An Op-Ed by Max Vieille, Global Director at the Response Innovation Lab
As I publish this article, we are now in the second year of the COVID-19 crisis. While this pandemic is not without precedent in human history, the novel coronavirus is, and it has fundamentally disrupted and changed our global systems. For fragile countries and those already facing humanitarian emergencies, the near-total shutdown of international supply chains, drastic restrictions on local economic activity, and the suspension of in-person learning have combined to significantly exacerbate pre-existing challenges and create significant barriers to long-term recovery and development.
You may be able to tell by my name that I am originally from France. My father grew up in Normandy, and my mother in the Marne valley. I have heard stories of the great catastrophes of the 20th Century throughout my childhood, the two World Wars that wreaked so much havoc in France, and many other places. I cannot help thinking about some of the parallels between these crises our current global situation.
It is well established that war is a significant driver of innovation (penicillin, atomic energy, Jeeps...). Most of these inventions were the results of intense, resource-heavy campaigns to solve specific challenges. In several ways, they are similar to the COVID-19 vaccine race that mobilized the world's largest pharmaceutical firms, national governments, and a broad array of researchers, caregivers, and volunteers. However, the stories that come to mind now are more of ad-hoc solutions to very immediate dangers. In many ways, I think that these tales of quick thinking and decisive action, as well as their aftermath, draw better parallels with the present.
The Marne Taxis
It is September 1914, and the Great War has erupted. On September 3, French aviators spot the Germans within just dozens of kilometers from Paris, much closer than anticipated. France needs to bring thousands of troops to the front and quickly. In those days, the main means of transporting soldiers overland is through the country's extensive rail network, but now, there is no time to organize, load, and unload the trains that would carry all the troops. The Paris Military Governor has to improvise and finds a solution well known to most Parisians - taxis. As it happens, the army has already used taxis to transport supplies and has a reserve of 150 such vehicles on standby. All they have to do is increase that number fast and use them to ferry troops rather than gear. On September 6 and 7, 1100 Parisian taxis carry 5000 men to the front. The impact of that number on the actual battle, which Allied troops ended up winning, remains debatable but the lesson learned is not lost on military leaders from all sides who begin to invest massively in trucks and other light motorized vehicles which soon replace trains as the go-to solution for overland troop transport.
The Little Ships of Dunkirk
A quarter-century later, a very similar story is unfolding on the shores of the English Channel in Dunkirk. Again, the Allied powers are surprised by the speed of the German invasion, which manages to trap hundreds of thousands of French and British troops in that coastal city. Besieged on land, the only way to escape is through the waters of the English Channel. Still, the British and Canadian destroyers used to bring the soldiers to France a few weeks before cannot evacuate this larger contingent in time. The British government commissions all seaworthy shallow draft boats to join the rescue efforts in an unprecedented move. These "Little Ships of Dunkirk" are captained by Navy, Merchant Marine, and often the actual owners of the crafts. Over 800 private ships take part in Operation Dynamo and rescue more than 336,000 Allied soldiers between May 26 and June 4, 1940. Many of the troops rescued would take part precisely four years later in the D-Day landing. The amphibious landing ships used in that memorable offensive were developed directly as a result of the hard lessons of Dunkirk [1]
Lessons Learned
If the examples above seem repetitive, it is because they are. Twenty-five years apart, the same Allies faced very similar problems linked to the inadequate capacity and speed of existing troop transport systems, found ways to quickly leverage existing technology and decentralized resources from the civilian sector, and improved military transport systems as a result of the lessons learned. It is also worth noting that the requisitions' success rested heavily on the resources (taxis and ships) having been previously registered in functional information systems (the Paris Taxi Commission and the British Ministry of Shipping). Conversely, these stories also demonstrate that successful innovations and lessons learned in one sector (in this case, the army) do not easily transfer to another (the navy), even if they are closely linked.
“Beyond replicating and tweaking global designs, people throughout the world could generate ideas and turn them into actual tools to fight the spread.”
The Makers and the Pandemic
Arriving at this point in the article, you may have already leaped to how this connects with the COVID-19 crisis response.
As you know, the story begins a year ago as a wave of international travel bans suddenly disrupts the global supply chains. Countries reliant on imports for devices and equipment to help combat the spread of the virus or care for patients are left with no way to procure more from abroad. Meanwhile, the virus is at the gates and advancing rapidly.
What happens next is perhaps not as dramatic as the events in the Marne and Dunkirk but just as significant. All over the world, thousands of "makers" spring into action within weeks - sometimes days. Local facilities, companies, and individuals begin manufacturing respirator parts, personal protective equipment (PPE), soap dispensers, and other needed supplies. In industrialized countries, entire factories are repurposed to produce these items. In emerging economies -- particularly in places facing or recovering from humanitarian crises – the makerspaces, Fab Labs, and other micro-manufacturing facilities capable of quickly replicating and improving upon global designs play a critical role in jumpstarting local production to combat the virus's spread.
