Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Dubai
DIHAD
13 – 15 March 2023

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13 – 15 March 2023

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2021 Conference Summary 2021: Day 3

Home 2021 Conference Summary 2021: Day 3

Day 3: 17 March 2021

SESSION 5: “Africa: Food Crisis, Gender and Resilience”

PANEL:
Mr. Amin Awad
, Senior Fellow, Advanced Leadership Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge (MA), USA – Chair – introduced the panel members on issues on the forefront of the current key problems. The pandemics of Ebola and COVID-19 have an economic, health, mental, and death impact on women and children in particular. Inequality, poor governance and planning are making many areas food insecure. Climate change requires strategies on the operational side to offset some of the crisis and work on the advocacy side with planning. Political instability with self-interest alliances bringing destruction and displacement is making areas acutely dangerous and the most vulnerable even weaker. The COVID knock-on effect has created more inequity such as in access to vaccination. Cooperation is needed at field, national and international levels, working together with enlightened and constructive media. Respect for human rights, international humanitarian law and Disaster Risk Reduction need to be reviewed as well as the SDGs, and the society at large needs to get an overview of available resources and bring the world together. Strategies to address the needs of the poorest and develop a solutions-based approach to counter effects of climate change such as food crisis and build their resilience are essential.

Ms. Umra Omar, Founder and Executive Director, Safari Doctors, Lamu, Kenya, by virtual link, elaborated on her work with rural communities and the priority of food security on the continent to become self-reliant. She focused on multi-sectoral approaches to address food security in Africa which entails its intersection with economic and health policy in particular; promote small and medium scale farming to improve income, strengthen the economy and improve nutrition, health, and education, the areas most relevant for women; use digital platforms and technology in seed varieties, machinery and equipment, and waste reduction; and take into account how climate change, disease and pests need to be addressed to make systems more resilient. With real-time impacts of reduced production on women, most of whom are small-scale farmers in the coastal areas, food insecurity is growing. Access to health care, land and to the market for women with grafting and seedling propagation is needed as only 10% of land is allocated to women who also lack inheritance rights. (see attachment)

Mr. Claus Sorensen, Senior Advisor on Resilience, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), focused on resilience in Africa. The Ebola pandemic in West Africa spread fast due to the poor health system, burial rituals and civil tensions. Ebola does not spread by air but only by physical touch, but COVID-19 is not a “stupid” virus and spreads by aerosol as well. Community leaders and radio stations provided warnings while cold chains and motorcycles for distribution were available, food markets were reopened with special measures. It taught that good basic health systems and hygiene are critical and not just in big cities. Information, transparency and engagement for preparedness as well as trust are essential. Drought exhausts reserves in many rural areas and migration to urban areas or abroad lead to gradual erosion of the capacity to cultivate land. This creates the need for emergency food, social safety nets, drought resistant crops, water management, and anticipation, analysis and security sector reform to find a resolution of any conflicts. Building resilience involves local capacity with social, economic and environmental stability. “Act locally, support nationally and adapt internationally.” Only by collaboration between all actors can resilience be achieved in a nexus between humanitarian, development and peace actors. “Dig a hole and plant a tree.” (see attachment)

In his virtual message, Mr. Sean Granville-Ross, Regional Director for Africa, Mercy Corps, focused on the Agency’s programme meeting immediate needs and averting hunger in 17 of the most fragile African countries. The treat of climate disaster, violent conflict, agricultural disease and a debilitating health system exists continuously. COVID-19 is only one in a long line of shocks upending lives and livelihoods but its impact will be hard, in particular on women and girls. The WFP estimates that around 271 million Africans are acutely food insecure or at the risk of becoming so due to the effects of the COVID crisis, and are forced to use negative coping strategies, thus further eroding gender equality and affecting the health, income and food security prospects of women and girls, and especially in protracted conflicts and crises in the (semi-) arid lands of Africa. They bear the brunt of the pandemic with job losses in the informal economy, particularly in agriculture, with a negative impact on food security of households and communities. Mercy Corps prioritises building resilience towards food security aiming at strengthening local sources of resilience, not only for communities to survive the crisis but also to build back better. A main focus is strengthening the resilience capacity of women and girls, and transforming local norms of governance systems to build equitable resilience outcomes for the future.

