Saving Lives: Follow Our Journey

2012-01-09T17:10:00.002-08:00

Introduction

This blog chronicles Peacebuilding Solutions' journey to not only find a better refugee camp design and logistical management approach, but to implement it in the field. Our ultimate goal is to improve and even save the lives of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people; refugees and internally displaced persons.

The Problem

Currently there are millions of people living in refugee camps around the globe, each of which contains anywhere from 1,000 to 100,000 people. These camps are meant to provide a measure of protection, shelter, and sustenance to individuals who have been forced to flee their homes in the wake of civil unrest, political persecution, or natural disasters. Unfortunately, a significant number of refugee camps are constructed rapidly with little regard for social aspects, provision of services, utilization of local materials, quality control, post-construction oversight, or the camp’s potential permanence.

The average amount of time that people must reside in these camps is 8 years, and some are as old as half a century. However most camps are little more than tents that degrade within a year. Further, multitudes of contractors and aid organizations often arrive on the scene, rapidly construct parts of a camp, and evacuate as soon as construction has been completed. Consequently, there are significant logistical overlaps and gaps, inadequate continued oversight, and a lack of sustainable accommodation for the refugees’ dynamic needs. As a result, refugees often suffer from exposure, illness, assaults, and death. Those who beat the odds still lose years of life in missed opportunities to be educated or to learn skills and trades. Essentially stagnating in these camps, refugees return home with little to no ability to compete in the local economy.

The Solution

The time has come for a new way of thinking about how refugee camps are constructed and managed. The specific problem that must be addressed is the provision of transportable, reusable, robust, and modularized refugee camps that can be utilized during post-conflict scenarios where the ever-shifting security situation could entail a need for rapid disassembly relocation, and reconstruction. These camps must be adaptable to varying environments, population changes, and social characteristics while simultaneously maintaining the ability to adequately provide basic services such as drinking water, sanitation, and appropriate shelters.

Wherever practical, camps should be constructed with local resources and simple technologies. Minimization of material and construction costs is also essential, but not at the expense of quality and reliability. Camp construction and operation must take into consideration the involvement of the refugees themselves from the beginning. This practice instills self-reliance, reduces dependence on outside sources, allows refugees to maintain a sense of purpose and dignity, and promotes long-term sustainability of the camp.

Finally, camp management must promote health awareness, mitigate health threats, and incorporate appropriate education and training in skills that will allow refugees to leave the camp with an ability to compete in the local economy. However none of these activities should be conducted within a vacuum. It is essential that strategic partnerships be established in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors in order to effectively bridge the logistical gap that currently exists with respect to refugee camp construction and long-term management.

To further research the issues, we traveled to Haiti in January and again in May of 2011 to evaluate the camps that have been in place since the devastating January 2010 earthquake.

Greg Hodgin, Executive Director of PS

We met with General Paul Cruz, a senior UN official with MINUSTAH, the UN stabilization mission in Haiti, as well as UN CIVPOL to further discuss the needs.

Greg Hodgin with General Paul Cruz

Greg Hodgin and Kay Guerrero of PS interview UN CIVPOL

After returning with video footage from inside the camps, we began our marketing campaign for our refugee camp design competition:

We also appeared on CNN Espanol to discuss our findings, the footage, and our competition:

Andrew Parks and Kay Guerrero are interviewed

The Design Competition

In early 2011, we partnered with both the Atlanta Professional and Georgia Tech Student chapters of Engineers Without Borders USA. Through this partnership, we established our refugee camp student design competition, "Designing for Good". Refugee camps are essentially small-scale cities, and an improved design must incorporate a multidisciplinary approach. With this in mind, we invited students from fields as diverse as engineering, public health, anthropology, sociology, political science, international affairs, and economics. Nearly 200 students from across the U.S. applied. Ultimately, we chose 140 students from a dozen universities including Harvard, MIT, Emory, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State University. Students formed 24 teams of 5, each of which included 2-3 from engineering, 1 from public health or urban design, and 1 from another social science.

