The Acceleration of Chaos: Architecture as a strategy in the aftermath of ruinous events.

This master thesis answers the following research question: <br/><br/>How can architecture enable communities to rebuild and thrive in the aftermath of ruinous chaos, by rapidly implement simple, sustainable design solutions, whilst acknowledging the chaotic situation and leveraging the receptiveness to change? <br/><br/>The research assumes the...

Meeting Akila: Creating Local Empowerment Through Organisational Transformation

This master's thesis collaborates with the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) and their Water and Innovation team. The aim of the team is to foster greater engagement with local communities and establish a power balance that empowers the partnering country, rather than being centralized in the NLRC's headquarters in The Hague.<br/><br/>The core of the...

Categorizing recipients of evouchers using best practises from marketing theories: Clustering and targeting vulnerable recipients of evouchers using a novel approach of consumer segmentation and machine learning; a case study of Sint Maarten

Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), a type of humanitarian aid consisting of giving money instead of products, is being used more frequently because of its effectiveness and efficiency in helping people in need (Cash Learning Partnership, 2020b). The debate on using CVA is currently focusing on improving the quality by better incorporating ...

Working towards an AI-­based clustering of airports, in the effort of improving humanitarian disaster preparedness

In the past few years, the frequency of onset natural disaster has been rising, causing significant damage to communities and infrastructure around the world. When it happens, airports in the region affected have to rapidly adjust and evolve from serving regular passengers to becoming a humanitarian hub, that handles a massive surge in both...

Understanding Population Movement Patterns after a Major Disaster: A case study of the effects of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti in 2016

Call Detail Record (CDR) data enables the analysis of human behaviour on a large scale and the information that it contains can be promising. Not only does it allow us to track the movements of many individuals throughout time, it uncovers patterns in a persons decision making process that potentially tell us a lot about the effects of different...

Designing a product-service ecosystem in humanitarian aid: Utilizing eVTOL vehicles in immunization programs for East Africa

A colossal amount of people around the world do not have access to basic health care. In order to reach the unreachable, humanitarian organizations assemble medical units that provide health service to the most outreach communities. Although, these units experience numerous challenges and drawbacks when it comes to traveling, questioning the...

Design of a support system for 121: A case study on digital aid for undocumented migrants in the Netherlands

This graduation project is about digital product 121. This product is developed by 510, the data and digitalization imitative of the Netherlands Red Cross. Through 121, a person affected (PA) by a humanitarian disaster, can receive Cash Based Aid (CBA) and Information as Aid (IAA). CBA is new form of aid, where the PA receives digital money...

Design of an unmanned aerial vehicle loading system for humanitarian aid operations

In the aftermath of a disaster, Humanitarian Aid Organizations must operate in highly uncertain and complex contexts in order to provide the lifesaving aid to the people in need. However, the systems currently available to them are limiting the aid logistics, leaving victims cut off. Affordable options are not well suited for the devastated...

Humanitarian Innovation at the Netherlands Red Cross: A case study on disaster preparedness on Sint Maarten

This report shows the process and result of a graduation project at the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC). In their search to improve the humanitarian system, innovation is necessary. However, the Netherlands Red Cross faces challenges associated with time, resources, culture and methodologies to execute a research regarding the integration of...

Information-sharing in humanitarian operations in complex disasters: Using Agent-Based modelling to identify policies for improved performance

An agent-based modelling study, which shows the impact of predefined policies on a stylized case study of Syria.

Introducing systems-oriented design for complex societal contexts in design engineering education

Faced with large-scale wicked problems that include global warming, resource depletion, poverty and humanitarian emergencies, society needs new and more appropriate reasoning models. In particular, these problems pose unfamiliar challenges in contexts with poor financial and infrastructural resources. Systems-oriented design (SOD) is widely...

Water efficient sterilization for humanitarian aid: A redesign of the Robustex 90L (autoclave)

This master thesis describes a graduation project that is elaborated for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) innovation project Sweden. MSF is an independent, international, medical humanitarian organization. The organization is specialized in providing humanitarian aid in (developing) countries. The goal of this project is to find a solution for the...

Monitoring Cold Chain items in the humanitarian aid context: A reliable and easy-to-use device for quality control

Some medicines, tests and vaccines are sensitive to heat and/or cold. Therefore they need to be transported and stored in a constant temperature between 20C and 80C to keep their medicinal properties. These items constitute the Cold Chain, the preservation of temperature from manufacturing until administration. This is a considerable obstacle in...

Collaborative exploration of the humanitarian aid transition

The humanitarian aid transition between short-­term relief and long-term development is often poorly managed, since Non-­Governmental Organizations (NGOs) do not understand the nature of challenges that occur within this transitional period. Rethink Relief, an initiative of scholars at both Delft University of Technology and Massachusetts...