
Posted by: Benjamin Brink
Mercy Corp associates,
Amy Scerra, Bethany Burgee, and Alexander Salkever make some important points about getting the message out, and appealing to the conscience of those who are able to provide support.
In advertising, it's well known that some products are more successful at gaining market share due to marketing prowess in spite of some of the products having less quality or value. To the extent that "support" is “revenue” and “the product” is "helping others", efforts should be made to investigate how attracting support through advertising can be more effective. In a sense, this challenge is an example of crowd sourcing the investigation.
Sometimes the message just doesn't reach or connect well for a specific disaster. For cases like these, an NGO can rely partly on support from its general pool of donations.
Changing the nature of the problem through innovation is another approach –by surprising people with really great results using breakout solutions. What better way to attract general support than by delivering a happy message with a surprise that suggests limitless hope and opportunity?
Core77 recently posted an article entitled “Redesigning International Disaster Relief”[1]. It concludes that leveraging data visualization, social networking, and good design for the benefits of the underserved populations of the world should also be considered for international disaster response.
Here are some innovations that could could really inspire support and participation:
1. A collaborative tool that uses systems modeling for communicating and proposing solutions from the field. More than “Information Dissemination”[2], this is information dissemination that explains the dynamics of the situation. This tool addresses long-term, chronic disasters that are sometimes amplified by donor fatigue. (I'm developing a tool like this.)
2. A low-cost, high displacement boat to navigate water-based humanitarian crises. Over half of the world population lives near sea level, and the sea level[3]. As insurance companies are learning, climate change can create (water-based) disasters most anywhere[4]. In a humanitarian crisis, the victims of a crisis are the first emergency responders. An NGO that anticipates this crisis with preparations that save lives; will be remembered at the first crisis and thereafter. Boats able to handle treacherous waters and be stored indefinitely should be available most everywhere. (I'm developing a boat design like this with a maximum build cost of $200, and have outlined a collaborative continual-improvement program for it.)
3. A green alternative to concrete. This is less about helping third-world disasters, and more about using the technology of the third-world to innovate concrete. After the Haiti earthquake, the world saw that the properties of concrete vary wildly. In addition to performance/quality issues, manufacturing concrete is one of the main contributors to green-house gas emissions (and climate change), because of the amount of energy used in the process. What if an alternate could be developed to save the energy? What if sand could be converted to sandstone bricks? Progress has been made in this area. Most have been commercial and patented, just like concrete. What if an NGO spearheaded an open-innovation, open-hardware initiative? (I've working on it, but this should be a group effort.)
4. Data Centers to serve resource challenged communities with potable water, electricity and heat that it produces as waste. Remote data centers(DC) help provide business continuity. A strategically placed, remote DC can provide benefits to an under-served community as well. Could a humanitarian crisis wipe out Wikipedia/Wikimedia? Shouldn't its resources be duplicated around the globe? Might the edubuntu program benefit from this scenario? With the DC connecting via satellite, could cell or radio towers connected to it help with remote communications? This is an untapped opportunity for NGOs working together. Imagine being the NGO that spearheads this! (Here's what I have so far: http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/lotusgreendatacenters )
Contact me if you want to pursue any of these innovations. I may have something useful to offer.
best wishes,
Benjamin
1. http://www.core77.com/blog/social_design/redesigning_international_disaster_response_part_1_the_players_20987.asp
2. http://www.core77.com/blog/social_design/redesigning_international_disaster_response_part_2_the_challenges_20988.asp
3. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/impacts/sea_level_rise/
4. http://www.climatewise.org.uk/