Lamya holds a Masters in Environmental Studies and has a Graduate Diploma in Refugee Studies. She used her time as a graduate student to return to refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon to conduct a Community Health Assessment. Initially she was seeking a theoretical approach to pose solutions to the deteriorating health standard amongst refugee communities. She soon realized the solution lies within grass-root social enterprises. Her holistic understanding of development ( in particular in the context of displacement)  has encouraged her to launch her own organization and she is currently detailing her projects that have come directly out of her field research. In building projects that reflect the needs of Palestinians she hopes to also accommodate their larger socio-political struggles for self-determination. In particular, she is exploring concepts that are not donor-aid reliant and are unique in their ability to respond to the needs of local communities. She is interested in researching and working on environmentally friendly approaches that reflect a growing movement in Palestinian communities to endorse “green” projects.

1] Tell us about your background – what made­ you want to do what you are doing currently?

Many things continue to shape both my academic and personal interests in exploring sustainable development projects in displaced communities. Initially I was inspired through solidarity work with Palestinians that led me to travel and volunteer in Palestinian refugee camps across the West Bank in 2007. As a volunteer I was involved in the traditional format of local organizing and community work. However I realized that there were serious gaps in the manner in which the civil society was organized. I was curious to map out the fragmentation in social services like health care and education while being conscious of the larger socio-political narratives of the Israeli occupation.

I returned to the camps shortly after to conduct field research, a component of my graduate studies. I was trying to understand the local infrastructure that contributes to the status and livelihood of refugees, in particular the status of health of Palestinian refugees. In conducting a Community Health Assessment I was able to compile raw data that shaped a holistic understanding of the issues on the ground. Currently, I am working on concepts that were developed in the field to help respond to the current needs of local communities—refugees in particular. I am working with communities on the ground on creating projects that are unique in their approach towards notions of ‘sustainability’ and  ‘development’. I am very conscious of the larger political realities of Palestinians living under occupation and their hesitancy in engaging with projects that are reliant on donor-aid. My motivations lie within my commitment to the solidarity movement for Palestinian rights and simultaneously in providing agency for local communities to develop projects that are unique and creative. In particular, I see opportunities to challenge the larger infrastructure of NGOs that came out of the Oslo process. I feel that there is much potential in building at the grassroots level than complying with a framework that is actively constructed through the power agents that are investing in the occupation of Palestine.

2] What are the particular struggles of working with Palestinian refugees on the ground. Elaborate in both contexts : Lebanon and the West Bank?

Many that are engaged with the Palestinian solidarity network—whether as artists, activists, academics—will express their grievances in working in a space that is occupied. However in my experiences, I was working in spaces that were both: occupied and displaced.

In the context of the West Bank , there is of course the struggles of navigating through the military-settler occupation of Palestinian lands. One is constantly discouraged, detained and denied entry through a repressive-selective process that maintains hegemonic control of Palestinian civil society. The occupation restricts researchers, like myself, from entry or by allocating limited access to the field. This creates an ad-hoc structure via which one is limited with access to their field. The occupation is also the core of why the local Palestinian economy is curbed on a daily basis. The occupation fundamentally cuts Palestinians from 60 per cent of the land in the West Bank and public resources. This means restriction on goods and people from within and outside of the territories. To further exacerbate the situation, the Oslo process helped merge security and aid via creating a larger framework to fund local agencies. This donor-reliant structure has helped in the “NGO-nization” of the West Bank making Palestinians both occupied and dependent. It also creates a space where when negotiations go south, so does the will of the donors to fund local agencies. This is not unique in the manner in which international agencies protect their interest in spaces of conflict, however in the context of Palestine it has worked effectively in maintaining the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and more recently the illegal siege on Gaza.

These structures create strategic barriers for people on the ground to build their local economy or engage with projects that are grass-roots/independent. It is also much more complex when working with refugee communities—especially those displaced in Lebanon. Having been displaced and made refugee for over six decades, Palestinians in Lebanon have been warehoused in identified refugee camps. With no legal status, Palestinians continue to (in)exist without access to local capacities of health care, education etc. They are entirely reliant on services provided by UN agencies that barely meet the basic necessities on the ground. Living under a hostile host state that does not recognize them and denies them basic rights including : health care ; Palestinians have much struggles to overcome to improve their current livelihoods.

