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The humanitarian sector is often criticised for being too top-down and for failing to meet the needs and priorities of crisis-affected people. ‘Innovation’ became a rallying cry for new initiatives, organisations and funding promises. Yet, three years on, the sector has been slow to prioritise and support local leadership or to create systems that allow people affected by disaster to have a hand in shaping innovations within their own communities. A recent research paper suggests that only 33% of humanitarian innovators consult with affected populations during their innovation processes. In response to this situation, several organisations have begun advocating for the use of human-centred design (HCD) in humanitarian innovation: bringing meaningful community participation into developing solutions, services or assistance for that community. The Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) Innovation Labs is a diverse network of national and international humanitarian organisations, set up to identify and grow areas of innovation that come directly from communities affected by crises. The labs drew on the HCD tradition, with the aim of developing more responsive and locally-led humanitarian and preparedness programming.

Scaling sustainable innovations is a critical issue for humanitarian innovation. The added complexity and barriers faced by innovators who work in crisis areas, or in areas that are building resilience to crisis, make this already difficult task even more challenging. Far too few promising innovations have gone to scale. A failure to select, validate and implement appropriate revenue models is one of the key reasons for this. This creates a need for new insights regarding the journey to scale for innovators who lack commercial business opportunities to fund and grow their innovations.

The Philippines is at high risk from cyclones, earthquakes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires with 74 per cent of the population vulnerable to their impact. The Disaster Preparedness Simulator uses augmented reality as a novel tool for communities to experience and learn from authentic disaster scenarios and improve preparedness. Read more about the innovation.

SolveX38 is an intelligent flood warning and monitoring system providing real-time information to communities at risk from flooding. The system monitors water level rises in rivers and when it reaches a critical level, computes the time before floodwaters reach the community, allowing them to take action.

A coastal environment in trouble, increasingly prone to flooding and littered with plastic debris. A community with limited resources to protect themselves in times of disaster. Not a healthy combination. Yet, within this sorry scenario, a group of innovators saw an opportunity: affordable personal flotation devices. Read more.

When Mohammad Arifur Rahaman’s uncle died after being mis-prescribed medicine for his joint pain, it was a trigger for the entrepreneur to do something to prevent other needless tragedies. Read his innovation story.

Twig is a job market platform that connects refugees with employment opportunities. Eighty-four per cent of Syrian refugees in Jordan live below the poverty line. Although there are labour market opportunities in the agricultural sector, there is limited access to information about available work and no established network for Syrians. Read more about Twig.

Half of the 671,000 Syrian refugees living in Jordan have a family member with a chronic illness, such as diabetes or hypertension. And many are unable to access the medicine they need, because it is too expensive. Read how the Medicine Bank redirects close to end of shelf life medicines to pharmacies offering low-cost drugs to refugees in Jordan.

Mathenge Maisha is a unique start-up, which turns a common drought-resilient weed into nutritious low-cost flour. Currently, nearly one million Kenyans are at risk from starvation as a result of prolonged drought. The Garissa-based project plans to employ local people, particularly from vulnerable groups, to collect the pods produced by the weed to be ground down into flour.

Over the past few years, hundreds of people have perished in building fires in Dhaka, the most densely populated city in the world. Read how an architecture student sought to use her skills to improve the living conditions of people in the slum areas.