Field Ready's Executive Director, Dr. Eric James, was one of 50 speakers at the AIDF Global Summit today in Washington, DC, where he presented about the organization's work. He then answered questions on a panel facilitated by Mike O'Brien, Health Technical Director at Relief International, and Rob Ryan-Silva, Lab Manager at Development Alternatives, Inc. focused on digital innovation. Attended by roughly 350 people, the event brought together the leaders in the relief and de

We are honored to be a finalist in the Drucker Prize. In the third round, there are now just ten (10) organizations from hundreds of initial applicants. The announcement can be found here. #Awards #Innovation

“Be courageous with your answers and dream big!” This is the advice we got from The Drucker Institute, the organization founded to take forward the important work of Peter Drucker, one of the 20th century's most influential business thinkers. Field Ready have been lucky enough to be selected as one of the 50 Semi-finalists selected for Round 2 of The Drucker Prize application process. There is a great synergy between the core operating principles of Field Ready and the princi

Only 2% of nonprofits earn this distinction and Field Ready just joined their ranks. "This is an important marker for us," says Dr. Eric James, Field Ready's Executive Director. "We are committed to openness and want everyone to know our progress." Field Ready held the Gold seal in 2018. According to GuideStar, "A GuideStar Seal of Transparency indicates that a nonprofit has provided key information in its Nonprofit Profile. By providing up-to-date information, nonprofits al

In celebration of International Women in Engineering day 2019, we decided to interview our Iraq Innovation Advisor, Wafa Al-Attas, who is leading Field Ready’s work on GIZ’s ICT for Youth Program in Iraq. Wafa describes herself as… A social entrepreneur. She started as a businesswoman in her native Yemen and moved into social enterprise supporting youth refugees and local community as the head of the Amel Association Community Centre in Beirut. After moving to Holland she con

If you visit our newly established Field Ready: Erbil Makerspace, housed in the Re:Coded House co-working space, you’ll find Ravin and Mariam leading our technical team, making it the only female led makerspace in Iraq! Both are extremely talented young engineers. Ravin graduated top of her class in Industrial Engineering at Koya University and was one of seven engineers from the whole of Iraq selected to participate in the Mechanical Engineering Germany Iraq (MEGI) summer sc

It’s such a basic need. A bucket to gather, carry and store life-saving water. It's so vital that we put it in our logo. But it’s a need that often goes unmet, especially in emergencies. And without the right bucket, precious water can be lost. Moreover, 780 million people do not have access to clean water. Two and half billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. One in three people lack access to a toilet. Field Ready is working hard to change this situation fo

MakerNet is an initiative providing systems and tools that connect makers and makerspaces to local markets and manufacturing infrastructure. While the pilot program took place in Nairobi in November of 2016, since then MakerNet has had a number of exciting projects and initiatives. What is Field Ready's involvement in MakerNet? As one of the partners, we work on in-country programs, designing and manufacturing humanitarian supply items which are appropriate and delivered more

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

The Shuttleworth Foundation is a small social investor that provides funding to dynamic leaders who are at the forefront of social change. Recently, Field Ready's Andrew Lamb was awarded one of the prestigious fellowships. Andrew aims to revolutionize humanitarian supply chains and, during the course of the fellowship, will develop and test the concept of Massive Small Manufacturing as a means of production to optimize supply efficiency and kick-start local economic developme

Nepal’s digital manufacturing sector, focused on 3D printing, is poised to flourish. Over the last six months we witnessed some incredible developments. Find out more below… Strength in Diversity 3D printing is an unpredictable business to be in. Surprising commissions and projects come up all the time, especially in Nepal. Zener Technologies was set up in 2015 just after the earthquake with the idea of bringing commercial 3D printing to Nepal. Zener have developed their 3D p

Field Ready is one of the finalists for Fast Company’s 2018 World Changing Ideas. Out of 1400 entries, these are the 240 that made it to the final round. Our Rescue Tech program has been ranked under the Developing World Technology. There are numerous companies, non-profits, policies and projects working on creative problem-solving. We are honored to be recognized amongst so many innovators whom we respect. Thank you Fast Company for recognizing our life-saving work in Syria!

Field Ready is committed to sustainability. Here's proof: Field Ready was recently nominated in the top 100 Finalists for the Katerva Awards. The mission of Katerva is to find, evaluate and accelerate disruptive sustainable innovations from around the world. Reuters refers to the Katerva Awards as “The Nobel Prize for Sustainability.” The awards are broken down into 10 categories, Field Ready is nominated under Human Development. We have numerous sustainable innovations and m

The key to sustainability and scalability is in large part due to the knowledge shared between our different programs. While most of us work in different locations, we have the ability to collaborate even despite the geographic barriers. An useful illustration of this is in the context of our Nepal and Syria program. The lifting airbag first began in Syria, and has been used to rescue people from rubble in the aftermath of bombings. So far this devise has directly saved 20 pe

Over 136 million people need humanitarian assistance today. For this population, and indeed in developing countries generally, poor water and sanitation is a major cause of illness and death. Each family requires a means of handling clean water. The proven safe storage solution is the ‘Oxfam bucket’ – the standard aid bucket. Its design features protect against bacterial growth. A standard aid bucket (an open design) costs between $6-10. Transportation costs can be many times

UN Secretary-General, António Guterres stated, "Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is the unfinished business of our time, and the greatest human rights challenge in our world." In STEM related fields, women are still underrepresented and in the humanitarian sector there is still a prevalent gender gap in leadership positions. At Field Ready, we support gender equity today and always!​ In honor of this day, we are highlighting some of the extremely talen

According to WHO, roughly three billion people cook and heat their homes using solid fuels (such as wood, charcoal, coal and dung) in open fires and leaky stoves. Most are poor and live in low- and middle-income countries." Nepal is a particularly vulnerable due to the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake that ravaged much of the country, severe flooding and a history of conflict. Field Ready began working in Nepal after the earthquake, developing programs to address needs in hea

We have been working with Kudra on the Start Program, which works with entrepreneurs from Syria and the host community to enable them with tools in order to succeed. The program is 2 months long and entails workshops, coaching, mentoring and use of the innovation lab. ​The program takes place at the Social Innovation Lab where Kudra brings experience working with communities, particularly building skills in entrepreneurship, design thinking etc. and running accelerator progra

Usamah, a Field Ready colleague resides in Idlib province and has been working diligently to serve those in need in the surrounding area. Many have died from the increased bombings and hospitals and attacks on hospitals has increased. Reports by aid agencies stated that the maternity hospital was hit by airstrikes three times in four days. The situation is dire, and people desperately need medical attention. In besieged areas, this poses as a major challenge, especially when

The situation in Idlib is dire. With widespread attacks on civilians, hospital’s targeted for bombings and mass displacement, the people in Syria need urgent help. While our airbags are being used by responders to rescue people from the rubble, we are looking to expand this initiative as well as others. One of the projects we are still working on is the hydroponics kit. We previously shared about our hydroponics trial in Syria, which produced eggplant and peppers. This has be