The competition was held from September 25 to October 1, 2011. Each team was assigned 1 of 3 design cases: shelter, water treatment and distribution, and sanitation. In addition to customized design requirements that were stipulated for each of the individual 3 cases, ALL teams were required to formulate their designs in adherance to the following hypothetical scenario:

The following scenario takes place over a period of 8 years. For the first 4 years, the refugee population will reside at Lake Turkana. For the second 4 years, the refugee population will reside at a location to the southeast of Lake Turkana. A sustainable refugee camp that will last for 8 years and is capable of adapting to the conditions of both locations must be designed.

Location I

Eight years ago, Ethiopian refugees crossed the border into the northern region of Kenya due to internal conflict. Ethiopia’s president had been assassinated by a rebel group, and the country had fallen into chaos. The country collapsed into civil war, with the fight being broken down upon ethnic and religious lines. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes.

A group of exactly 250 refugees fled to the northern end of Lake Turkana. The refugee population, 75% of whom were women and children under the age of 55, were about 40% Muslim and 60% Christian. Because of the nature of the war, many of the refugees were hostile towards each other depending on their religious and political affiliations. War crimes had been committed in Ethiopia by both sides of the conflict, but the pro-government forces had engaged in more atrocious crimes than the rebels had.

The average age of the refugee population was 30 years, and 20% were physically injured. Of that 20%, 15% were injured to the point of physical disability including but not limited to blindness, debilitating head injuries, and broken bones with overall infections. This section of the population was unable to travel beyond the vicinity of Lake Turkana without further immediate medical care. Some individuals required amputations and other medical procedures that would result in permanent handicaps. Approximately 30% of the population was infected with malaria, and 5 individuals arrived with cholera.

The local fauna at Lake Turkana includes Nile crocodiles, lions, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, and gazelle. While this area of the lake is low in salinity, the water is relatively stagnant. As a result, the taste, odor, and appearance of the lake water are undesirable, and harmful bacteria are present. Further, this area does not contain a fish population that is adequate for consumption. While the area is not subject to hurricanes, the location is vulnerable to winds of category 2 hurricane force. During the monsoon season, rainfall can average up to 220 mm in a month and up to 14 mm in a day. Outside ambient air temperatures can range from 10⁰C to 26⁰C. The groundwater table is as shallow as 1.5 meters below grade, and the site geology is clay loam with a bearing capacity of 2,000 psf. A site map with the proposed camp layout is included below.

Location II

After 4 years of protracted civil war, the government of Ethiopia and the rebel forces ground themselves into a stalemate, and it remained impossible for the refugees to return to their homes. Unfortunately, the rebels managed to secure international backing from other countries and launched new offenses against the government. This lead to a breakdown of order, and pro- and anti-government forces poured out of the country.

As a result, the Kenyan government declared that they were unable to fully protect refugee camps anymore. Therefore, the NGO running the 250-person camp at Lake Turkana was forced to move them further southeast, away from the Ethiopian border and further away from the fighting. The refugees remained at this new location for another 4 years until the conflict was resolved, and they were able to return to their homes.

The area southeast of Lake Turkana is an arid desert region, and rainfall occurs infrequently. There is no known surface water source, and all water will likely need to be transported to the camp on a continual basis. Outside ambient air temperatures can range from 0⁰C to 38⁰C, and sun exposure can be significant. The area is also vulnerable to sand storms. The groundwater table is 50 meters below grade, and the site geology is sand with a bearing capacity of 3,000 psf. A site map with the proposed camp layout is included below.

During the design week, students were mentored by field experts and professors. On October 1, each team submitted a report and presented their designs to a panel of judges that included refugee camp, public health, and urban design experts from the CDC, U.S. Military, private and non-profit sectors. Each design was ranked, and the winners were chosen based upon many factors including practicality, innovation, and cost-effectiveness. The 1st and 2nd place teams in each case were awarded from a pot of $15,000 in prize money.

