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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Since the winners were announced, World Vision engaged with the winning solver to build four prototypes (see picture on right). The current plan is to field test these units in Kenya during 2024.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Habitat for Humanity-Mexico is testing the winning 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.
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.
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.
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.
The field test completed in August 2023. Read the final report HERE.
