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Field Ready's Capabilities

We believe that by making useful things, we can make the world a better place. We manufacture supplies in the field so that people have what they need, where and when they need it. The impact of this is more people helped - better, faster and cheaper.
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Making &
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Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
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Health
Medical Supplies

Innovation

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Livelihoods
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Protection
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NFIs
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Risk Reduction
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Digital

In the News

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Field Ready in Action

This spring and summer we were privileged to deliver thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment to various Kenyan community groups - in many, many cardboard boxes. The deliveries were part of our "Protecting The Frontline" program to help prevent further spread of COVID-19 and other diseases in four countries - Bangladesh, Kenya, Iraq and Uganda. We partnered with Needs List and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to help match frontline workers who need personal protective equipment with local manufacturers in those countries who can make it for them. With support from Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge, the program has helped protect more than 250,000 frontline workers who are trying to prevent disease spread. Aided by Community Development and Sustainability Orgnaization (CDS), we distributed 3,000 bar soaps, 2,100 KN-95 face masks, 500 surgical gowns, 100 liters of liquid soap, hundreds of hand sanitizers and nine Jengu handwashing stations. The items were delivered to groups in Nairobi as well as in the Cheptais, Mt. Elgon-area in Kenya near the Ugandan border. The items will be used for frontline workers at local hospitals, schools, government offices and organizations that serve women, youth and displaced people. All of the PPE and sanitation items were made by local manufacturers, several of which are refugee organization-supportive. The foot-operated Jengu handwashing stations were made by Fablab Winam, a Kisumu-based makerspace that encourages people to learn new technologies, explore entrepreneurial ideas and build innovative designs. Collaborators BRC and Arup designed the handwashing stations. Demand for the PPE remained strong in a regions where COVID-19 infections are still spreading. Groups such as Youth Voices Community in Nairobi - a refugee-led organization that aims to build awareness of refugee youth experiences in developing their self-reliance - distributed their PPE items quickly to eager community members. The group hopes to secure more items soon to provide more protection to more vulnerable people. "We were able to distribute over 600 soaps and 3000 face masks and sanitizers!" Youth Voices shared in an Instagram post. "Even though it looks like the COVID pandemic might end soon, many people are still vulnerable and need to be protected! Thank you for your support. Together we can do much more!" Field Ready team members in Kenya, Bangladesh, Iraq and Uganda have facilitated the manufacture and made deliveries of more than 500,000 pieces of PPE since the program began in 2021.

Sometimes safety arrives in a box

This spring and summer we were privileged to deliver thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment to various Kenyan community...

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While most developed countries have cut back or even removed COVID-19 restrictions, the pandemic and other diseases are still very much a threat in other places. In Bangladesh, our "Protecting The Frontline" program has worked diligently with local makers and manufacturers across the country to help prevent disease spread by providing personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare and NGO staff in the refugee settlements and host communities of Cox’s Bazaar, Chittagong and Dhaka. As part of our four-country COVID-19 response; we partnered with Needs List and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team workers to help match frontline workers in Bangladesh, Kenya, Iraq and Uganda who need personal protective equipment with local manufacturers in those countries who can make it for them. With support from Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge, the program received more than 500,000 orders and helped protect more than 250,000 frontline workers who trying to prevent disease spread. By the end of 2021, our Bangladesh team produced nearly 75,000 face shields, safety goggles, individual hand sanitizers, handwashing stations and foot-operated taps and distributed them to some 31 non-profit and 6 healthcare organizations in Cox’s Bazar and Chattogram. We're also working with refugee organizations in the camps to manufacture more foot-operated taps and handwashing stations - all of which will help not just stem viral spread but improve general community hygiene. When it comes to quality, we're committed to the highest standards in safety - and so are the manufacturers we're working with to help frontliners in need.  So far, we've successfully worked with five local manufacturers in the capital of Dhaka, including a university-affiliated makerspace – FAB LAB Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (FABLAB SAU). We've done substantial work with them on capacity building to ensure they meet international production standards through quality control and quality assurance. Building our network of manufacturing partners has been a very careful, detailed process. We've closely screened each potential manufacturing candidate before committing to work with them. We also conducted extensive mapping to build a database of people and organizations we can reliably work with. So far, we've collected 750 manufacturers, including small workshops, SME factories and makerspaces in Dhaka - where the industry ecosystem is concentrated. In the Cox's Bazaar region, we vetted more than 150 small manufacturers and mapped their workshops and factories. The mapping is still ongoing in Dhaka on a rolling basis. Going forward, we will establish a criterion to sort this list of manufacturers into various categories and provide them with necessary support accordingly. While we've produced commercial cases of PPE, we're also working on producing other humanitarian aid supplies in Bangladesh - including equipment to improve sanitation such as our Jengu handwashing stations, seen at right and above. To make sure we're providing the most needed items, we're working with other INGOs that can help us gather data from users. This research will allow us to build a comprehensive view of the local humanitarian aid supply chain and then get to work setting up local manufacture of those items. Why is this important? Because most humanitarian supplies used in Bangladesh currently come from other countries through UN agencies - which causes delays, uses up fuel and increases emissions...and is expensive. By getting or making items from local suppliers/retailers/distributors, we can respond to needs more quickly and save more lives, help lower emissions and reduce costs, as well as build local economies. "Protecting The Frontline" will continue supplying PPE and WASH equipment to workers in the Bangladeshi refugee camps, as well as looking for new ways to connect local manufacturers with local communities. We'll keep you updated on our progress!

