Innovating Aid: Leveraging Technology for Greater Humanitarian Impact
Thank you so much. It's great to be here with all of you this morning. I'm really honored, for the invitation. so I thought I'd divide this, talk into into three parts. so the first one, I'm just going to talk a little bit about Mercy Corps and what we do and, and the strategy that we have, to center the programs that we, implement around the world. the second piece will, focus on the, the topic at hand, which is around leveraging, technology and, innovating aid.
And then the third part, I'm going to speak a little bit, actually, about our humanitarian work. I know that's a little bit outside of perhaps the subject matter for today, but I thought that, I couldn't come here as a representative of a humanitarian organization without addressing some of the big challenges that are going on in the world. right now. So, so Mercy Corps is a humanitarian and development organization that, has programing in about 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe as well. we seek to find lasting, solutions to the complex and dynamic challenges posed by conflict and climate change, which require action on multiple fronts. So that's why we are a multi mandate organization that provides humanitarian aid, development and peacebuilding in places that are affected by fragility and crisis.
So a couple of years ago, we rolled out a ten year strategy, for our work. And we call this strategy our pathway to possibility. because we're, we're hoping that it'll be something that can help us to work with communities and realize the possibilities in front of them.
So, our ambitions are not only to meet the basic needs of communities affected affected by conflict and climate change, but also to achieve lasting, transformational change. So to that end, we have, a vision, which I'm going to, to read for you. So our vision is to put communities at the center of our work and place a stronger emphasis on climate change than in the past. we support communities and the most marginalized within them to emerge from crisis and build towards a more, more inclusive and resilient future.
And we aim to partner, and improve the lives of those that are systematically marginalized because of age, gender, ethnic, religious, or other identities. those that live in extreme poverty as well as those that are most affected by, climate and, conflict. And those are our two drivers for our work, conflict and climate.
We know that extreme poverty is on the rise, for the first time in two decades, and violent conflict is at a 30 year high at the moment. So we are really facing a global climate emergency, and it's a crisis that is felt by the communities it's felt the most by the communities that have contributed the least to the crisis. so without a new course of action, conflict and climate, will continue to drive hunger, water shortages, loss of incomes, violence and displacement as well over the coming decades. and oftentimes people ask, well, why as an NGO, why are you doing climate like, what do you know about climate? Right.
But the reality is, and what we're seeing in our work today is that climate change is a huge driver for for conflict and for population movements and displacement. so it is a huge issue that actually relates to everything else that we're trying to do. And towards that end, we use, a three layered resilience, framework that includes three, three sort of steps, which is cope, adapt and thrive. and resilience is really at the heart of everything that Mercy Corps does, because it means that people and systems can protect and improve well-being in the face of shocks and stresses.
Mercy Corps strengthens sources of resilience to enhance the capacities of people, markets and institutions to handle shock, reduce risks, build more equitable and responsive systems, and improve well-being. And we aim to work with communities to put them at the center and to make sure that their voices are heard. So, the the when we talk about cope, what we mean is that we strengthen people's ability to cope with the immediate effects of a crisis, helping them meet urgent needs with dignity and self-determination. So generally, this is accomplished during the emergency phase or the humanitarian phase. Then we move to adapt, which is sort of the second layer in the framework where we enhance people's ability to adapt to future threats, helping them to build back better after each crisis and to avoid or lessen the impacts of future shocks. And finally, we have the thrive layer, where we support people to thrive, helping them to transform their own lives and influence their local systems to address inequities and advance well-being.
So looking this one is really looking a lot at systems. So in addition to this, framework, we also focus on four, four areas. And one of the things that we did when we worked on our strategy in 2022 was that we we limited the areas that we were going to work in so that we could have maximum impact.
so we got out of health and we got out of education because other actors really can fill those those roles and possibly do it better. So what we're doing right now is we're focusing on four key areas, which are food security, water security, economic opportunity and peace. And good governance. So I'll just say a couple of words about each one.