One example relates to the change in the family norms of violence against women and girls and building staff capacity, making use of online teaching methods. Another initiative has assisted hundreds of unemployed domestic workers to find f jobs by partnering with a mobile app matching service providers with jobs. The many initiatives undertaken by Mercy Corps aimed at tackling the implications of COVID-19 and other complex issues have shown that using extensive information and creative technologies as well as partnering with local capacity can help to bring support to the many challenges and vulnerabilities faced by the people in the region. (see attachment)

Ms. Lola Castro, Regional Director for Southern Africa & Indian Ocean States, World Food Programme (WFP), by video, presented the situation in southern Africa affected by shocks of climate change, COVID-19, conflict, and poor harvests with rain and cyclones, but also drought affecting food security. Smallholder farmers, the majority of whom are women, are most affected. WFP is working on resilience building for 48.5 million food insecure in the southern Africa region. Actions include cooperation with governments, local communities and civil society, natural resource and water management, asset creation, erosion control systems, and early warning systems for potential new shocks. Access to credit savings in small holder farmers in community groups incorporating gender dimension ensuring to give women the power to harness the shocks. Displaced persons want to produce themselves and ask for seeds and tools as well as water management and education. Climate change, conflict and COVID-19 in Eastern DRC has created hardship and show how women produce and trade in the border areas, and how important their role is for the food security in the region. Therefore, investing in women’s resilience and in sustainable food systems is essential to ensure that food systems are not broken by COVID and other shocks.  (see attachment)

From the floor:

How can cooperation in the nexus work better? The three streams traditionally work in isolation and nexus can only be successful of all three work together by sharing analysis of the issues affecting the crisis. Each tool of humanitarian, development or military is different but the approach must be joint-up.

External factors such as geopolitics and impact on African continent’s growth, show the need to stop the trickledown approach and to urge leaders to take a bottom-up approach.


KEYNOTE ADDRESS “
The Current Situation in the Sahel”

H.E. Ms. Mbaranga Gasarabwe, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for MINUSMA and Resident / Humanitarian Coordinator, Mali, in her presentation indicated that the main threats in the Sahel are food insecurity and prevailing national and regional conflicts in the G5 Sahel group of countries. While at the time of her arrival in Mali in 2009 was supported by donors as a model of democratic governance, the seven neighbouring countries were unstable. However, in the last few years also Mali is in crisis, and the region is facing a great political, security, humanitarian and development crisis. As a result of the collapse in Mali and its neighbours, a large peacekeeping mission was established in Mali facing a multidimensional crisis of conflict, insecurity, banditry, human and commodities trafficking, and climate change with a total collapse of social services. COVID-19 has greatly affected food markets, and the education system with school closures. Some 31 million people in the Sahel are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance, basic services, and some 14 million are severely food insecure. The lack of access due to the insecure environment or climatic causes makes it a great challenge to work and bring relief. The G5 Sahel group of countries can work together through the ‘Police de Proximité’ to build trust in the population. One of the biggest challenges in the region is stabilisation and to implement the signed peace agreement, while humanitarians are becoming targets of competitive forces, and all are working at great personal risk. Civil-military dialogue and working according to humanitarian principles must become a solution to a complex issue. The UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel was established for the UN system to create one common strategy and speak with one voice to address the multifaceted humanitarian, development, security challenges in the region and also bring in other actors such as the private sector to take part of the efforts in terms of resource mobilisation.  (see attachment)

 

SESSION 6: “Africa: Contemporary and Future Health Challenges”

PANEL:       

