On the Frontier of Humanitarian Supply Chains
This is a published version of our On the Frontier (OtF) newsletter series. Every month we take one global critical challenge and explore what’s at the cutting edge of it, together. Click here to join the FT Network and receive our newsletter directly.
Welcome back to the Frontier Tech newsletter. Each month we take one global critical challenge and explore what’s happening on the frontier of innovation, where FCDO colleagues are working with partners to test solutions in the real world.
In each issue, you’ll find just three things: one click, one clip, and one invitation to continue the conversation.
This month? We're on the Frontier of Humanitarian Supply Chains.
Tech can transform supply chains, but not alone
Humanitarian aid is under pressure like never before, with over 308 million people expected to need assistance by 2024. And traditional supply chains are struggling to keep up with the demand.
In the first of two blogs, innovation expert Kelley Rowe explores three frontier technologies transforming how aid is delivered and monitored: Blockchain offers a tamper-proof system, previously referred to as a "trust machine". Internet of Things can connect devices to monitor the movement of aid packages across even the most remote areas. Drones (UAVs) are solving the last-mile delivery problem, bringing essential medical supplies to underserved regions like Malawi and Rwanda at speed.
However, while these applications show tremendous promise, key barriers such as infrastructure limitations, regulatory barriers, and the need for local capacity building lie ahead. The success of these innovations lies not in the technology alone but in how they are integrated into existing supply chain systems to create scalable and adaptive solutions.
“The future of humanitarian aid lies in these frontier technologies, which, scaled through collaborative ecosystems, will build a more transparent, efficient, and resilient global aid system."
👉 Click to read the first blog here.
A short film from this frontier: Introducing GeoSeals
To save lives, humanitarian aid needs to be in the right place at the right time.
This film takes a deeper look at one of the technologies we mentioned above. It follows the first trial of GeoSeals: a cost-effective solution being tested in collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, WFP, and UNICEF to prevent supply chain stock-outs in the most vulnerable regions.
In March 2024, the team installed IoT-enabled tracking devices on six distribution points to track the arrival and departure of life-saving malnutrition aid to rural health points in Harar. Each device, a GeoHub, can detect the signal of RFID stickers on aid boxes passing through its doorway, and share that information to a central dashboard thousands of miles away. Each sticker is called a GeoSeal.
Fast forward to today and the data has finally started to arrive. This trial is only tracking 200 boxes to their destinations, but if successful, GeoSeals can be further improved and rolled out across the 24,000 distribution points in the Ethiopian RUTF supply chain, potentially helping countless children and women reliant on the nutritional aid.
The potential doesn’t stop there, because RUTF is one of the hardest aid commodities to track due to its high water content. In other words, if this trial works the possibilities to track aid supplies to its final destination seem endless.
🎬 Watch the 2 minute clip here.
"If one mother takes their child for treatment and the clinic doesn't have any commodity to treat the child, the knock-on impact is far greater than just that one individual. She will go back and tell the rest of the village that the health clinic doesn't have any... It immediately affects wider health-seeking behaviour."
💬 Fergus McBean, FCDO Humanitarian Adviser
Would you like to continue this conversation with us?
There's so much more to explore on the frontier of humanitarian supply chains, so we're holding an exclusive event on Wednesday October 2nd to screen the full GeoSeals film and present the findings so far.
We’ll be joined by people across the global development, philanthropy and government sectors to explore the application of technology to prevent stock outs of life-saving malnutrition aid in remote and vulnerable locations. Will you join us?
📆 Click here to reserve your free ticket*
*If you work for FCDO, you can also add the Teams link directly to your calendar here.
Hungry for more? Here's another three
Listen to a short audio story about Ruby, the design engineer behind Geoseals, on Spotify or Apple.
Explore the opportunities and challenges for improving transparency in aid in the FT report.
We just announced our latest round of pilots. If you missed it, here are the 16 new ideas being tested.
Thanks for exploring with us. We’ll be back in about 4 weeks to explore what's On the Frontier of Sustainable Agriculture. See you then!
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