On the food security side. It's, sustained participation and inclusive and resilient food systems and autonomy over food choices to improve and protect food security and fragile environments. When we talk about water security, we mean inclusive climate smart water systems that contribute to resilience by improving livelihoods, food security and social cohesion. When we talk about up economic opportunity, we talk about market systems that pivot and adapt to shocks and stresses, and that will in turn support the resilience of those who depend on them.
And when it comes to peace and good governance, it's resilience to conflict and climate shocks depends on peaceful, locally led action and meaningful participation by everyone in responsive governance processes. So our hope is to move us closer to a world where people reduce or prevent violence, contribute to advancing sustainable peace, and participate meaningfully in inclusive and responsive governance systems. So, in addition to these four areas, then we have five commitments. So it's it's the one vision, the, the two drivers of conflict, the three layered, framework, the four, the four outcomes and the five commitments. And I tell you all of this because I'm going to use all these words later on, so you know what I'm talking about. and the commitments are, climate smart.
So this is a new commitment for us. And so our strategy in 2022 and hoping to take bold action to meet the urgency of the climate crisis. Mercy Corps is committed to reducing climate burdens on the people suffering the most, particularly women and girls who often, experience climate change in a disproportionate way. being evidence driven. So we use data, evidence and analytics to drive impact scale that works and influence others.
and being evidence driven also makes us more accountable to the communities that we serve and to the donors that support our programs. We seek to be innovative and creative. So we innovate, and we work with change makers to test, co-create, and scale for more effective solutions. Mercy Corps works on cutting edge solutions, which I will tell you in a minute and leverages innovation in program design and delivery modalities.
We seek to be locally led, so we are intentional about sharing and ceding power, building meaningful partners, partnerships and centering communities, and community voices in everything that we do. And we recognize that program partners and participants are agents of change and should be in the driver's seat, making the decisions that matter the most in their lives. And then we have a commitment to being safe, diverse, and inclusive. So we create a culture of inclusion for all people that protects, enables, and elevates diverse community members and groups.
So we strive to eliminate inequitable power dynamics, address the systems that perpetuate discrimination and abuse of power, and foster a culture of equity, integrity, and accountability throughout our programs and our organization. So with that, now that I've given you the big picture, I'm going to move to the second part of, of the talk where I want to focus on some areas related to our work in climate and our social impact work. and these are very much rooted in our commitments to be, innovative and creative, as well as to be evidence driven. So while innovative and effective solutions exist to often the people who need them the most aren't really benefiting from these solutions because of adequate investment in efforts to scale programs and bring them to these hard hit and hard to reach communities.
So at Mercy Corps, we believe that innovation should be grounded and centered around those that have been least responsible for creating the climate change crisis. It's not about innovation for its own sake, but to create meaningful impact. So this is a critical moment, to redesign our systems as a sector, to be more inclusive, resilient and regenerative.
Addressing the root causes of climate change while fostering these community led solutions. So we see signs of progress. but the pace of change is still too slow to really meet the urgency of the needs that we, that we face.
So what we want to do is ensure that those closest to the problem have the and that have the best understanding of these, potential opportunities are able to help design their own solutions. So I just want to take a minute to remind ourselves of the scale of the climate crisis. And I'm sure that all of you are really aware of everything, but I, I found the numbers that I'm about to give you to be to be quite, extraordinary in a not positive way.
so the World Health Organization estimates that 3.6 billion people are already living in areas impacted by climate change in 2022, for example, disasters triggered a record 32.6 million displacements, of which 98% were caused by weather related hazards such as floods, storms, wildfires and droughts.
This is according to the International Displacement Monitoring Center. and these 32 million displacements represent a 41% increase compared to 2008 levels. So that gives us a sense of the the magnitude of what we are, dealing with. And, a third of the world and 80% of the rapidly growing population in lower income countries survive on crops that are grown by small scale farmers. So as the climate crisis becomes more intense, food becomes more difficult to grow and hunger becomes more prevalent. So 3 billion people will face acute malnutrition by 2050.
If farmers cannot adapt their practices to meet this challenge. So, we also know that even though climate change affects everyone, it affects some of the vulnerable groups a lot more. So, these groups are less able to cope.
and, you know, experienced greater hardship. So when farmers suffer from drought or, communities face devastating floods year after year, or small businesses can't have electricity, you know, to power their, their businesses. More complex crises arise out of that. And then it has that ripple effect. So communities dealing with climate emergencies are likely to be hit again over and over before they can recover.