In Lebanon, there exists a constant battle between settlement and return. While much hope of “returning” to homeland is almost a romanticized narrative, Palestinians are also aware of the lack of political regional will to accommodate them incase a settlement is reached where their status as refugees is negotiated. The struggles in working in such a dynamic are much deeper given the uncertainty and yet the recognition that refugee communities in Lebanon are: a) struggling for their political rights (including the right of return stipulated in UN Resolution 194) and b) socio-economic rights in their current space (Lebanon) where they continue to exist without access to opportunities like employment, education, health care etc.

3] What are you currently working on, and what excites you most about what you do?

Building on my fieldwork experience I am currently putting together proposals that reflect my findings in the field. I am merging the needs of the local communities with their larger socio-political aspirations to create projects that will help build local capacity and livelihood. One of the main concepts that was developed in the field includes: roof-top gardens. This was initially inspired in the field and then further developed through the exploration of social enterprises and the role they can play in empowering communities. I am excited about this particular initiative, as it is multi-dimensional in the way it responds to the local conditions of Palestinians—in particular Palestinian refugees. Palestinians have a strong connection to their land and the historical displacement/dispossession from their land has deeply disturbed this relationship. The concept of setting up roof-top gardens in spaces like refugee camps is both efficient and nostalgic for displaced communities. However there are other incentives in setting up roof-top gardens in spaces like refugee camps and in urban spaces in the West Bank. In particular, such an initiative fosters the growth of local organic produce hence in harmony to the South African inspired Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) call from 2005. This allows Palestinians to actively participate in the BDS call while building local capacity and sustainable livelihood. It also adds to the overall environment of their spaces and fosters a larger developing green movement in the region.

I am mostly excited about the many opportunities that exist in the way in which Palestinians can divest from the current structure of dependency on international donor agencies and organize through projects that reflect the needs of the local community. More importantly in engaging in projects that can also shape their political rights through advocacy of BDS locally and internationally. I feel that while there is a mistrust of “development” tools , there are opportunities to use such tools effectively to empower communities while simultaneously building livelihoods.

4] What incredible stories of innovation have you come across in the area you work in?

There are many innovative projects that are taking shape in the context of the MENA region, local communities are no longer reliant on international agents to help build concepts locally. One such example is of MENA Geothermal a start-up based in Ramallah that is bringing geothermal energy to the region. This creative form of thinking around development issues is inspirational and effective given the energy consumption in the Middle East. Thinking ahead, what MENA Geothermal has done is create an opportunity to build a consciousness much needed around energy consumption. It is also offering affordable green and clean energy options via the creation of an enterprise that is quickly becoming the regions largest provider of geothermal technology. This creates an advantage for both local communities in the West Bank but largely in the region which needs to start investing in ‘green’ alternatives at large.

In my own experiences I am impressed with the way Palestinians are starting to organize around their local needs. A community under occupation-siege has little opportunities given the physical barriers that continue to isolate them. Nonetheless, Palestinians are building at the local level they are using social media tools , training within community centers and inviting researchers like myself to help develop their pilot projects. I am also intrigued with local capacities that are inviting “green” initiatives, a population occupied has much consciousness of their land, water and air. Palestinians truly have a remarkable spiritual connection with their soil and they are looking to protect it from occupation-violence but also from environmental erosion.

5] In light of this, what motivates you to keep you going? 

I am majorly motivated through the experience of living and working in refugee camps across the West Bank and Lebanon. The resilience of the Palestinian people is incredibly inspiring. I think about all the women I interviewed through the process of field research, their strength and courage to continue to exist. The kind of solidarity that is present at the ground level is motivating, local communities are organizing everyday creating unique projects to relieve the living conditions on the ground. Women are major part of that, running local community centers using enterprise models engaging in start-ups with initial basic funding packages. I feel connected to these communities given their desire to explore and create from the ground-up while keeping in mind the larger socio-political rights of Palestinians and refugees in specific.

