Humanitarian Innovation Conference 2015: Facilitating Innovation

Ali Clare (New York University) and Frederic Kastner (Fuse Foundation) give a talk for the Innovative Approaches to Education and Skills Training in Humanitarian Contexts panel. This presentation introduces ‘Iraq Re:Coded’, an innovative approach to skills training and livelihoods that provides sustainable access to 21st century market-orientated skills training and economic opportunities for refugee and displaced youth between the ages of 15 and 25 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Innovative Approaches to Education & Skills Training in Humanitarian Contexts This panel discusses new approaches to provision of education and skills training for affected populations.

Heather Donald (York University) and Laura Stankiewicz (Harvard and Tufts Universities) give a talk for the Innovative Approaches to Education and Skills Training in Humanitarian Contexts panel. This presentation highlights how higher education programmes have been both driven by innovation from the top as well as spurred on innovation at the grassroots level within refugee camp communities, providing a framework for reflection on measured but collaborative innovation in and with camp communities. Innovative Approaches to Education and Skills Training in Humanitarian Contexts This panel discusses new approaches to provision of education and skills training for affected populations.

Courtney Welton-Mitchell (University of Denver), Chen Reis (University of Denver), and Frederic Kastner (Fuse Foundation) gives a talk for the Innovative Approaches to Education and Skills Training in Humanitarian Contexts Panel. This presentation highlights refugees as co-instructors, teaching students in a graduate level refugee studies course to understand the gap between aspirational policies and the reality of life in restrictive camp-like environments. Innovative Approaches to Education and Skills Training in Humanitarian Contexts This panel discusses new approaches to provision of education and skills training for affected populations.

Neysan Zölzer (Mensch) gives a talk for the Design in Humanitarian Innovation panel. This presentation proposes and examines a methodological shift in refugee camp design from the prescriptive and formulaic approaches of the UNHCR Handbook towards a principle-driven design approach that draws on empathy.

Jochan Bader and Reihaneh Mozaffari, More than Shelters give a talk for the Design in Humanitarian Innovation panel. This presentation demonstrates how product design, social design and eco-system design for humanitarian innovation can be linked and facilitated as co-creation processes in the field, based on experiences with the Syrian crisis response in Jordan. Design in Humanitarian Innovation panel This panel considers the role and function of design in humanitarian innovation.

Anjali Bhatnagar (Design without Borders), gives a talk for the Design in Humanitarian Innovation panel. This presentation seeks to demonstrate the importance of design for the humanitarian sector, drawing upon two Design without Borders’ projects to explore both solutions and key elements of the design process and to highlight how design tools are crucial to foster innovation.

Alexander Betts (Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford) gives a talk for the Considering Ethics in Humanitarian Innovation panel. This presentation explores the range of ethical questions and dilemmas related to humanitarian innovation (HI) and will offer a set of principles for ethical HI to review, based on discussions at workshop held in Oxford in April 2015.

Mollie Gerver (London School of Economics) gives a talk for the Considering Ethics in Humanitarian Innovation panel. This panel engages with several topics related to ethics and principles for humanitarian innovation. This presentation will consider not only whether monetary incentive payments themselves are unjust, but whether the UN and NGOs act unjustly when they facilitate such schemes, attempting to resolve two ethical dilemmas concerning such payments: the “Motivation Dilemma” and the “Freedom of Movement Dilemma.”

Anaïs Rességuier (Sciences Po Paris), gives a talk for the Ethics as a driver for humanitarian innovations panel. This panel engages with several topics related to ethics and principles for humanitarian innovation. ‘Ethics as a driver for humanitarian innovations’ This presentation considers the ethical aspirations of humanitarian endeavours as ‘the primary desire to help’, arguing that under this model ethics becomes a fundamental source for humanitarian innovation rather than only a way to regulate it.

Michael Keating and Glada Lahn (Chatham House) give a talk for the Energy for the Displaced panel. This panel discusses ways in which energy for the displaced might be delivered more sustainably, with a greater role for the private sector. Energy for the Displaced Humanitarian agencies lack the capacity to deliver sustainable and clean energy to refugees and displaced people. This means that hundreds of millions of dollars in donor and refugee money is spent each year on fuels that are burned in highly inefficient and often health-endangering ways. In the case of firewood - still the overwhelming fuel of choice in camps - women and children are at risk from both journeys outside the camp to collect it and inhalation of the smoke. With the developing world hosting the majority of refugees and displaced - and an increasing number living in urban areas - addressing energy needs also combines with complex national energy security and social integration issues. There is a growing range of safer, cleaner, more carbon-efficient methods available, whose cost savings over years would also help ease the burden on an overstretched humanitarian system. However, innovation in this area is inhibited by the system itself. This presentation will discuss ways in which energy might be delivered more sustainably, with a greater role for the private sector.

Ben Good (GVEP International) gives a talk for the Energy for the Displaced panel. This panel discusses ways in which energy for the displaced might be delivered more sustainably, with a greater role for the private sector. Energy for the Displaced Humanitarian agencies lack the capacity to deliver sustainable and clean energy to refugees and displaced people. This means that hundreds of millions of dollars in donor and refugee money is spent each year on fuels that are burned in highly inefficient and often health-endangering ways. In the case of firewood - still the overwhelming fuel of choice in camps - women and children are at risk from both journeys outside the camp to collect it and inhalation of the smoke. With the developing world hosting the majority of refugees and displaced - and an increasing number living in urban areas - addressing energy needs also combines with complex national energy security and social integration issues. There is a growing range of safer, cleaner, more carbon-efficient methods available, whose cost savings over years would also help ease the burden on an overstretched humanitarian system. However, innovation in this area is inhibited by the system itself. This presentation will discuss ways in which energy might be delivered more sustainably, with a greater role for the private sector.