I went to northern Kenya, to the Turkana region in in 2020. I believe it was 2023 beginning of 2023, and it was the fifth year of a drought. So there was there was nothing, nothing growing there. And I had been to that region about, I don't know, in the late 90s.
And it was completely different. You saw cattle everywhere I went in 2022 and there was 2023 and there was no cattle. You didn't see it because it couldn't survive, right, given the drought. So the changes are really very real.
and I know that sometimes I was I was telling Sandra before the, the, the meeting, sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Right. And it can feel a little bit, depressing. However, we have to think that we all have it within us to work together and to try to find those solutions that perhaps, while not perfect, can really make a contribution to turning things around. So
I want to focus on some of those examples, where we are doing some of this work. to try and, you know, and make some, some changes. So, I have a few, but for the sake of time, I'm going to cut one out, but we can come back to it if necessary. during Q&A.
but I'm going to talk about, a group that sits within Mercy Corps. so we created in 2015 a basically a social impact arm, which we call Mercy Corps Ventures. So Mercy Corps Ventures invests and in and catalyzes technology ventures to increase the resilience of underserved individuals and communities.
It's a sector leading and rapidly expanding impact investment arm and innovation lab for emerging technologies that drive humanitarian and development impact. So Mercy Corps ventures has invested in and supported about 55 early stage technology ventures to scale to positively impact over 30 million unserved people across more than 90 countries, including 25 of the least developed countries and 30 of the most vulnerable countries. So our portfolio centers around climate adaptation and resilience, building solutions in the following areas, so that those living in frontier markets can withstand disruption and plan more effectively for the future. So, there's three areas that we focus on. And I'll give you just some very brief examples of what we're doing in these three areas.
And so the first one is adaptive agriculture technologies. So solutions that include precision agriculture technologies such as regenerative agriculture, post-harvest technology, digital agri marketplaces, and so forth. And this is all to strengthen the resilience of the small holder farmers and the food systems that they operate in. So a lot of these, these, this work that we're doing is really targeted at these, smallholder farmers.
So we have an example of a company, called Toby, which is a precision agriculture startup operating in Senegal. And it uses artificial intelligence to analyze multiple farm level data points, including satellite images and field samples and then provide bespoke recommendations to farmers via SMS or voice notifications in their local languages. So what we do is we make investments in these companies and then help them to, to scale.
And oftentimes we make these investments because the you know, the ecosystem isn't there for other more risk averse actors to invest. the funds in this. the second area is inclusive climate fintech. so these are solutions, including digital savings, embedded credit. insure tech that help individuals, households and small businesses to create, more income and to thrive.
here we have invested in a company called Pula, which was started in in Kenya and now insurers. So they do insurance, insurance products for, for a small farmers. And it now insures more than 15 million smallholders globally against catastrophes that have the potential to eliminate, the progress that they have made and push them into poverty. And then the third area is climate smart technologies that help communities, businesses and supply chain operators to better manage and transfer climate related risk. So here we're talking a lot about climate analytics, weather forecasting models, carbon credit infrastructure and, the example here is on a company called Satellites on Fire. so often we, we think of, of, forest fires here out west in the United States or in Canada.
But the reality, or sad reality is that, wildfires have been spreading quite a bit across Latin America. So Satellites on Fire is a Latin America based, AI driven software solution that provides early warning systems related to forest fires by creating alerts for multiple data sets. So things like satellites, cameras, weather forecasting in real time about the presence and anticipated travel direction of forest fires.
Assisting first responders in early detection and prevention. So, through capital and support, piloting these new approaches, action oriented insights and rigorous, rigorously managing impact, we catalyze the ecosystem towards smarter, more impactful investments. And as I mentioned, in addition to the investment arm, we also have a lab. So a what we call our ventures lab. which is for piloting some of these emerging technologies to build the evidence base for humanitarian and development projects.
