDisha | – Resolving queries + Connecting with health care professionals (doctors, counsellors) | |
| Field staff management | 1. ATECF | – Query resolution | |
| Civic participation | 1. CIVIS | – Answering natural language questions on new policies | CIVIS https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=918976926914&text=Finance |
| Climate / Environment | 1. Farmers for Forests | – Answers frequently asked questions related to agroforestry and farmer participation | |
| Education / Youth Development | 1. Voice4Girls | – Handles incoming queries from prospective applicants, such as eligibility, application timelines, and program details – through automated yet personalized responses |
Nudging users- Whichever way you use a chatbot, it’s important to remember that adaptation doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and effort to understand users, their motivations, challenges, and pain points, and to nudge them towards taking the actions you intend them to on the chatbot. Almost all the chatbots mentioned in this article use nudges. Here are a few examples of how they are used (you would not be able to check out the nudges in demo links, as they are sent periodically by the NGO).
| Sector/ Category | NGO name | How do they use it? |
| Career Awareness/ Guidance | 1. Antarang | – Nudging/ Sending information on relevant exams/ courses to apply-New courses/ content added on the bot |
| Skill development- Entrepreneurship, Internship, Social & Emotional Learning, Computational thinking,Art etc | 1. The Apprentice Project (TAP) 2. Lend a Hand India (LAHI) 3. Udhyam | – Nudging/ Reminding for competitions, exams, event registrations, work submissions |
| Health/ Maternal health | 1. SNEHA | – Nudging/ Reminding women to to use Chatbot for asking questions |
| Livelihood / Women Empowerment | 1. Suryoday Foundation | – Sends reminders and nudges to encourage consistent engagement with financial literacy content |
Here is a blog written by Reap benefit on their principles behind Nudging
Integrating with Your Existing Platforms – The beauty of the Glific platform is that you can integrate it with your existing platforms (website, app, database – literally anything) through APIs. Here are a few examples of how some NGOs have integrated their platforms with Glific.
| Sector/ Category | NGO name | How do they use it? | Demo bot link |
| Education | 1. Vowels of the People Association (VOPA) 2. Top Parent 3. Pehlay Akshar Foundation(PAF) | – Nudging to use the app/ to complete an action on their app | TOP Parent https://wa.me/919811432874?text=hello |
| Education | 1. Udhyam | – Pull students’ progress through database and use it to send custom certificates | Udhyam https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=%2B919513477756&text=mpemctask3 |
| Field staff management | 1. ATE Chandra Foundation (ATECF) | – Sending login confirmation and details of the app, after registering through App. | |
| Water Safety/ Climate | 1. India Natural Resource Economics and Management (INREM | – Connects internal database, to the location of the users and also integrates a response by ChatGPT to give a corrective action for improving water quality | INREM https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=919724090832&text=puzzle |
Hope this blog helps you understand the different ways in which you can use chatbots.
If you are an existing Glific NGO, please share with us if you are using chatbots in any of the ways mentioned above or in a new way. We will share information about your work too, so that it can benefit the larger community.
If you are a new NGO and any of the above resonates with you, let us know. If you have a different use case and want to understand if a chatbot would be suitable for you, please reach out to us here – we would be happy to chat and explore possibilities.
Feel free to connect with the respective NGOs to discuss their use cases further if they resonate with you. You will find all the NGOs in this whatsapp group