by Charlotte Colombeau, Research & Communications Executive (F4ID)
In case you missed it, F4ID exhibited at Aid Ex 2022 this month. The event welcomes over 2500 members of the aid and development community from over 65 countries each year and features workshops, discussion groups, impact sessions, training programmes and conference sessions. This year our very own founder, Steve, had the pleasure of speaking at the panel ‘Multi-stakeholder partnerships – Fostering digital transformations and bridging digital divides in a crisis setting’ -unsurprisingly he smashed it!
The F4ID team met some amazing people from incredible organisations, so we thought you should get a chance to meet them too…
771 million people in the world live without clean water: a necessity that should be available to everyone. It is hard to comprehend that something essential to survival remains a luxury for some. Lacking clean water can cause sickness, deprive a child of their education and prevent parents from working in order to walk to clean water sources.
Meeting the excellent staff at New Co Pro talk about their solution to this was extremely encouraging. Their product, the Sydney 905 Filter, is a portable water filter, certified by the WHO and it is very versatile as it can attach on to the end of water outlets such as taps and bottles, making unclean water instantly safe to drink - how amazing is that? The filters prevent any harmful bacteria including those causing Cholera Typhoid and E.Coli protozoa, or cysts getting through – mind-blowing!
Another organisation we loved was Pesitho, who were exhibiting their solar powered electric cooking stove ‘The Ecoca’.
The stove produces enough energy for 3 meals per day for a family of 5-7, hosts USB ports and has a torch and lamp to provide light sources – incredible right? Removing the need for firewood also comes with a range of benefits such as reducing deforestation, exposure to air pollution, respiratory related illnesses and the risk of assault during firewood collection (especially for women). Additionally, it gives children who previously collected firewood the ability to spend more time in school and creates an income generation opportunity for families (e.g. charging mobile devices for cash). If that wasn’t already brilliant enough, the stoves are locally assembled, sold, monitored and maintained and members of host and refugee communities are trained and employed by the organisation!
Twilio stood out to us as another organisation doing great things for the sector. Twilio is a customer engagement platform used across a variety of industries. You’ve probably used them without even knowing it: they work with some huge names including Deliveroo. How do you receive notifications telling you the status of your order, where your driver is and how long it is until your food arrives? You guessed it - Twilio. In the non-profit sector, Twilio’s incredible work has helped to cover a multitude of areas. For example, in the context of the war against Ukraine they have: helped news organisations to combat misinformation and notify Ukrainians of Russian army movement and airstrikes; helped aid organisations reach millions of people with critical information and cash assistance; facilitated online medical support; and created chatbots to connect people fleeing their homes with helpful resources. Truly outstanding!
It was a pleasure chatting to every organisation at Aid Ex this year and we just wanted to highlight a few to celebrate some of the amazing work going on in the sector. Thank you Aid Ex 2022 for having us (and see you next year!), thank you New Co Pro, Pesitho and Twilio for inspiring us and thank you reader for stopping by our blog! Make sure to follow our Twitter or LinkedIn if you want to be the first to know when we post another.