Dr. Chibuzo Okonta, President, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) West Africa – Chair – stressed the problems faced in Africa related to conflicts, climate change and the COVID pandemic. He looked at the health impacts of these challenges, protracted crises and resulting displacement. In 2009, a meningitis mass vaccination campaign in over 17 countries carried out and since then no more outbreak has occurred. However, this may change as the immunity must be maintained, a challenge with the lack of necessary supplies and the constant movement of people due to the attacks on health facilities. Access is the number one health problem despite the increase of medical universities or airports providing an opportunity to change the way of dialoguing. MSF created a sixth operational entity in West Africa, but lives of the elderly are at risk due to the lack of drugs. While west Africa could mostly contain the Ebola pandemic with help of public messages, new diseases appear and in southern Africa the new virulent pandemic is a major challenge due to lack of access to vaccines. Women are most affected and face hurdles before getting access to food and medicines. How long should they wait when the beneficiaries become the boss and the agencies become the service providers? (see attachment)

Ms. Chiara Scanagatta, South Sudan Programme Manager, Doctors with Africa CUAMM, Padova, Italy, in a video showed what the agency does in eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its focus is on ensuring local and country resilience, responding to epidemics, providing assistance to refugees and migrants through a human rights based approach. She proposed system strengthening through a development orientation, stating that a development agency can be active in response to emergencies, in recovery, mitigation, and preparedness. By looking through the development lens, it is possible for the agencies medical staff to contribute to the humanitarian response through an integrated and complementary approach. (see attachment)

Mr. Mamadi Diakite, Special Adviser for Security, Humanitarian Affairs and Fragile Countries, UNAIDS, Geneva, focused on inequality in treatment of HIV/AIDS. “The right to health means that no one disease should be fought at the expense of the other”, according to the UNAIDS Director-General. Three strategic priority areas for the agency placing the community always at the centre of response are to maximise equitable access to services and solutions; break down all barriers to achieving HIV outcomes; and to fully resource and sustain efficient HIV responses and integrate into systems for health, social protection, humanitarian settings and pandemic responses. This will be done by mobilising national and international resources to overcome challenges and advance the SDGs. While in 2000 24 million people in Africa were living with HIV/AIDS, their number has now increased to 38 million but the number of deaths has decreased by half as a result of a forty-fold increase in access to antiretroviral therapy. Threats to health in Africa are multiple with the existing and new diseases, emerging pandemics, inequalities, fragile health systems, mobility and humanitarian emergencies. About half of the 74,400 COVID deaths are in North Africa compared to 4.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS and 140,000 AIDS related deaths. Worrisome are the life and future of the children born with the disease as well as the many women affected by gender based and sexual violence in the continent. (see attachment)

 

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

“The UAE Red Crescent in Africa”

H.E. Mr. Humaid Rashid Al Shamsi, International Aid Adviser, UAE Red Crescent Authority, described the UAE humanitarian activities in response to the COVID pandemic. The humanitarian aid provided by the Organisation at a cost of UAE 2.8 billion reached some 96 million beneficiaries in Africa. It distributed protective gear and equipment, medical supplies, and worked together with key partners to respond to humanitarian alerts. Its support in response to COVID-19 included food and medicines to Syria, in Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt and Sudan benefitting many households. It also provides food and non-food items to the Syrian refugees in Iraq and to Yemen. (see attachment)


“Activities and Accomplishments in Africa”

H.E. Mr. Sultan Al-Sadoon, Director-General, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Humanitarian Foundation, which is a platinum sponsor of the event, expressed his wish to have been able to attend the DIHAD event in person, rather than contributing remotely. He thanked the UAE for the efforts to organise the conference and for its humanitarian support throughout the world. A considerable amount of humanitarian work is carried out together with the Islamic Development Bank in support of more than 28 countries in Africa, according to the objective of His late Highness King Abdallah to provide support to all those in need, the poor and the vulnerable throughout the world. These projects have brought support to 11.5 million beneficiaries by construction of schools, health centres and universities as well as boreholes in several countries. The aim is to combat famine and regular drought in several countries such as in Somalia. During the COVID pandemic, support to West African countries reached US$ 35 million. (see attachment)

From the floor:

How does the UAE Red Crescent collaborate with national societies when coming to destination countries?