Christopher Baker-Brian (BBOXX) gives a talk for the Energy for the Displaced panel. This panel discusses ways in which energy for the displaced might be delivered more sustainably, with a greater role for the private sector. Energy for the Displaced Humanitarian agencies lack the capacity to deliver sustainable and clean energy to refugees and displaced people. This means that hundreds of millions of dollars in donor and refugee money is spent each year on fuels that are burned in highly inefficient and often health-endangering ways. In the case of firewood - still the overwhelming fuel of choice in camps - women and children are at risk from both journeys outside the camp to collect it and inhalation of the smoke. With the developing world hosting the majority of refugees and displaced - and an increasing number living in urban areas - addressing energy needs also combines with complex national energy security and social integration issues. There is a growing range of safer, cleaner, more carbon-efficient methods available, whose cost savings over years would also help ease the burden on an overstretched humanitarian system. However, innovation in this area is inhibited by the system itself. This presentation will discuss ways in which energy might be delivered more sustainably, with a greater role for the private sector.

Rajith Lakshman (Institute of Development Studies) gives a talk for the Developing Data for Humanitarian Protection panel. This panel examines the use of alternative techniques of data collection for humanitarian protection.

Brad Blitz (Middlesex University) gives a talk for the Developing Data for Humanitarian Protection panel. This panel examines the use of alternative techniques of data collection for humanitarian protection. Developing Data for Humanitarian Protection This panel examines the use of alternative techniques of data collection for humanitarian protection. It considers how other providers have sought to gather data on vulnerable populations by including them in the Gallup World Poll, an annual global survey which is nationally representative and conducted across 160 countries. One fundamental problem complicating the task of effective humanitarian protection is absence of accurate data on the populations most affected. While the UNHCR and OCHA collect data on refugees, often their estimates provide a limited demographic profile of those most at risk. The quality of statistical information available on stateless people is even less developed. Yet, the importance of reliable data for effective humanitarian policy cannot be overstated. The UNHCR is a member of the UN Development Group and has endorsed the results-based management approach (RBM) to humanitarian assistance and development, which seeks to apply a measurable, results-based approach to the planning, implementation and assessment of the agency’s activities. The absence of accurate data reduces the chances that the UNCHR will be able measure the effectiveness of its work in this area. Further, since the RBM approach is used across the UN system, the absence of data similarly undermines the utility of this approach for other agencies working on related areas of humanitarian protection and development.

Andrew Rzepa (Senior Consultant, Gallup) gives a talk for the Developing Data for Humanitarian Protection panel. This panel examines the use of alternative techniques of data collection for humanitarian protection. It considers how other providers have sought to gather data on vulnerable populations by including them in the Gallup World Poll, an annual global survey which is nationally representative and conducted across 160 countries. Developing Data for Humanitarian Protection This panel examines the use of alternative techniques of data collection for humanitarian protection. It considers how other providers have sought to gather data on vulnerable populations by including them in the Gallup World Poll, an annual global survey which is nationally representative and conducted across 160 countries. One fundamental problem complicating the task of effective humanitarian protection is absence of accurate data on the populations most affected. While the UNHCR and OCHA collect data on refugees, often their estimates provide a limited demographic profile of those most at risk. The quality of statistical information available on stateless people is even less developed. Yet, the importance of reliable data for effective humanitarian policy cannot be overstated. The UNHCR is a member of the UN Development Group and has endorsed the results-based management approach (RBM) to humanitarian assistance and development, which seeks to apply a measurable, results-based approach to the planning, implementation and assessment of the agency’s activities. The absence of accurate data reduces the chances that the UNCHR will be able measure the effectiveness of its work in this area. Further, since the RBM approach is used across the UN system, the absence of data similarly undermines the utility of this approach for other agencies working on related areas of humanitarian protection and development.

Robin Mays (University of Washington) gives a talk for the Co-Creation and Participatory Approaches to Humanitarian Innovation panel. This presentation shares new evidence highlighting the critical link between allowing innovation at the community level to achieving long-term success in humanitarian work. Co-Creation and Participatory Approaches to Humanitarian Innovation This panel explores theories and approaches to engaging in participatory work and co-creation with affected populations and vulnerable groups, focusing on interactions between ‘transnational’ organisations and local actors.

Ian Gray (independent consultant) gives a talk for the Co-Creation and Participatory Approaches to Humanitarian Innovation panel. This presentation outlines some fundamentals of participatory approaches to ideation, then will seek to unpack the utility and ethics of applying these approaches to ideation with vulnerable groups. Co-Creation and Participatory Approaches to Humanitarian Innovation This panel explores theories and approaches to engaging in participatory work and co-creation with affected populations and vulnerable groups, focusing on interactions between ‘transnational’ organisations and local actors.

Anne-Meike Fechter (University of Sussex) gives a talk for the Co-Creation and Participatory Approaches to Humanitarian Innovation session. This presentation investigates the phenomenon of ‘Do-it-yourself-aid’ organisations in Cambodia, describing the ways in which their small-scale and transnational nature enables them to implement innovative approaches to local problems, and suggesting this trend as an example of innovation that might occur in the space created by transnational collaborations between foreign and local small-scale actors. Co-Creation and Participatory Approaches to Humanitarian Innovation This panel explores theories and approaches to engaging in participatory work and co-creation with affected populations and vulnerable groups, focusing on interactions between ‘transnational’ organisations and local actors.