Repair and Repurposing for Pandemic Resilience in Low Income and Humanitarian Settings
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of Social and Political Science
Abstract
There is an urgent need for new research to inform the design response to overlapping refugee crises and the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in countries across Sub Saharan Africa, including Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso is currently experiencing an unexpected escalation of conflicts, human rights abuses, threats to human security and peace building, coupled with unanticipated large scale forced population displacement, and an unprecedented public health emergency. Global disruption to supply chains for electrical and electronic technologies and components as a result of restrictions to transportation and shipping is restricting the distribution of essential humanitarian energy technologies. Against this backdrop the repair and repurposing of old technologies and systems, as well as the continued maintenance of existing humanitarian technologies is an urgent and essential humanitarian task; one that requires the mobilisation of locally situated repair cultures (skills, knowledge and practices) as well as the local sourcing of spare parts and components. In partnership with the UNHCR's Innovation Service and Chatham House this research project sets out to address a significant knowledge gap about the extent, significance and potential role of repair in meeting people's basic needs.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jamie Cross (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Cross J
(2022)
To Fail at Scale! Minimalism and Maximalism in Humanitarian Entrepreneurship
in Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale
Munro P
(2022)
Towards a repair research agenda for off-grid solar e-waste in the Global South
in Nature Energy
| Description | Pathways to a greener UNHCR must include support for repair economies. It is crucial for UNHCR to quickly engage with this process so the benefits of repairability can be realised as soon as possible. Pre-Distribution: Using Procurement to Build a Circular Economy in UNHCR 1.Develop new guidelines for circular procurement and use them 2.Update, enforce and extend existing technical specifications 3.Consult with existing suppliers and refresh the supplier pool 4.Support the "right to repair" everywhere Post-Distribution: Supporting Repair in Refugee and Host Communities 1.Work to remove barriers to repair in displacement settings 2.Engage with refugees and repair practitioners (technicians) 3.Provide spare parts for solar lamps to refugees 4.Support co-ordinated action across the humanitarian sector |
| Exploitation Route | On the basis of this work UNHCR is making sustainable design of core relief items a pillar of future procurement strategies, linking procurement to the environmental footprint of goods, and focusing on the adaptation of humanitarian goods to context. |
| Sectors | Energy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | Our findings led to a 40 page report produced for UNHCR which has laid the basis for a new procurement strategy built around environmental sustainability. The UNHCR have now begun to operationalise the recommendations in our report, including a root and branch review of procurement around solar lighting systems in their humanitarian / core relief item kits. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | How can we create circular opportunities for energy access? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Co-authored online article about the circular economy and humanitarianism. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://circulareconomy.earth/publications/how-can-we-create-circular-opportunities-for-energy-acces... |