It is also motivating to see Palestinians interest in not remaining “dependent”, as a community they are truly seeking to emancipate themselves at all levels. I often recall the many conversations I had with refugees, in particular women, and their desire to live in freedom. One woman I recall in particular had a vision of inspiring local initiatives of roof-top gardens in urban and refugee camps. She understands the importance of organic food but also feels passionate about breaking the vicious cycle of being occupied and then being dependent on the occupier for survival. It is the story of many refugees, disconnected from their land, that motivates me to engage with them more intimately.

6] Anything else you may want to add?

I am truly excited to be launching my projects shortly via my start-up—Refutrees. We will soon have an online presence and will launch an aggressive fundraising campaign to explore key pilot projects. I believe that there is a will at the ground level to welcome initiatives that are refreshing, green, and more importantly sensitive to their socio-political rights. I sincerely believe that in the process of advocating for Palestinian rights for self-determination there is a role for researchers-development theorists whereby inspiring projects that are sincere in aiding and building local frameworks. Many opportunities exist in truly committing to development in a non-traditional format that curbs local capacity. I am both optimistic and excited to see my research materialize in this form and I am seeking to connect with like-minded individuals that are working at the grass-roots level.

Thanks Lamya, for these brilliant insights!  Follow her on twitter: @ilamzzone

The team at ufahari will do their best to feature an interview at least once every month, on a friday. this is the first of, hopefully, many.

We featured Kenyan-based Kyoto Energy earlier on this site, and we’re glad to showcase  this brilliant emergency solar cooker from design student Cheng-Tsung Feng.

Cheng-Tsung Feng’s Solar Cooker is a portable and easy-to-use cooker. It can be set up quickly at any location including refugee camps to heat up water or bake foods. The creator has planned the solar-powered cooker for emergency situations. With two pots can be placed on the solar cooker at a time, it can accommodate several people, at least in a sunny day.

The Solar Cooker utilizes the solar heat directly to cook foods. It is not a method of gathering solar energy and using any electronic cooker to fire up. Cheng-Tsung has developed the cooker, which looks like a satellite antenna that can harness heat and light from the sun to bake foods in a matter of minutes.

The National Taiwan University of Science & Technology researcher has specially designed the solar cooker to address emergency situations. Since the cooker is portable and user-friendly, it will widely help victims of a disaster. The cooker can be set up in refugee camps to prepare foods right away. It can be assembled quite easily and its operation is also simple.

The Solar Cooker’s mirror metal paraboloid modulates sunlight and heat coming down vertically to the focus. The pots, which are specially set up on the focus, absorb solar power to heat up the foods inside them. Solar energy is the most abundant power available across the world. Hence, the Solar Cooker is a great invention since thousands of people can get its support especially in time of emergencies. Check out the video below to know more of the Solar Cooker.

[ᔥ EcoFriend]

This beautiful recycled shipping container by Tsai Design Studio in South Africa was crafted for underprivileged children living just outside of Cape Town – the 2014 design capital of the world. At just 12 square meters, the colorful classroom provides learning space for 25 5-6 year olds in Grade R, and it turns into a library for the entire Vissershok primary school in the afternoons. Equipped with a stepped gathering area and a fun jungle gym, the school is also growing a vertical garden that enhances the air quality and provides shelter from prevailing southeasterly winds.

↬Inhabitat

An on-going training session for Pesinet [photo courtesy Pesinet]

Mali has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. There are roughly 111 deaths for every 1000 live births in the country and the under-5 mortality rate is 191 out of every 1000 children. The need for early detection of diseases and stronger local health structures led to the creation of Pesinet, a non-profit that uses mobile technology to provide regular health checkups and affordable health insurance for young children in Mali’s capital, Bamako.

Roughly 600 children are currently enrolled in the program in the neighborhood of Bamako Coura, under the care of four Pesinet agents (each covering around 150 children). Pesinet combines bothearly warning systems and insurance. Families pay 500 CF a month for each enrolled child; the payments cover doctor examinations and half the cost of any medications the child needs if he or she gets sick.

Enrolled children are tested weekly for symptoms of illness such as fever, cough, diarrhea, low weight, or vomiting by community health workers who enter data from each visit into a custom-designed Java application on their phone.  The data is sent via GPRS to an online database. Doctors at local community health centers monitor the patient data for sudden changes in health. If changes occur, the community health workers receive an alert on their phones and then go back, in turn, to alert the family that the doctor needs to give the child a checkup.