“The West Nile Refugee Child Protection and Adult Safeguarding Project”

Dr. Sukhwinder Singh, Assistant Professor, UAE University Al Ain, addressed the issue of refugee child protection in West Nile and Uganda. He recognised the important work of social workers in addressing solidarity and human suffering. He described what it means to be a humanitarian and work with families excluded from social services and other interventions. In South Sudan, the initiative works with a range of international partners, not the usual humanitarian players but rather international diaspora community whose skills and capabilities and resources can support the work in South Sudan. One interesting example of the West Nile Social Work project is an English football club using football as a therapy for youth experiencing certain types of trauma. His work in the UAE University is focused on training individuals to be leaders in social work, framed as Service for Allah. It refers to the national and international community in responding to particular types of challenges and needs, with altruism as central to the work carried out, which is described as frugal practice meaning it does not require resources. Professionals take their special skills into the humanitarian terrain in a value based framework and concerns of child protection with far more creative approaches working with families facing particular situations requiring response.

More than two third of the camp population in Uganda are youth, women and children with specific needs. Therefore, the project has been very careful not to be parachuted in but to work with partners already on the ground and indigenous knowledge to develop particular types of interventions and responses. This approach seeks to measure the impact towards achieving SDGs and the gains to be obtained from working in this manner. (see attachment)


“An Update on the Epidemiology of Covid-19 in the GCC and Community-Level Good Practices in the UAE”

H.E. Salama Al Ameemi, Director-General, Ma’an, Abu Dhabi, with her presentation spelled out how the Ma’an agency has tackled the impact of the covid crisis. In UAE multiple measures were rolled out multiple initiatives to respond to the pandemic, most prominent of which was the launch of the “Together we are Good” programme to engage and direct community’s contributions towards those directly affected with more than 400,000 people benefiting from the medical, education and food support. By September 2020 of the Community Development Fund reached close to AED 1 billion

in financial and in-kind contributions. Vision of the agency Ma’an was collaboration between public, private and civil society, and social engagement of the Abu Dhabi community to create innovative solutions to social priorities and challenges. Ma’an aims at working together to bring about innovative solutions to tackle Abu Dhabi’s most pressing needs through collective efforts through volunteering and in-kind contributions to ease the burden of those most affected by the pandemic. Community engagement programme has shown to be of high impact in the society with a small team coordinating the actions of many highly motivated members of the public. It also provided electronic means to students and their school fees were paid, healthy workers received free meals and accommodation in hotels and villas, with food baskets distributed by volunteers, and free COVID testing. The activities reached far beyond the UAE and it is expected to have a far-reaching impact giving members of the community an opportunity to contribute to society by social projects for private and business fora. The impact improving the daily lives and the importance of social coherence and collaboration can be measured. The same principle can be applied to future challenges and create thriving communities and improve lives and societies also for tomorrow. (see attachment)


“An Update on the Epidemiology of Covid-19 in the GCC and Community-Level Good Practices in the UAE”

Dr. Fawzi Abdulla Amin, Head, GCC Cluster Office, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Dubai, provided an interesting analysis of the crisis, and focused on good practices of the IFRC in the COVID-19 crisis. One important tool is the data platform from 221 sources on the cases, deaths, tests and vaccine coverage of the COVID-19 crisis. Since the first reported case in China on 1 December 2019 and the first death on 22 January 2020, it took three months to reach the GCC region with seven cases on 29 January.

The total cases reported until now in the GCC are around 400,000, half of which are in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, whereas the reported deaths in the GCC stand at 11,000, of which more than 57% in Saudi Arabia with the largest population in the region. New in daily reported cases now are in the UAE, 41% of deaths in the GCC are now in the UAE. PCR tests carried out per million population are the most in the UAE, followed by Bahrain. The highest death rate per million population is seen in Oman.

