harvard college
PANORAMA
global health review
as “one of the most efficient and useful NGOs” that she met for its ability to “adapt to needs, and to roll out supplies as promised”. ShelterBox’s “supplies” are packaged inside its boxes, which are valued at roughly $1000 each and contain essential survival items that vary based on locale but generally include a tent said to house up to 10 people, a basic toolkit, a portable stove, and bowls and mugs. While Rosborough puzzled over the failure to include difficult-to-find hygiene items such as soap and feminine products, she did cite the greater number of mugs and utensils to accommodate larger family sizes as a sign of the organization’s adaptability. Yet both Cranmer and Rosborough find fault with what is perhaps most emblematic to ShelterBox: the tent. Founder of ShelterBox Tom Henderson began working on this project in an Photo Courtesy of Shelter Box
attempt to innovatively fill the void in disaster-relief shelter. Rosborough says that, “Most of the time when you’re talking about disaster shelter, you’re not talking about months or weeks, you’re talking about years”. Especially when internally displaced people ultimately want to go home and want something they can easily take home with them, “there’s nothing about a tent that makes it sustainable shelter,” Rosborough noted. “The tent certainly provides recipients with physiological and psychological empowerment,” said David Ager, lecturer on Social Entrepreneurship at Harvard College. However, the distribution of the tents fails to engage the local population in participating in their own rebuilding. “The question is,” said Ager, “what is the innovation here?” “This is not charity work…the
work we are doing is rights-fulfillment.” Despite the fact that the humanitarian community hasn’t found the perfect shelter, Rosborough claims that, “what’s been most successful is giving people basic building supplies and tools and letting them create from local resources most of their houses.” This strategy meets expert opinions that user-participation in making design decisions results in a more positive longterm product. One thing is certain in the uncertain field of humanitarian work: innovation is necessary. ShelterBox may be credited for its innovative and portable solution to short-term disaster relief. Yet, from the very beginning, the innovation must proceed even further to recruit the local population to contribute to rebuilding their homes and their livelihoods. •
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