Collaboration for localized innovative response to Covid-19 needs
Supply chain issues from COVID-19
The scale of the global COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in recent times. Across the world, the supply chains that the humanitarian sector relies on have been badly affected. Huge spikes in demand depleted personal protection equipment (PPE) and infection control supplies for frontline workers in the health and relief sectors. Communities affected by conflict were some of the deepest affected by the supply chain issues.
In response to this need, the ‘Protecting the Frontline’ program, hosted by Field Ready, specifically supports frontline workers in hard-to-reach conflict zones including both IDPs (internally displaced people) and refugees in Bangladesh, Iraq, Kenya, and Uganda. The program aims to enable localized pandemic response by:
Mapping needs and manufacturing capabilities, and mapping and matching item supply and demand
Making PPE & infection control items to reduce transmission
Working through local manufactures on the ground in Uganda, including Taka-Taka Plastics and Oysters and Pearls, the project has already delivered more than 7,500 plastic face shields to NGOs supporting healthcare workers in Lira, and we have more than 360,000 items currently on order.
To understand the demand for PPE, partnerships have been established with a number of community-based and refugee-led organisations in West Nile Region including the Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), Youth Social Advocacy Team (YSAT), Community Technology Empowerment Network (CTEN) and Kulika. Through these organisations it is possible not only to collect PPE needs, but also to support local makers who are already working with these organisations to make PPE, within the communities in which it is needed.
Visit this website to learn more, donate, get, propose a supplier of PPE: www.makeitlocal.org
3-D printed and molded mask, by Ugandan Company Global Auto Systems Ltd’ GloMasks project
Field Ready + Response Innovation Lab
In 2020, Field Ready and the Response Innovation Lab formed a Strategic Partnership illuminating both our interests to inspire and guide disaster response practitioners to develop and test new ideas and implement proven innovations.
Field Ready meets humanitarian and reconstruction aid needs by transforming logistics through technology, design and engaging people in new ways.
Response Innovation Lab seeks to build ecosystems for innovations to survive and thrive to better enable responses to the most vulnerable populations in humanitarian contexts.
Convening for action
In May 2021, RIL and Field Ready - with the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation - organized a digital convene event on locally manufacturing Covid-19 preventive materials, including personal protective equipment and with an emphasis on the use of 3-D printers. The objectives of this meeting were to:
Share learning and map challenges emerging from past and ongoing projects
Ideate and be inspired by the existing opportunities in Uganda
Create a multipartite community of practice bringing together innovators, non-governmental organizations, UN partners, Government bodies, academic institutions and support the emergence of potential new partnerships.
Over 50 diverse Ugandan stakeholders joined for a multi-sectoral convening event over Zoom to connect and exchange with stakeholders in the ecosystem. The event asked participants to reflect on challenges and opportunities in local manufacturing, and support defining these challenges so solutions could be observed.
The topline challenges identified included:
Difficulties for local makers to enter humanitarian supply chains:
Lack of availability of low material means reliance on import/shipping them thus driving the costs higher
Lack of trust by the public in locally produced products
Competition from imports
Concerns on meeting quality standards & getting into prequalified supplier lists of INGOs
The “manufacturing ecosystem” was under-documented:
Ugandan manufacturers could benefit from easier access to global and local past learnings (technical) to drive quality and speed of production (without reinventing the wheel).
Mask production by Biogenics Ltd, Uganda company, participating in the Local Production & Local Solutions Project.
A recommendation was formulated to support and build trust in local manufacturing capabilities, while ensuring that all actors (those present in the event and more) listen to what people need, instead of making assumptions on the problem and solution. In doing so, implementation around challenges could take different shapes, including:
Building trust in local manufacturing through trainings and market research
Funding local manufacturing
Reducing procurement barriers (procurement databases, procurement trainings) to open opportunities for local producers to sell to humanitarian stakeholders
Increase trust, and access to the product through manufacturing certifications
The way we use language defines how we think about people: shift away from “beneficiary” lingo and give people agency to make a choice over what they need.
Resources:
Recordings from the event:
Opening Remarks: RIL and a guest speaker from the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation
Session 1: Protecting the Frontline, project intro by Field Ready & NeedsList
Session 2 - part 1: Highlighting innovative enterprises in Uganda, part of the LPLS project
Session 2 - part 2: Learning from the Local Production and Local Solutions Project (LPLS)
Session 3: Zoom on Protecting the Frontline in Uganda by Field Ready & Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
Flash Demo: How to use Virtual Reality for training on PPE use, by the Infectious Diseases Institute, at Makerere University
Additional Resources:
Visit this site for visit this site to learn more, donate, get, propose a supplier of PPE www.makeitlocal.org
All the slides for all the presentations can be accessed here
Contact Us
To get in touch and connect with the Protecting the Frontline project in Uganda, contact Kat Sellers: kat.sellers@fieldready.org
