Paper details

Paper authors	Martha Thompson
In panel on	The agency of aid recipients
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

In the rapidly growing area of humanitarian innovation, a key gap persists around bringing the affected population into the innovation process as creative and active participants. At MIT D-Lab, we believe it is critically important to bring the affected populations’ skills, entrepreneurship, creativity and knowledge into the development of solutions; not only because of the insights that are gained in identifying challenges and creating solutions, but also because participation in the process provides a transformational experience which can have a deep and meaningful impact on the affected population. In so doing, pathways are opened for displaced and assistance providers to work together to shape responses to challenges in the humanitarian system.
For the last decade, MIT D-Lab has been pioneering approaches for engaging people at the margins in the design and creation of solutions that improve their lives and livelihoods, creating local innovation ecosystems that promote and support community-led design. This paper explores MIT D-Lab’s initiative to adapt that experience in the development sector to work in the humanitarian arena, using a hand-on curriculum to train affected populations in Greece, Uganda and Colombia in design and innovation to help them create practical own solutions to problems they prioritize and become active agents

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