Hiddo & Hirsi - child-focused educational series that supports COVID-19 preventative messaging in Somalia
OGOW EMR - a digital records application and resource library to support immunization in mothers, children and caregivers, including refugee populations.
For instance, our partners at Field Ready have done pioneering work in enabling this localized response. At the early stages of the pandemic, they produced dozens of designs, locally made, and distributed thousands of PPE and related health items - everything from face shields to foot-operated faucet taps. This was done in countries as diverse as Nepal, Fiji, and the USA. They also advocated making makerspaces a part of the critical infrastructure to keep them operational during lockdowns and quarantine periods. Late last year, Field Ready launched a four-country program (Bangladesh, Iraq, Kenya, and Uganda) to stem the tide of transmission by mapping local manufacturing capacity and connecting supply and demand. In 2020, the collective efforts of makers around the world produced over 48.3 million items worth $271m.
Beyond replicating and tweaking global designs, people throughout the world could generate ideas and turn them into actual tools to fight the spread. In Uganda, Response Innovation Lab and Engineers Without Borders USA -another global RIL partner -, organized an open challenge call for local innovators to find a better way to dispense soap in Kampala's teeming markets. The design had to use the cheaper solid soap form and prevent the bar from being stolen or misplaced. A young local inventor submitted plans for an ingenious device that would dispense soap shavings through a pedal action. Within a few weeks, the device was built, tested, refined, and installed in the markets. Today, a local workshop is producing the device at full capacity to deliver to the demand generated from the pilot in Kampala markets.
Meanwhile, in Somalia and Iraq, Response Innovation Lab platforms have tapped into the potential of local digital content creators to produce and deliver original public health messaging specifically designed for the local culture but faster and cheaper than adapting videos developed globally. See examples here and here.
The impact of these emergent, decentralized means of production on the fight against COVID-19 is not clear. It is likely to be relatively marginal compared with the overall needs that surfaced during the crisis. However, just like the Marne Taxis, their contribution is significant enough to prove that the potential for an alternative to imports of certain critical goods exists even in countries that are considered underdeveloped.
This development also happens to fit perfectly within the wider movement of localizing humanitarian action. More and more, international actors realize that in order to empower affected communities truly, many, if not most, traditional ways of working need to be rethought, including when and how essential response items are produced, procured, stored, and distributed.
“ If we are to make responses more localized and help populations become more resilient, then addressing the reliance on global supply chains will need to be a priority focus area. Those working in this field need to recognize that this window of change is short and we must act in our own decentralized and sometimes less-than-optimal coordinated way.”
A Call to (Figurative) Arms
The Coronavirus crisis will linger well into 2021 and possibly beyond. Many of the challenges felt initially by fragile countries are not going away quickly. At the time of this writing, several international trade hubs have imposed a new round of travel bans, and mutations are spreading. Even without falling into doomsaying, we must also recognize that new pandemics are likely to emerge in the future while also acknowledging that global health emergencies are not the only cause of supply chain disruption. Warfare, natural disasters, economic embargoes, and trade policies have all managed to deprive people in developing countries and humanitarian settings from accessing vitally essential items.
As we take stock of our learning from the Covid-19 pandemic, we are opening a window to have the knowledge, determination, and resources to create lasting change. For better or worse, the humanitarian world is not structured like a military force where new directives can be carried out through a single chain of command. If we are to make responses more localized and help populations become more resilient, then addressing the reliance on global supply chains will need to be a priority focus area. Those working in this field need to recognize that this window of change is short and we must act in our own decentralized and sometimes less-than-optimally coordinated way.
Our friends at Field Ready and their partners, such as the Internet of Production and the FabriCommuns collective, and others, are hard at work advocating for increased investments in both local micro-manufacturing capacities and global resources to train, support, and inform these facilities. Visit these sites to find more evidence and guidance on how to participate in this movement.
Ali Kabona developed a low-cost solution to dispense hard hand soap at community water points across Uganda to aid in mitigating the spread of COVID-19
Meanwhile, at Response Innovation Lab, we will continue to help develop more inclusive and proactive humanitarian innovation ecosystems in settings around the world so that investments made in Fab Labs, makerspaces, and modular manufacturing facilities in countries recovering from disaster can be effectively integrated into both the humanitarian system and the local economy.
War and COVID-19 are undeniably terrible things. Yet within their misery lies the power to spark change. It is no coincidence that World Vision, Oxfam, and Save the Children - the three international NGOs that have partnered to create RIL - owe their origins to conflict and the need to find better ways of alleviating suffering [2]. Now is the time for today's humanitarians and innovators to rethink these supply chains. As in the Marne valley in 1914 and Dunkirk in 1940, a disruptive solution may just have been found through hardship and ingenuity -- it is now up to all of us to ensure that we explore its full potential to defeat future threats to vulnerable populations.
References
[2] The Korean War for World Vision, WWII for Oxfam, and WWI for Save the Children.