Vaccine distribution per million population is in the UAE with 67%, followed by Bahrain. This data gives an interesting explanation of the frequently changing numbers and rates. (see attachment)


“Community Solidarity Fund against Covid-19”

Mr. Mohammed Musabbah Ali Dahi, Director, Charitable Institutions Department, Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD), Dubai, agreed that “humanitarian aid is an obligation and not an option.”

The Department has a global vision in interest of the community in the humanitarian sector. The pandemic hit globally and is also disrupting daily life and the commercial sector in the UAE.

The Community Solidarity Fund (CSF) since its launch has had a positive impact by a multi-sectoral support to meet social needs and manage donations to reach the largest number of beneficiaries. Precautionary measures were complied with and all social gatherings were prohibited to prevent the spread of the virus and increase of infections. Working with the private sector and charitable institutions has shown to be a recipe for the success where harmonisation of all efforts and actors was key. The CSF was launched in the second wave, with special teams to manage the donations and finances and delivery.  H.H. Sheikh bin Rashid Al Maktoum has supported efforts of the Department, and support was received from many private sector actors such as RTA, thus raising over AED 500 million in less than three months. The health sector was most to be supported with protective gear and equipment, medicine and respirators. The Fund also provided over 13 million meals for over AED 300 million, including 56,000 food baskets; education supplies such as laptops for distance learning; accommodation of persons who were stuck in Dubai due to border closures; and over 10 million bottles of water were distributed.  Currently over 16,000 volunteers are working in the CSF to continue these important activities. (see attachment)


Closing Address and Director DISAB’s Summary and Conclusions            

H.E. Amb. Gerhard Putman-Cramer, Director, DIHAD International Scientific Advisory Board (DISAB), gave a brief overview of the main points to take home from the event. Discussions had covered the compounding effects of the COVID crisis on humanitarian aid and development processes. The compounding impact of climate change had been reviewed, as had the specificities of urbanisation, education and employment, this in a rapidly expanding young population. Partnerships had also been looked at, both existing and developing, as had innovation and generous new assistance programmes such as Zakat and Sukuk. The causes and status of recurring food crises had been reviewed, as had gender issues exacerbated health challenges, and the elusive concept of resilience. We had also looked at the future which, on account of our eternal capacities to bounce back, and the resources at hand, give us reason to be hopeful. Despite many challenges, our sessions were well attended and we have been able to have important and excellent presentations and exchanges. We have come to the conclusion that COVID has also given us opportunities to work better together. Humans have to be put at the centre of our actions and nobody can succeed in isolation. To achieve success we need for humanitarian, development and peace actors to plan together and work for the same goal. COVID has far reaching implications going beyond just physical and mental health, also causing economic disruption and political instability. The discussions have shown that although Africa may have been faced with COVID-19 slightly later than other parts of the world, we must work together with governments and local actors to make sure that the continent will not be forgotten in the awarding of the best support, including the provision of vaccines.

We are wiser than three days ago and we must now bring these conclusions into actions.

The 18th DIHAD event will be held from 14 to 16 March 2022, and the theme, possibly focusing on the importance of partnerships, will duly dovetail with issued highlighted by EXPO 2020.

In conclusion, Amb. Putman-Cramer recalled all thanks expressed at the previous evening’s Gala Dinner, adding thereto the interpreters and Ms Magda Ninaber van Eyben for her preparation of the Conference’s report. He then formally declared DIHAD’s 17th edition closed.

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Shortage of ‘Human Resources for Health’ in Developing Countries

Supported by Noor Dubai

Subtitle:

The shortage of health workers in developing countries may undermine the attainment of the Sustainable development goals, universal health coverage and undermine control of epidemics/pandemics. So how do we improve the number and quality of health workers in developing countries?

Context:

The World Health Organization in its 2006 World Health Report reported that over 4 million more health workers are needed globally to prevent crisis in the health sector. Out of which Africa alone needs 1.5 million workers. Thus 36 of the 57 countries in the continent have critical shortages of human resources for health.

