POST-CHALLENGE ACTIVITY
Successful completion of an open-innovation challenge is a vital first step in helping a humanitarian organization improve its efficiency and effectiveness. But, it is only a first step.
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The winning innovation must be made available at scale to truly be able to impact humanitarian work. This requires iterative development, field testing, and lots of hard work. It can take a long time and it requires the effort of many different people with diverse skills.
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This page provides a little information about what each SeaFreight Labs humanitarian client is doing to leverage their crowd-solving efforts. Read about the solutions themselves HERE.
1. Safe and Desirable Female Toilets in Refugee Camps
Seven winners of this challenge were announced on 11 January 2024 by the International Rescue Committee ("IRC"). Click HERE to learn about the winners and their winning submissions.
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Since the winners were announced, the IRC is working with a few of the solvers to refine their winning ideas and field test them at refugee camps in Africa.
1. Affordable Rural Single Family Sanitation Solutions
Three winners of this challenge were announced on 29 June 2021 by World Vision. Click HERE to learn about the winners and their winning submissions.
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This was an ideation challenge without any specific design being awarded a prize. No follow-on work is underway.
2. Affordable Water-Quality Monitoring in Africa
The winner of this challenge was announced on 31 January 2022 by World Vision. Click HERE to learn about the winner and his winning design.
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Since the winners were announced, World Vision engaged with the winning solver to build four prototypes (see picture on right). A field test of the prototypes began in July 2024. See videos of the units HERE. A user's manual for the units is available HERE.
1. Affordable Retrofit of Homes with No Foundations for Improved Earthquake & Typhoon Resilience
The winner of this challenge was announced on 29 September 2021 by Habitat for Humanity at a virtual awards ceremony. Click HERE to watch a video summary of the 4 finalists and ultimate winner.
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Habitat-Philippines decided to retrofit 10 homes in the Philippines with the winning design to learn more about community acceptance of the design, commercial cost for implementing the design and the ideal target market for the design.
After completing retrofits on the first 6 houses, HFH-Philippines decided to change their targeting strategy and their delivery strategy. They produced two reports with their findings (February and December 2023). Click on either report below.
In the fall of 2024, Habitat presented the "Column Footing Grade Beam Monolith Technology (Beam Monolith)" to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in Region 7, Philippines as part of their efforts to scale the technology for the benefits of lower-income households with non-existent or inadequate foundations. The Regional Development and Research Council received the technology positively and endorsed it for presentation to the Social Development Committee as there is particular interest in the technology's adoption by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) within the year. Click HERE to read the presentation. The last page of the report has links to research on "Foundationless Homes in Cebu" and "Beam Monolith's Proof of Concept".
2. Improved Construction and Demolition Waste Management
The winner of this challenge was announced on 27 August 2021 by Habitat for Humanity's Terwilliger Center via Twitter. The challenge had four winners. Read the complete problem statement and the winning submissions HERE.
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This was an ideation challenge without any specific design being awarded. However, the Terwilliger Center continued to work on the issue of Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste and announced in January 2024 that they had completed a pilot project to build a 550 sq. ft. school hall from C&D waste. See picture on right and read the LinkedIn post HERE.
3. Affordable Water Harvesting for Low-Income Households in Urban Areas
The winner of this challenge was announced on 20 January 2022 by Habitat for Humanity's Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter at a virtual awards ceremony. Watch the solver describe his winning solution HERE (in Spanish).
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In the following years, Habitat for Humanity-Mexico worked with Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) to refine the winning design and test the solution for ten families in Mexico City. Read the project plan HERE. Read an October 2023 status report HERE. Read a March 2024 status report HERE. ​
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One rainy season was completed in September 2024 for the 10 homes that are testing the SABUC system. Watch a video tour of one of the systems HERE. See photos of the other homes HERE. Listen to an interview with one of the recipient families HERE (in Spanish). The situation in Mexico City during the testing of the SABUC units (summer and fall of 2024) included widespread public concern about the availability of clean water for the whole city. For further context, read a Bloomberg article HERE.
4. Malaria Prevention through Innovations in Home Design or Home Life
The winner of this challenge was announced on 16 September 2022 by Habitat for Humanity's Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter via Twitter and LinkedIn. Read the full announcement HERE. Read the original winning submission HERE.
The solution was tested by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Their tests found that the solution cut mosquito entry into homes by 89%, compared to a typical home without the retrofitting. Read their evaluation report HERE.
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The success of this testing led to a project to field test the benefit of the innovation in a controlled way on 60 houses in Kenya. Read the project plan HERE. The project was kicked off in October 2022.
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The field test completed in August 2023. Read the final report HERE.
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A new US$2.5 million project funded by London-based Wellcome Trust will help the Terwilliger Center and KEMRI further study their malaria-proofing and thermal comfort interventions in Kenya. The four-year project, which begins in fiscal year 2024, will improve 300 homes in hot and humid zones across the country to measure the impact of residents' health. The application for this grant prominently featured this challenge and its follow-on activity. See page 14 (PDF page 16) of the Habitat FY2023 annual report HERE for more details.
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