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Humanitarian aid workers need new ways of thinking, new products and new processes to better respond to disasters.
In recent years, humanitarian innovations have improved the way the international community responds to disasters. The
idea of innovation might seem a far cry from rehousing displaced communities or treating severely malnourished children,
yet these activities have been transformed through a combination of new ways of thinking, new products and new
processes.
When Steve Collins, a doctor and aid worker, was running a nutrition programme in Liberia in the late 1990s, he was well
aware of the job at hand. Although only in his mid-30s, Collins was an expert in tackling malnutrition by establishing
therapeutic feeding centres - large centres where malnourished patients were admitted for an average of 30 days
But a cholera outbreak among patients in Liberia challenged him to rethink this way of working. He said later: "It brought
home to me the danger of bringing people together in feeding centres. There had to be a better way, I thought. I knew that
this would come from engaging with people better, looking at their strengths, rather than trying to impose solutions on
them."
And that is exactly what he did. Using the latest nutritional products, Collins and colleagues at Valid International developed
a new means of treating malnutrition that proved five times more effective than conventional methods. Today, following
extensive rollout and testing, community-based feeding therapy is at the forefront of efforts to deal with malnutrition
around the world.
Collins's story is remarkable not only for what he achieved, but also for his recognition that "there had to be a better way"
of doing things. Many operational relief workers have had this experience but few have the time, space or resources to do
anything about it. As a result, a lot of good ideas simply don't go anywhere.
There is also a tendency towards conservatism in humanitarian operations. There are many risks and ethical considerations
associated with trying something new. And few people are as willing as Collins was to question their own expertise.
This isn't the only example of such operational innovation against the odds. Take the idea of giving cash to poor people
instead of only giving food and other goods. This very simple idea was first employed in humanitarian operations in the
19th century. But "cash transfers" have only in the past decade become a credible, mainstream approach. Why did it take so
long for the aid community to take hold of this simple idea?
These examples illustrate the numerous barriers to innovation from the institutional to the psychological
In the past few years inspired by the efforts of pioneers like Collins and the take-up of cash transfers innovation has
gained greater credence in debates on aid performance, and is part of a growing movement. In everything from shelter to
sanitation, people are exploring the possibilities of innovation. Much of this is in line with the conclusion of the tsunami
evaluation in 2006: that aid agencies need to pay as much attention to how they do things as what they actually do.
Day 5
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"If I had asked people for ideas, they would have said a faster horse Henry Ford
This article is Part 1 of a two-part series. The second article, Save That for the Black & White, is continued on a separate day.
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Through this, and efforts like it, we hope to see more processes like those led by Collins and his colleagues: innovations that
are principled, evidence-based and which improve the lives of people affected by crises.
there will need to be a collective attempt to root out those long-standing practices that we know can be done better. It
will be vital to develop and test new ideas emerging from new collaborations between agencies, with the private sector and
with scientists and researchers. Most important, there will need to be a shift in attitude towards communities affected by
disasters from being passive recipients to active leaders of their own recovery.
The failures of international aid in Haiti and Pakistan, along with accelerating climate change and urbanisation, reinforce the
point that business as usual is not an option. In a world facing increasing disasters and vulnerability, innovation in
humanitarian aid may be one of the most important challenges we face.
Extract from The Guardian Poverty Matters Blog New ideas can transform aid delivery
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/feb/22/humanitarian-aid-innovation
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Innovation is something that I hold near and dear to my heart; since the days long past, I had been fascinated by
new ideas, new processes and new ways of thinking. This childlike fascination was nothing but bolstered by the
then new-fangled teaching methods that encouraged creative thinking (as Im sure many of you would have
experienced before), and it has spilled over to the current day.
While everything else in the world is flogging the innovation horse to no end, youth volunteerism always seemed
like it never really caught on to this trend. Think about an OCIP; students in over-sized t-shirts, jeans and a cap
running around taking photos with children in a dusty school compound, a lesson in the classroom to teach them
one thing or another, and for the medical students the unavoidable health screening in less than sanitary
conditions with wooden tables strewn around. Did those images sound familiar to you?
I put it to you that aid does not need to remain stagnant. We, as youths, should exploit our greatest strength the
willingness to dream and make innovation an important part in our efforts overseas. We all know that some of
the things we do arent exactly keeping with the times, and we often hand-wave it off with the excuse that oh the
village doesnt have electricity/internet/insert first-world luxury.
However, innovation neednt be about completely inventing a new product (lets create a new water filtration
device because our product will clearly be much better than those created by professional engineers!), nor does it
have to be about using technology. Oftentimes, innovating around a problem simply needs you to relook what is
already available (and taken for granted), and using it in a different way.
Here are two examples, to inspire you onwards as innovators to be.
Kenya has a national park less than 4 miles away from the capital city of Nairobi, which presented the unique
problem of lion incursions into houses, endangering the people as well as their livestock. The local government
and governments involved in providing aid to the area had no proper solution to this issue, yet an 11 year old boy
by the name of Richard Turere managed to solve the problem with less than $10 a tween with absolutely no
access to any sort of technical information or research. He noticed that lions were afraid of patrols, so he
grabbed a bunch of spare torchlight parts around the house to create a device that imitated the swaying lights that
characterized late-night patrols. And it worked.
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Lets Discuss!
1) What are some thought processes, products, or ways of thinking in your project that seem outdated to
you?
2) Do you know of any innovations, be they in the private, non-profit, or public sector that may help your
cause?
3) What are some of the innovations already introduced in your project? Do you think it has improved your
project efficiency? How can you tell? Would beneficiaries from other projects benefit from your
innovation?
How about something closer to home? My grandmother was warded not too long ago in a hospital because of a
bacterial infection of some sort (please dont ask me what bacteria it was, I have no idea). She absolutely refused
to eat anything partially because the food tasted terrible, and the doctor said she would have to be tube-fed soon
if this kept up. Nothing worked, and we were quite reasonably worried. When I visited her a second time, I was
pleasantly surprised to see her eating pretty well with a far better appetite than before.
The solution?
Someone in the hospital gave her a cup of ice cream
(Magnolias Gotcha ice cream, from the Kopitiam downstairs).
Her appetite improved tremendously.
Ill leave my suggestions on some ways you can try innovating
in the second article I dont believe in handholding people
through the innovation process (because what kind of
innovation would that be?). So take some time as you go about
your tasks in the following days to see if theres any way you
can innovate to improve the services you provide. If you cant
seem to find anything, then try and think about some of the
innovations around you back in Singapore be they products,
services, processes, or ways of thinking and try to see if it applies
to your situation.