Globally all countries are challenged by worker shortage, skill mix imbalance, maldistribution, negative work environment, and weak knowledge base. However, it is worse in the poorest countries mostly of Africa and Asia where the workforce is under assault by HIV/AIDS, epidemics, out-migration, poor working environment, demotivation, undertraining and inadequate investment.

The critical shortage of health workers in developing world especially Africa is a major impediment to achievement of health/developmental goals, and could hinder the ability to control epidemics and pandemic outbreaks. In many developing countries this shortage not only affects provision of life saving interventions like childhood immunization, maternal services and prevention/treatment of the major infectious diseases –HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis; but also hampers response to serious epidemics and pandemics like Ebola, Hemorrhagic fevers, Yellow fever and Covid-19. In addition to this the increasing aging population and change of life style in these developing countries results in rising burden of chronic diseases and non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancers etc needing more well trained health personnel’s and facilities.

This shortage is made worse within these countries by a vicious cycle of outbreaks of epidemics that further deplete the workforce and emigration of health workers to other parts of the world. The gross mal-distribution of the workers where by majority of health workers are in the urban areas but most of the population lives in rural areas in these countries, aggravates the situation. Furthermore the opportunities for continuous medical education and self-development is generally limited.

Thus, this human resource for health crisis in the developing countries especially Africa is not only about the quantity of the health workers and their distribution but also their quality. Due to weak educational systems and training facilities, occasioned by poor investment, health workers in many of these countries are not only inadequately trained but also lack the continuous medical education to handle emerging life threatening emergencies and chronic health conditions.

The crisis is partly caused by underfunding from governments due to competing developmental demands with very weak economies. This results in fewer ill-equipped training institutions, undertraining, under-recruitment, lack of facilities, demotivation, brain drain etc. The pull of higher salaries in industrialized countries and the push of poor working conditions at home along with political and social strife drive thousands of health workers to jobs abroad each year. This ever increasing brain drain from these poor weak countries to richer nations of the West and Middle East compound an already bad situation.

Challenge statement:

The SDG goal 3 (Ensuring health living and promoting wellbeing for all for all ages), the universal health coverage and ability to withstand epidemics and pandemics like Covid-19 cannot be achieved in many countries if the human resources for health crisis in these countries is not tackled.

So how can we address this gross shortage of health workers in developing countries especially Africa in terms of not only the number of the health workers, but their distribution and their expertise (knowledge and skills?). What innovative and technological approach can be applied to address this big challenge?

The digital literacy divide between e-learners: how to narrow the gaps?

Supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Title: The digital literacy divide between e-learners: how to narrow the gaps?

Concept: In a world that everyone is using the digital sphere to communicate and learn, there is still a gap between the e-learners as some have high digital literacy while many still have more limited literacy.

MSF’s e-Learning team (TEMO) aims at reaching 95% of the organization’s staff and not only 25% with high digital literacy, access to computers, access to internet, etc.

Challenge: In this scenario and in order for all staff to have access to distance learning and eLearning Solutions like Tembo can offer, what are proposals and ideas to promote digital literacy for the e-learners to narrow the gaps?

Overcoming Challenges to the Inclusion of Beneficiaries with Disabilities in Emergencies

Supported by International Humanitarian City

Keywords: Emergency Preparedness & Response; Disabilities

Introduction:
IHC for the 2020 Humanitarian Hackathon decided to focus the attention on a group of vulnerable populations affected by Disabilities. The purpose of this challenge is to stimulate people to think outside the box and come up with possible innovative tools that the humanitarian community can offer to people exposed to emergencies and having different kinds of disabilities. In particular, mobility and communication/ability to attract attention are two crucial factors when it comes to the immediate aftermath of a disaster as well as the short and long-term living situation the affected disabled population may find themselves in. The purpose is to integrate and enrich the humanitarian prepositioned stocks with appropriated equipment and aid and therefore strengthen the emergency preparedness and have tools ready for their use in the response phase. The aim is to involve the Humanitarian Hackathon 2020 participants and transform their ideas in humanitarian aid for the benefit of the disabled. Looking at the list of the humanitarian relief items stocked within various humanitarian hubs it appears that no specific items are kept in stock specifically to support the differently-abled living in areas affected by disasters.