So we have so far designed and launched 18 pilots with 35 partners across approximately 12 countries or so. And, our lab leverages emerging technologies again, similar to the ones I've just mentioned data analytics, AI, blockchain, and so forth to advance the delivery of aid, financial and economic inclusion and climate resilience. So, we do a lot of, anticipatory action. So, our lab pilots, these emerging technologies that improve the impact of anticipatory cash transfers to communities and elevated risk, automating the transfer of funds before an actual crisis occurs. So that way they are more cost effective than traditional humanitarian aid because people are receiving something even before the crisis is occurring. So I'll give you a brief example here in, in the last year, basically 20 end of 2023, beginning of this year, we, conducted an anticipatory action pilot in, in the Horn of Africa to deliver anticipatory cash transfers to pastoralist communities in northern Kenya and shorten the response time for humanitarian aid providers.
So what we did was that we tested two things. So remote sensing, technologies, including satellite imagery, data to anticipate droughts. That was the first one. And the second one was the use of blockchain and self-executing smart contracts to deliver anticipatory cash transfers to increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of aid delivery. So the smart contract, was triggered, when we remotely sensed vegetation levels as measured by the ndVi, which, as I understand it, is a measure of vegetation density or greenness in a particular area.
So once these levels fell, funds were disbursed at once, you know, the levels indicated drought, basically. so the money was disbursed, and it did that also comparing those levels to the averages over the last ten years or so. So the results of the pilot, concluded that the cost to transfer to and recipients saw a 70, 70% reduction, from 10% to 3%. And the time to transfer the funds end to end was more than a 90% reduction from about 7 to 10 days to just a few hours. And in addition to the cost and time reduction of providing these, cash transfers, which is really critical in, in an emergency, this also enabled families to spend the emergency cash the way that was most necessary for them.
So they had complete agency in how they spent the cash transfer. and 63% of them, chose to spend it on household food, to, you know, prepare, 25% on livestock feed and 11% on school feeds. So, so this just gives you a sense of the, the impact that these things can have. But of course, they're not. this is not common practice yet. Right, in our sector.
So it's still still a work in progress. and we believe that philanthropic capital and catalytic capital have a really crucial play, a crucial role to play in humanitarian work, as well as in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals, and the funding gap that exists in these, different crises. So the, the climate adaptation and resilience funding gap in emerging markets right now is estimated to be 387 billion, and annual climate adaptation funding needs by 2030, in emerging markets. So the private sector, and private capital markets play a critical role in helping to close these gaps and reaching our development goals, but need a more sustained pipeline of investment opportunities. So NGOs and nonprofits really play a very important role here, because we are, we are less risk averse than traditional, providers.
So we are willing to, to work with these private capital, providers in de-risking, seeding and scaling early stage, high impact solutions that hopefully then can become viable for many others across the sector. So, but these what I've just talked about is more than just a collection of like, oh, how cool is that? it really is about, you know, how can we all work together to make the change that needs to happen? So how can business, government and, and the wider sector, work with the innovators and ensure that technologies are targeted to those who need them the most? And so I wanted to offer some, some thoughts on how how we can do that more, more effectively. and it really requires a strong, partnership between business, government, and the, the climate sector.
And when I'm right now, I'm going to use climate sector as inclusive of NGOs, and other, other potential stakeholders as well, to reach those that are most affected by climate change. So to address the the disproportionate impact on small farming communities in particular, we should do the following. We should definitely always ensure that we are adopting a community centered approach. So we need to collaborate with local communities directly and with innovators to design technologies that meet the specific needs for those impacted by climate change.
Nobody knows a community better than the people that are living there. So when we design these different, innovations, we need to ensure that those innovators are coming together with those communities to listen and take advantage of the knowledge that they have. We need to invest in scalable, climate smart solutions. So invest in innovations that can be scaled to benefit vulnerable populations and ensure sustainable impact. We in our Ventures Lab, we often, invest in things well, maybe not often, but we do invest in things that fail.
Right. And and that's okay because failure is part of this process, right? Sometimes you need to fail to really understand what it is that work and how to scale it. and to that end, we need a more risk appetite, from donors and investors.
