Multi-Sector Approaches to Innovation in Disaster Response: Lessons Learned in 2019
In an era where natural disasters are becoming bigger, more frequent, and unpredictable, innovative approaches to disaster response are increasingly important to help meet the needs of local communities. Predictions estimate that by the year 2050, up to 1 billion people around the world will be displaced. Yet our systems of crisis response are still outdated, and involvement across sectors is largely siloed.
Nonprofit and grassroots organizations on the ground — who are usually already part of the communities they work in — know what’s needed. But they often don’t have a way of efficiently and effectively communicating needs to government agencies or to the private sector, so funds and supplies are not distributed to where they are needed most, or they are delivered too late. At NeedsList, we’ve developed a platform that aggregates and matches needs and offers, which can be used by stakeholders from different sectors.
At the end of 2019, we kicked off a new webinar series, “Innovation in Crisis Response,” to facilitate dialogue about how we reshape humanitarian aid and disaster response. In the first webinar, Multi-Sector Approaches to Innovation in Disaster Response, we discussed what it looks like when agencies, companies, and organizations across multiple sectors work together. Below are some of the lessons learned by some of NeedsList’s partners: USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Lowe’s Pro, The Schoolbox Project, and Rebuild Texas fund.
Forming Key Partnerships Before Disaster Hits
USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) leads the coordination and organization of U.S. response to international disasters. Over the years, they have seen an increase in humanitarian needs on the ground, which has been stretching the capacity of their current response system.
“We’ve been trying to tackle and understand how we can engage the private sector more meaningfully in what we do,” said Devorah West, Private Sector Engagement Advisor with USAID/OFDA.
After Hurricane Dorian, USAID/OFDA identified gaps in being able to meet the needs of partners working with affected on the ground. At the same time, they also saw a lot of outreach from different companies who could provide supplies and technology to help meet some of those needs.
“For us, it was important working with NeedsList to make those connections between needs on the ground and the different resources coming in from companies. We need to have these conversations early and often, so when a disaster actually does hit, there’s already a relationship built, whether it’s a company or an individual, they understand how to plug into the response system,” said Ms. West.
Rather than waiting until after a disaster hits, it became evident that it was crucial to form partnerships between nonprofits and the private sector ahead of time. This would allow ample time to share lessons learned about what has worked and what hasn’t, with the goal of avoiding some of the pitfalls from past crisis response efforts.
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Lowe’s Pro — a home improvement retailer operations with 2,000 locations across the U.S and Canada — has also learned important lessons over the last several years. As the Lowe’s Pro Sales Manager with a specialization in disaster response, it’s part of Travis Evans’ role to evaluate and make recommendations for their approach to disaster preparedness, resiliency, and response.
They’re very good at moving products and moving them quickly. For example, after Hurricane Harvey in Texas, they had 185 tractor trailers staged and ready to go as soon as they were cleared to go in. They’ve also been successful at being able to get their stores back up and running as fast as possible. One of the things they didn’t anticipate, however, was that their automated systems are never 100% fail proof.
“Lowe’s has a robust purchasing platform online, which is great during Black Friday. But when you get in an active disaster situation, that real-time inventory can go sideways really fast. So we are looking to see how we can use that platform more effectively,” said Travis Evans.
As part of the solution, they’ve established a strong relationship with the national Voluntary Organizations Active In Disaster (VOAD) team. Lowe’s had assumed that what organizations needed most were steep discounts, but they learned that their number one request was actually effective communications: they needed to know where the product was, when it was being shipped, and who was there to distribute it.
To add complexity to the communications process, they also learned that each organization needs different products, so it was important to have a strong understanding of each organization’s unique needs. Lowe’s is working to ensure that each organization they partner with has a single point of contact they can build a relationship with throughout the year.
“So when that disaster hits, they’re not trying to figure out, ‘Who do I call? Where do I go? Is that store still open? It’s a phone call, a text, a Tweet, a Facebook message away,” said Mr. Evans.
Partnering with the Community to Create Resiliency
One of the stories you’ll hear again and again from grassroots organizations and smaller NGOs is that their very existence was often not planned in advance, and they were born because of a problem they solved in a hard moment,” said Belle Sweeney, Founder & Executive Director of The Schoolbox Project.
Belle’s organization began by solving a problem one day day in a tent city in the port of Piraeus in Greece. They thought “ok, we know what the world needs now, and we’re going to bring our colorful shipping container classrooms all over the world.” But it turned out that wasn’t what the world needed at all. So they’ve learned to adapt to what local communities actually need, by truly listening and being able to change what they’re doing at any moment.
The Schoolbox Project provides mobile trauma-informed education art and play to children displaced by crisis, largely in refugee camps. Depending on where they are, they operate out of whatever infrastructure is available and makes sense: sometimes it’s a converted shipping container, other times it might be a bamboo classroom or a school bus schoolhouse. They also provide community trainings on trauma and disaster.
“Within a crisis-affected community, there’s at times an assumption that the larger entities, who have entirely different mandates and perspectives and a zoomed out view […] perhaps have already solved things or have a plan, and you can relax knowing that they’re coming to save you. That is just not true, or we would not be watching people fall through the cracks again and again,” said Ms. Sweeney.
In the midst of disasters, The Schoolbox Project has seen communities rise up and organize to take care of themselves when they have no other choice.
“We need them, they need us. These strength based partnerships is the only way we can look after people in disasters. No one can do this alone,” added Ms. Sweeney.
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After Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Chris Hensman, Program Officer with Rebuild Texas Fund, helped raise $100 million for Harvey relief, resulting in 269 projects across 41 counties. They touched on housing, health, education, childcare, workforce, transportation, small business recovery, and smaller community economic development projects. One thing they learned is the importance of having different types of partnerships, depending on the resources available — or not available — in each community.
“In higher capacity communities like Houston that has thousands of nonprofits, we were able to build on those existing networks,” said Mr. Hensman. “When you get out to smaller, rural areas, that’s where our national partners have been critical in helping local communities stand up, by providing that capacity, especially in the initial recovery.”
They also learned that it was vital to help communities become resilient on their own after the initial recovery phase, when help from outside organizations begins to phase out. Rebuild Texas Fund had a program in partnership with the Center for Disaster for Philanthropy, where we made small grants for preparedness and resilience projects.
“Every time a storm has hit, since then, I get text messages, or I check in with these communities, and they’re so much more confident and calm going into these crisis knowing that they have more tools to be ready for them. It’s a tactical tool, such as highwater vehicles, but it’s also the confidence it brings to a community,” said Mr. Hensman.
Reshaping Disaster Response in 2020
In addition to talking about lessons learned in 2019, we also discussed other issues such as ways to be more proactive, as well as improving communication and coordination among stakeholders.
To receive a copy of this webinar recording and be added to our email list to learn about future webinars, please contact info@needslist.co. We look forward to continuing these important conversations with other grassroots leaders around the world, evaluating how we can address global challenges more effectively and efficiently.