Scenarios:
The most frequent emergency scenarios are due to natural disasters such as floods, Tsunamis, Earthquake, cyclones, volcano eruptions, fire-forest etc…in addition to conflict areas. Hackathon participants are invited to think about the disabled population in those scenarios, and particularly, how the disabled can attract rescue teams or humanitarian workers providing assistance. Options for innovative solutions may focus on preventive measures, especially for the populations most exposed to risks and living in prone and hazard areas and subject to frequent natural disasters. Other innovative solutions may focus more on the immediate response following disasters when the affected population is forced to vacate their accommodation, which is appropriately equipped for their disability and moved into newer and less familiar areas. How can we help them?

Below are some tips for the various potential disabilities.

Suggestions:

  • Overall, items that could be useful to most disability categories could be:
  • A Tools to attract attention (which can be distributed to all vulnerable people affected)
  • A disability-friendly app
  • Stool bags compatible with a foldable wheelchair toilet seat
  • Clear masks for lip-reading for the rescue teams
Improving Small Farmers Access to Knowledge About Crop Production Techniques through E-Agriculture

Supported by International Humanitarian City

In several humanitarian response areas, are blessed with diverse climatic conditions for almost all crops (cereal, fruit and vegetable crops), besides ample opportunity to grow high value vegetables as off season in certain zones and pristine climatic niches as well production of certain fruits and vegetables seedling in low, high and walk in tunnels.

Moreover, there is also immense scope of growing short duration vegetable in three successive seasons i.e. summer, winter and autumn such as tomato, broccoli and potato. The small farmers in general are neither aware of the opportunities of effective utilization of their physical , financial and human resources nor know the ways and means to utilize their available resources. Thus they follow the hit and trial rules to grow crops which often incur heavy losses to them.

DISTANCE LEARNING CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN A POST COVID-19 WORLD

Supported by Dubai Cares

COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing gaps in Developing Countries, which were already strained, underserved and faced significant tech capacity limitations, causing serious learning disruptions.

Context

The world has been brought to a standstill by the impact of COVID-19. Airports, restaurants, movie theaters and other elements of the social environment have been disrupted by this virus’ contagion. While watching movies and dining in public are not essential to our lives, work and education are.

Education systems and learning have been heavily disrupted by COVID-19. At its apex, school closures reached over 180 countries. Currently, according to the UNESCO Education Impact Tracker, there are still 34 country wide school closures and over half a billion affected child learners. “The medium and long-term implications of the learning crisis [has] forced 1.6 billion learners worldwide out of the classroom” (UNESCO). This is especially true for education in developing countries, which were already facing poor economic conditions while also coping with low literacy, numeracy, enrollment and proficiency.

In July, UNESCO estimated “that about 24 million learners, from pre-primary to university level, are at risk of not returning to school in 2020 following the education disruption due to COVID-19. Almost half of them are found in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. University students are affected the most, due to the costs related to their studies. Pre-primary education is the second most affected while at primary and secondary level 10.9 million students are at risk, 5.2 million of whom are girls.”

As closures forced students and parents home, the need for connectivity and hardware arose. “Today half of the world’s population (3.6 billion people) still lack an internet connection.” Many countries with low economic development and lack of connectivity, adapted via national broadcasts over TV and Radio, “yet the benefits of internet-based solutions vis-à-vis radio and TV solutions are considerable: connected digital technologies allow for the possibility of two-way communication, real-time interaction, gamified learning, and much more. Investments poured into efforts to make digital tools the principal hubs of learning, rather than brick-and-mortar school sand classrooms” (UNESCO).