One of the difficulties in, in this kind of work is that, we rely, significantly on, on private donors, because a lot of the government donors are more risk averse. They don't want to be funding a project that maybe is not going to, be a successful because it involves testing some of these, technologies. We need to create the, a supportive policy environment so governments can facilitate technology adoption by enacting policies that support these climate smart innovations and reduce the barriers, for entry to those local innovators. We need to promote inclusive partnerships.
So again, governments, businesses, NGOs can bridge efforts, bringing different stakeholders together and advocating for funding and platforms for collaboration that are inclusive of those grassroots innovators. And then we need to address, of course, barriers to access. So provide access to financing and resources that enable communities to adopt modern technologies, to ensure solutions reach those that need them the most. So, with that, I'm going to move now to the third part. and as I said at the beginning, I didn't want to just, you know, come here and not talk a little bit about what's going on in the world.
because I'm sure when you sit and watch the news every night, or maybe you don't watch the news every night or you read it on your phones. so, but it's it's it's difficult because there's a lot of things happening. So, at Mercy Corps, we, also prioritize the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance during times of acute need, even as we look for ways to help communities to prevent, mitigate and adapt to future shocks and stresses. So we carry out our humanitarian work on the basis of need.
and we believe that conflict sensitive action is non-negotiable and we actively integrate do no harm principles in every stage of our responses. So I'm going to talk just a little bit about the situation in Sudan and the situation in Gaza. so Sudan is is the world's forgotten crisis right now. It is an absolutely horrific, situation that is not on the news, every night. So we've got it's been now more than 550 days since the crisis started.
in April of last year, more than 10 million people have been displaced. and actually, I heard yesterday that that number might be up to 11 million already. making Sudan home to the largest displacement on Earth at the moment. So,
official estimates say that 15,000 people have lost their lives, but unofficial estimates, put it at about 150,000, at least. Sudan is also facing, catastrophic hunger levels. that might be the worst the world has seen since the Ethiopia crisis back in the mid 80s. because aid deliveries continue to be blocked by warring armies. But arms, of course, continue to flow to both sides. So about 9 million people are living in emergency levels of food insecurity.
fighting has, has intensified, recently in a number of states. markets in many areas have stopped, functioning altogether. and a lot of people are trapped in areas where, humanitarian aid cannot get in and they, they don't really have access to local markets. Or if there are local markets, the goods are extremely expensive and they can't afford them. So, the this humanitarian crisis in Sudan also has the ability to spill into its neighboring countries and become a wider, conflict. A lot of refugees are now in Chad, in Egypt, in Ethiopia and in South Sudan as well.
last spring there was a donors conference in, in Paris, and only 41% of the pledges have been, have been met so far. So, so we at Mercy Corps are, are really, keen to do our part and do whatever we can to to help the people in Sudan. So we are working, primarily in, cash assistance.
so delivering cash, to two people right now. Right now, we are the leads in a consortium of 19 international and national, NGOs that have come together. We have coverage for the whole with the that many partners. We have coverage for the whole countries. Countries like we are in 18 states at the moment. with that, and we also are providing agriculture support, making sure that those people who are in areas where they can still plant, don't miss the planting seasons and have access to seeds and, and agricultural implements.
and we I urge you all if you're interested, we released a report recently in collaboration with some of our NGO partners, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Danish Refugee Council, to talk about the hunger situation in Sudan. And it's called if bullets miss hunger won't. so you can find it online and, and then I'm going to talk a little bit about Gaza. you know, as you all know, and you don't really need to hear it from me, but we Gaza is in the midst of a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions, where pretty much 100% of the population inside Gaza is, is affected.
there have been, everybody's displaced. I can tell you, our, our own staff have been displaced multiple times. throughout, throughout Gaza. about 42,000 people have been, killed so far. the vast majority, women and children and, close to 100,000 have been injured, many of them with, life changing injuries.
So only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain, partially, functional. And just 57 out of 132 primary health care facilities are functional. All of them dealing with, fuel shortages as well as shortages in medicines and, essential supplies.
