LONDON (AlertNet) - Torn between front line and fundraising, relief agencies find it hard to invest in innovation. Tools and techniques are not much different from 30 years ago and many regard research and development as a luxury. Today’s emergency assistance has changed little since 1967, when the war in Biafra ushered in the modern humanitarian era.

Although agencies have adopted external innovations, such as satellite telephones and laptop computers, relief generally has a shallow learning curve.

"Where is the innovation, the ideas -- why do I always see the same old proposals?" complained one aid donor at a private meeting on Africa in the 1990s. "Because you won’t pay for it," came the agencies’ weary reply.

There are signs that attitudes to investment are changing, thanks to the intervention of major technology players, foundations, universities and new networks, though there is a question whether the purpose of innovation is primarily to improve agency performance, or to help those in greatest need.

"It must do both", insists Lisa Castagnozzi, of U.S. aid network InterAction, whose new information and communications technology working group includes NGOs and experts from government and private companies.

An InterAction report has identified a wide range of innovative information and communications technology uses by agencies, but Castagnozzi says NGOs have a lot to learn.

One firm supporting research and development by NGOs is Microsoft. During the Kosovo crisis, European company staff helped the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) develop software to improve family tracing.

Microsoft has since been discussing innovation with U.S.-based relief agencies, including the American Red Cross, Project Hope, Catholic Relief Services, World Relief and Project Concern, before putting $600,000 of cash and consultant support into three software projects.

PILOT PROJECT IN BOLIVIA

AlertNet member Mercy Corps is exploring how to track distributions from food banks, with a pilot project in Bolivia. World Vision is testing technologies such as smart cards to ration scarce resources in disasters. Save the Children USA has been using hand-held computers in Nicaragua in a project to improve the collation and dissemination of information.

Cathleen MacCaul of Microsoft community affairs, who previously spent 15 years with World Vision, said: "While technology cannot do everything in disasters, we see lots of opportunities for it to strengthen humanitarian response. Charities have been slow to pick up on the technology available; there is a need to invest."

One area of confusion in some collaborations is who owns the results of any developments. MacCaul says agencies are asked to share any solution with the relief community "in the hope this becomes the standard".

Since solutions may well involve Microsoft’s Windows CE software for hand-held computers, fears have been raised that these could limit future choice.

Aid already has software rivalries, notably between the pioneer in disaster supplies management, Suma, and later alternatives championed by the U.N. Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme and UNHCR.

Used on PCs by governments and NGOs to inventory, classify and account for supplies, Suma needs substantial investment to develop the system for global use on an Internet-based platform, complete with bar coding, electronic tagging and other tools, but such funding is hard to find.

Oxfam GB faced a similar challenge on a smaller scale to design its well known "better bucket". Charity grants helped pay for the bucket, whose tight-fitting lid creates a light, low-cost, stackable (and thus cheaply transportable) alternative to the bulky jerrican.

MORE RESEARCH THAN EVER

Developments continue, from adding a tap to creating a filter system. Although Oxfam does not plough bucket profits from commercial sales back into innovation, its head of public health Paul Sherlock says project grants allow it to undertake more research than ever.

Oxfam’s 10-strong engineering team works with both universities and companies, and coordinates a unique inter-agency water and sanitation engineering (Watsan) network, which includes Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), Action contre la Faim, UNHCR, UNICEF, and from the Red Cross (both the International Committee and the Federation).

Through meetings, calls and e-mails, the network shares ideas, problems and even -- during emergencies -- equipment and staff. Sherlock believes the Watsan collaboration is unmatched in any other relief area: "Lots more agencies are involved in food, or health, but cooperation there seems more difficult to achieve."

Some agencies seem better suited to research and development. MSF, which has its own think-tank foundation plus specialist logistics and epidemiological units committed to innovation, prides itself on fast feedback.

Polly Markandya of MSF UK recalls, for example, how its field support unit quickly picked up comments about new items used in an ebola fever outbreak when the protective goggles misted up and body bag zips were hard to handle with the gloves provided.

Humanitarian research and development is essential if relief agencies are to have the best equipment and systems while improving efficiency, cutting costs and empowering local people.

Research and development success needs agencies to allocate more funds, improve staff learning, build networks and share knowledge and skills. Importantly, they must find ways to make beneficiaries more central to operational reviews, and persuade donors and grant givers to invest in innovation.

A version of this article first appeared in the Humanitarian Affairs Review.

Journalist and aid consultant Nick Cater can be contacted at cateralert@hotmail.com

Copyright 2001 Nick Cater/Words & Pictures