The Third Annual Philippine FabFestival is set for November 6th and 7th in Legazpi City, Albay, Bicol. Fablabs from around the island nation will gather to share their experiences, learn best practices and work together to solve some bottleneck issues. The two-day event will also give participants the chance to showcase innovative projects and provide co-create opportunities. Field Ready’s Fiji Innovation Advisor Luke Johnston will be presenting Disaster Resiliency, Environme

When establishing the Scouting movement, Sir Baden Powell devised a brilliant motto “Be Prepared.” For more than a century, this has provided good stead for millions of Scouts. Many, however, stress the importance of planning instead. There is a tendency, sometimes even a “default position,” toward planning for planning sake. This is based on a belief that the future can be predicted and controlled. After all, this is a standard “manager’s approach” that works well in the rig

In November, Field Ready's Andrew Lamb, Ben Britton and Ram Chandra Thapa went on an action assessment in Bhutan. The trip's aim was to get a strong sense of the capabilities and opportunities to support these on-the-ground and to share Field Ready's approach through training and demonstrations. Bhutan is a small Himalayan country in South Asia, sandwiched between India and China. The country has less than a million people. It is widely known for its Gross National Happiness

Trends in disaster impacts – lower mortality, but higher cost Over the past decades, number of disaster events across the world have devastated many communities. According to the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), over 600,000 people died, 4.1 billion people were injured, or became homeless and needed emergency assistance over the last two decades due to natural disasters. A recent trend is observed that the substantial investments in economy and soc

It is the beginning of the season for hurricanes in the Atlantic, and after last season’s volume of hurricanes people are left wondering what will happen this year and whether or not people are prepared. Last year’s hurricane season marked the seventh (7th) most active since 1851, with six (6) major hurricanes in the Atlantic. Field Ready responded to the hurricanes in the USVI, which you can read more about here. The number of hurricanes last year was staggering, with devast

Andrew Lamb, Field Ready Innovation Advisor attended the Digital Technologies for Resilience Workshop November 14-15, 2017 in Bangkok. The event was organized by FHI 360 with funding and support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This interactive workshop included technology implementers, organizations working on resilience, and investors/donors with an interest in the intersection of digital technology and resi

As part of our on-going assessment as part of the AHP, the next country we visited was Vanuatu. Vanuatu is a small nation made up of roughly 80 islands. In addition to cyclones it faces a great risk of volcano eruptions and earthquakes. While there is a private sector presence, manufacturing is less prevalent than in Fiji. The needs determined were similar to those in Fiji such as basic aid items including, buckets, shelter kits, medical supplies etc. We also determined we ca

Field Ready was recently on an assessment in the Pacific Region. We are going to be highlighting the countries we visited on the assessment for the Australian Humanitarian Partnership. The objective of the assessment was to better understand how we may respond to disasters in the region and build capacity and resilience against disasters. Fiji was the first country visited where we met with potential partners such as Habitat for Humanity. In the aftermath of Cyclone Winston i

Field Ready has been working in Syria in a variety of capacities to promote search and rescue capabilities. There are four primary staff working to support the initiatives there including team members in Idlib, Syria making significant strides on our projects there. Two of the projects are the airbag and the antenna, which both have the potential to save lives in Syria. There are additional products under development, such as additional search and rescue tools and medical equ

Getting ahead of the curve is a nice idea in theory but this is often neglected in practice. In humanitarian aid, activities like risk reduction, prevention and preparedness have usually been treated as after thoughts. After years of scarce funding, at most 6% of funding goes to such activities. Nonetheless, a range of projects and practices can be undertaken as part of well thought-out aid. This includes activities that directly supports community resilience. According to UN

Field Ready is one of three organizations selected in a very competitive global process for a prestigious new initiative from the Humanitarian Innovation Fund: “Accelerating the Journey to Scale”. The initiative is designed to help the most promising innovations through a “missing middle” between successful, proven concepts and widespread adoption in humanitarian response. This support will accelerate Field Ready’s innovative work in humanitarian supply chains by enabling us

Have you ever tried to measure tensile strength for materials? Often, the process requires a test machine in a lab that could cost more than you expect, and is time consuming. How can you readily and affordably capture a material’s tensile strength? One successful solution involves simple mechanisms containing a power source and a tool to measure force. This post offers one alternative from Field Ready experience to make a tool that can test materials of low tensile strength,