Directly following the competition, we were profiled on Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies website, and our efforts were applauded by former UN Ambassador, Congressman, and Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young:

Andrew Parks, former President of Engineers Without Borders Atlanta and current Director of Logistics for PS

We also again appeared on CNN Espanol to discuss the results and to reveal illustrations of the winning designs:

Andrew Parks and Kay Guerrero are interviewed

The Winners

Our winners were:

Shelter Design Case

Moinak Bandyopadhyay (Georgia Tech)

Chandim Chatterjee (Georgia Tech)

Shaleen Jain (Georgia Tech)

Mudit Manu Paliwal (Georgia Tech)

Catherine Wong (Georgia Tech)

Water Treatment and Distribution Design Case

Jasdeep Singh (Georgia Tech)

Jonathan Callura (Georgia Tech)

Jason Leung (Georgia Tech)

Julian Gardener (Georgia State University)

Onika Anglin (Georgia State University)

Sanitation Design Case

Bilal Bari (Georgia Tech)

Ke Du (Georgia Tech)

Kristen King (Georgia Tech)

Joshua Lee (Georgia Tech)

Kate Wharton (Georgia Tech)

Winners of the design competition with CH2M Hill executives and staff

The Designs

Portions of the winning designs in each case (shelter, water, sanitation) are illustrated below. With assistance from the teams, each design was evaluated and finalized by professionals at CH2M Hill, a leading global infrastructure firm.

Shelter
A single shelter can be disassembled and can fit onto a single pallet. The assembled shelter requires a minimum use of tools and may use local material to fill wall components, thereby protecting inhabitants from assault, hurricane force winds, and temperature changes.

Water Treatment and Distribution
Equipped with a unique queueing system (designed by a GA Tech Industrial and Systems Engineering major on the team) that minimizes waste and maximizes the efficiency and speed at which the population collects water within the 1-2 hour time frame.

Sanitation
A composting latrine that separates urine from fecal matter.

Preliminary Testing

In December 2011, we met with Fiberweb, the makers of Defencell, which is a product designed to protect people in conflict areas. Collapsible, lightweight, robust, and with a 10-15 year lifespan, the woven cells are ideal for our shelter walls. During this time, we traveled to Nashville, TN to test the material.

Gaining UN ECOSOC Status

On January 30, 2012, we traveled to the UN in New York City to attempt to gain Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Greg Hodgin, Rachel Lewis, and Andrew Parks at UN Headquarters in NYC

ECOSOC is responsible for international economic, social, cultural, educational, and health matters. It is the main hub for which non-government organizations (NGOs) gain access to the UN system in conjunction with networking with one another. Essentially, all organizations must go through this process if they hope to become qualified to bid on UN contracts. This is no easy task, and organizations must convince ECOSOC of their merit in order to gain approval. We met with the Council to ensure that any questions were answered, and that PS' application was approved.

The Committee, made up of many nations, deliberates on accepting PS for ECOSOC status.

Following deliberations, PS' application was approved on February 1 by the Committee on NGOs. This determination will be forwarded to ECOSOC, and ECOSOC will officially approve our Consultative Status in July. PS will travel to the UN in Geneva as part of this process. After this, PS will be allowed to bid on UN contracts specific to our short-term mission; construction and management of refugee camps.

Why has PS gone through this process? Given that our full mission revolves around the long-term goal of engaging in robust and effective peacebuilding, it only makes sense that PS is able to interface with other like-minded NGOs and experts in the field. The most logical place to start, therefore, has always been the UN. With Consultative Status, PS has been given the authority to attend any UN conference dealing with ECOSOC matters around the globe.

Greg Hodgin, Rachel Lewis, and Andrew Parks in front of the UN's "Twisted Gun", a symbol of peacekeeping.

Next Steps

It would be foolish for us to go into the field without first testing our design and management methods. Therefore, we are now focused on constructing a test version of the winning camp designs as one comprehensive 250-person, 50 shelter refugee camp. The camp will be constructed in rural Georgia to mimic Site I of the case competition, populated with students and volunteers for 1 week, and analyzed for potential improvements. The camp will then be disassembled and moved to Arizona to mimic Site II, and the process will be repeated. In June 2012, we will present our results to the UN in Geneva and to the Rio+20 UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro. This will begin our process of bidding on UN contracts to deploy the design in a true crisis scenario.

Stay tuned for updates!

Refugee Camps

Saving Lives: Follow Our Journey