Producing PPE to keep Bangladesh safe

While most developed countries have cut back or even removed COVID-19 restrictions, the pandemic and other diseases are still very much a...

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Finding ways to survive as a refugee is always a challenge - and even more difficult during a pandemic. But our "Protecting The Frontline" program to help stem COVID-19 spread has not only helped displaced people in Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp survive - it's helping them stay safe and even thrive. We've partnered with Needs List and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team workers to help match frontline workers in Bangladesh, Kenya, Iraq and Uganda who need personal protective equipment with local manufacturers in those countries who can make it for them. With support from Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge, the program has already received more than 500,000 orders and helped protect more than 250,000 frontline workers who are working to prevent disease spread. In Kakuma, the program helps participants on multiple levels - in addition to helping prevent COVID-19 and other diseases, it also provides job training and income opportunities for refugees and promotes recycling and sustainable development. On the sustainability front, we're working with the Fraternity For Development Integrated (FRADI) to turn waste plastic into protective face shields. And the benefits are many, said Raphael Besemi Ng of FRADI. "We're clearing the camp and also cleaning Kakuma town and Kalubuye, reducing pollution and recycling the plastic waste collected for new products," Besemi said. "This project enabled us to get more knowledge of recycling and making new products. We're also enabling our trainees to learn how to make these new products so these women will get skills that will help them produce an income. And the shields are a big safety need for frontline workers as well as motorcyclists and machine workers in the camp, so we are protecting them as well." Training is also a big part of our efforts - and we've been working closely with Kakuma's GLAP Enterprises, which supplies soap and hand sanitizer to local organizations and relief agencies. GLAP Founder and Chief Executive Officer Innocent Havyarimana said in addition to its knowledge sharing, the project's mentoring helps bolster particpants' confidence and sense of self-reliance. Havyarimana, a former chemist in his native Burundi, said both the project's aim and outcome are deeply gratifying to him. "We are not only supplying soap and sanitizer to churches, NGOs, organizations and the community to stay healthy, but people are learning how to do this themselves," he said. In addition to helping GLAP, we're training young people at the camp's Don Bosco Vocational Training Center to build locally made, foot-operated handwashing stations. "This is very, very important, particularly during the time of COVID-19 and the pandemic," said Ben Mburu, director of the Don Bosco center. "This handwashing station means there is no contact (to practice hygiene), so it makes it safe for people and very effective at preventing disease spread. And the skills being learned in building the handwashing stations are helping these young men create a source of income and livelihood, which they will then also be able to pass on to others and build capacity." Participants in each of the initiatives are only beginning to see the program's long-term benefits, said Solidarity Initiative For Refugees engineer and trainer Yassir Mohammed. With the high-end 3D printer received from Field Ready, Mohammed said he is training more young people than before to produce face shields for community frontline workers. "In the first wave of COVID-19, we were not able to access face shields in the community," he said. "We could not make enough. But this printer added to our other two allows a faster production rate to keep more people safe. And people see how they can use this later (to make additional items) as well." The project is scheduled to continue this summer. For more information about how to get, make or give PPE for the project, please visit www.makeitlocal.org.

Building a future and keeping it clean in Kakuma

Finding ways to survive as a refugee is always a challenge - and even more difficult during a pandemic. But our "Protecting The...

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Humanitarian Making

Solving tough challenges, sharing information and learning are best done when people are connected. Field Ready supports the group, Humanitarian Makers, which is achieving things no single person or group can. 

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Catalog

Our parts Catalog provides essential details for 100+ useful products. This user-friendly Catalog enables technology specialists and non-specialists to talk about the same items and consider issues such as readiness and risks.

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Field Ready Book

This new book covers the essentials of humanitarian innovation. With contributions from over two dozen leaders in the field, including Field Ready's Executive Director, Dr. Eric James, this sets a new standard on how to make real change.

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