So, nearly 68% of, Gaza's cropland has been damaged. and we have also this particular crisis is one where we have seen, many journalists, killed. So I think about 173 journalists have been killed since the start of the conflict, and about 300, humanitarian workers have been killed as well since the start of the of the conflict, which is quite, quite high, for, for any crisis, really.
and, and the situation is not likely to improve. winter is coming, and, that will be the an issue because rains will also come. and many people are displaced in makeshift, makeshift shelters that are not located in, in areas that can withstand, you know, many people are living living by the beach, you know, very close to the water.
so they are likely going to be facing some very, very critical, situations. And, the critical infrastructure has also been damaged quite significantly. with, you know, about, you know, 70% of the infrastructure, drainage infrastructure, damaged. So, so far there is also, concerns about, about hunger in, in Gaza. And we also have a situation where about 1.84 million out of 2 million
are experiencing high levels of acute, food insecurity. and just to give you a sense of the density, because people have had to move so much into smaller and smaller areas. the that the density right now is about 40,000 people per square kilometer, which is extremely high. So, we have had a presence in, in Gaza for a number of years.
so when the when the crisis started, we were, we had staff, on the ground that could, you know, help to, to provide support to the, to the people, in Gaza. getting supplies in is extremely, extremely difficult. but we have been able to, reach, about 190,000 people since the beginning of the conflict. primarily through cash assistance, emergency food and non-food items, primarily, shelter kits and winterization, kits. In addition to that, we are, we have a program that focuses on youth. And this was a program that had started before before the conflict.
And, through that program, we are delivering psychosocial support and promoting, trying to promote well-being in Gaza. So again, through non-formal education interventions, psychological support sessions, that will help some of the youth, deal with, with the, challenges that they are experiencing with the conflict and displacement. and there's also a series of remedial learning activities for young people focused on, on topics like math and science and English, because, of course, many of them have difficulty continuing their their studies and fostering resilience and, and coping skills. So, so that's what we do. And of course, the, you know, the thing that is similar to both, Sudan and Gaza is and we're already seeing it with God says the, the potential expansion of this conflict into a regional conflicts and not just something isolated, but something regional, the very high levels of, of food insecurity in both, locations, as well as the difficulty in getting, humanitarian aid into those areas and really being able to, to respond.
So I am going to stop there. I hope it's a good time to to stop. Yeah. Okay. And, I have not been keeping track of time. So over to you or, now, we would like to get to our audience questions.
there's a few questions that were posted in Slido. So the first one would be, how does Marcy Corpse raise the capital for its impact investment fund, and where does it direct the returns from its investments? Yeah. So we raise it primarily from, well, from a variety of sources, mostly private asset, as I mentioned. So, we have a lot of foundations, that provide, support, to, to ventures.
We have, some corporations as well that provide support. And, and we also have, other other investors that, provide funding for these kinds of, of investments. We, we invest the money.
We don't do a return to the, the people investing at the moment. That is something that we are exploring, with some of these, social impact, projects. But it's not something where, where we have, you know, returned funds then to to the investor. We track our ventures, team has, has sort of its own advisory board that that go through every, you know, they do an analysis of every investment. There's a series of criteria that they look at, to decide whether to invest in a, in a company or not. oftentimes we are the first ones to make that investment when things are at the very beginning, because that's when it's harder to get the money.
Then as they develop a little bit more, other investments come, and, and are able to, to move it forward. Yeah. I think that leads perfectly into the other most related question, which was how does Mercy Corp work with other capital providers in the ecosystem to help scale the solutions you invest in? Yeah. So that's that's kind of what that refers to.
We are the like the front line. so we're there at the very beginning, when it would be extremely difficult for these, these, companies or startups to, to get anybody else, to invest because there's a higher level of risk. once that happens, sometimes we'll do like a second round, but oftentimes other other, more, risk averse, you know, investors might come in sometimes financial institutions, sometimes other other investors that then the, the startup is able to, to leverage directly as opposed to, to having, ventures involved. But we try to to follow up on how these companies do and where they are, to, to continue supporting them even after we stop investing in them, so that we can see how they are scaling up their, their solutions.
Perfect. Thank you. just in the concept of time, we'll we'll end there.
Okay. From here. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much.
2024-11-24 23:47