“According to UN estimates, nearly 500 million students from pre-primary to upper secondary school did not have any access to any remote learning. Three quarters of these students lived in the poorest households or rural areas. More nuanced data showed finer disparities that traced and functioned to accentuate existing social, economic, gender and geographic fault lines. Analysis from Brookings shows that at the height of school closures, around 90 percent of high-income countries were providing some form of online remote learning, but only 25 per cent of low-income countries were doing the same” (UNESCO).

 

One of the flagship innovations responding to this at a global level is GIGA, an initiative launched by UNICEF and ITU in September 2019 to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice. GIGA is supporting the immediate response to COVID-19, as well as looking at how connectivity can create stronger infrastructures of hope and opportunity in the “time after COVID.” The main objective of GIGA is to connect 2 million schools and 500 million children by 2025 and 5 million schools and 1 billion children by 2030, via funding of local infrastructure entrepreneurs and open source digital public goods.

Lastly, the long term effects of diminished education is worth considering, as “the World Bank has projected the financial cost of this learning loss to be as high as USD $10 trillion or 10% of global gross domestic product” (UNESCO). The human and economic impact of stunted education will ripple through the next decade as less educated students, workers and citizens will enter a world that is simultaneously regressing (climate change) and rapidly evolving (technology). Those that are already economically disadvantaged are at greater risk of getting left behind even more.

Challenge Statement:

As discussed above, distance learning is not always feasible due to low prevalence of connectivity and hardware in developing nations and economies, where the population is less able to purchase cell phones and laptops, while the public and private sectors are less likely to build connectivity infrastructure such as cell towers and Wi-Fi access points.

  • How can distance learning solutions be delivered to low income / remote / rural areas with low hardware saturation and lack of internet access so as not to exclude them from education services and systems they were already underserved by?
  • Think of innovative*, feasible and scalable solutions for learning disruption in developing countries

Things to keep in mind for solution design and review criteria:

  • Developing contexts often have limited access to transportation, clean water and sanitation
  • *Innovation does not necessarily mean very high tech and revolutionary. Sometimes the most innovative thing is using or reformulating something basic and abundant in a new and low cost way
  • Reflect on the sustainability of the design, as many solutions end up collecting dust after initial investment and intervention
  • Think through the replicability and scalability of the solution for global reach in similar environments
  • Contemplate potential cross-sectorial collaboration (telecom, government, and academia)
  • Consider the operational part of it: how is it going to work, under what umbrella, with what organizational or collaborative structure
  • Deliberate on the Who and How of funding your solution
Water Scarcity and Accessibility to Clean Water

Supported by UAE Water Aid

The UAE Water Aid Foundation, Suqia, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, works diligently to provide clean and safe drinking water to communities in dire need and that lack basic access to water. Thus, Suqia contributes directly to Goal 6, Clean Water & Sanitation, of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It also has important contributions to goals 1 (no poverty), 3 (good health and well-being), 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality) and 17 (partnerships for the goals).

Access to clean and safe water remains one of the most critical challenges faced by many around the world. While governments and societies work together to provide solutions to communities in need, the number of those who lack access to basic drinking water services continues to increase till date. According to recent statistics, the figure has reached a staggering 785 million in 2019. In many communities, people spend up to 6 hours each day collecting water. Not only does walking long distances while carrying 20 liters of water cause severe health issues, but it also keeps children out of school and wastes time that families could be using to earn an income.

Utilizing various solutions including artesian wells, water purification stations, water filters, water distribution networks and others, we were able to provide clean drinking water for more than 13 million people in 36 countries around the world.

The main challenge is in providing communities that need it the most. Often these communities are in remote locations difficult to get to and may be overseen in search of the places that require access to clean drinking water.

Although, the water infrastructure is not available, tele-communication networks are often available.

How can we utilize the tele-communication networks or mobile applications to support our goal of reaching out to communities in need? We are looking for a solution that would be easy to use where individuals can pin-point locations globally that face water shortage and lack easy access to clean drinking water. The solution would ideally identify the type of need in the area, the water quality, the approximate number of people living in the area, etc ..