Pesinet’s Lucie de Clerk recently contributed to an ICT4CHW (ICT for Community Health Workers) discussion. She writes, ”The ICT system we use has been fully designed by us. It enables remote follow-up of children, keeping of medical records, and production of activity reports and health statistics. It is thus used for medical as well as management purposes.”

De Clerck estimates that it takes the community health workers about ten minutes to complete each child’s check-up and record the data. Only children that need immediate attention are contacted after the data is reviewed by the health center doctors, so the field workers only have to take action if something is wrong.

The organization is working to become self-sustaining through enrollments but is currently still partially dependent on funds raised outside of the insurance program. De Clerck writes “Our first aim was to achieve local operational self-financing, i.e monthly subscription fees covering the running costs of the service. Experience shows that we are able to achieve 50%, while the other 50% are currently covered by the funds we raise. We have yet to find a sustainable economic model.”

De Clerck says that the community health workers adopted the technology quickly; she attributes the rapid pickup to a simple design and the relatively small amount of data collected. However, the organization has faced network connectivity issues which has resulted in the fieldworkers keeping separate, paper-based records and limiting the real-time usefulness of the program. This would also limit the use of Pesinet in more rural areas where network connectivity is weaker and Internet connections less reliable than in the capital (as the doctors at health centers need Internet access to view the data from the field workers). The organization is currently working on new specifications for its technology so that the application will be less reliant on mobile and web connectivity.

Another challenge was creating demand among beneficiaries, as insurance and preventative medicine are not very prevalent in Mali. So Pesinet and the field workers have to promote the idea of paying for non-sick children as a precaution against future illnesses. However, among the families of the 600 children who have been enrolled since the program launched, satisfaction rates are high.

A survey of participating families found that the service has been well received by beneficiaries so far; 94% reported satisfaction with Pesinet, 97% of participating families called the service “very affordable”, and participating health centers have seen a 37% increase in visits through Pesinet subscribers.

For an in-depth look at Pesinet, check out Mobile Active’s case study on the project, or listen to Pesinet co-founder Anne Roos-Weil describe the project in this video from the MobileActive Mobiles for Women Tech Salon.

[via Mobile Active]

According to Gerry van den Houten, Technical Director at SABMiller, cassava is the biggest but least commercialized crop in Africa. The beer manufacturer has identified this as an opportunity to support farmers and localize supply chains by producing a lager made from the root vegetable, called Impala.

Cassava has been popular among home-brewers across Zimbabwe and Mozambique for generations, due to its plentiful supply and drought-resistant nature. However home brewed beers often come with dangerous health risks, and governments are not able to collect tax from sales. SABMiller aim to market Impala as a safe alternative to the home brewed variety, at 75 percent of the cost of other lagers, to attract the market that might usually home brew. They will source raw materials in Africa, from both commercial farmers and smallholders — the brewer will deal directly with the commercial farmers, who are responsible for the development of around 1,500 smallhold farmers. SABMiller claim it will use around 40,000 tonnes of raw cassava a year to produce the beer, and expect it to contribute to 10 percent of their annual sales in Mozambique over the next three years. A test batch of 150,000 litres has already been sold, and they plan to expand Impala to South Sudan next year.

[via Springwise]

Afghanistan based mobile network, Roshan has expanded its mobile banking service, M-Paisa so that members of the Eastern Region Fruit Growers Association (EFGA) can repay loans to the Agricultural Development Fund (ADF).

The ADF is a program launched by the Ministry of Agriculture aimed at proving Afghan farmers with access to credit. The ADF was initially established with a US$100 million grant provided by the United States Agency for International Development, and is expected to grow further with contributions from other donors, as well as the Government of Afghanistan itself.

One of the factors constraining loan payments is the distance between rural households and financial institutions; currently, farmers travel long distances to make payments in person. To bridge this distance, approximately 500 farmers, as part of a pilot program, in Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar, will use M-paisa to make loan repayments, on their mobile phone.

“This partnership with M-Paisa constitutes a unique opportunity to use a technological innovation to facilitate loan repayments by shortening the distance between farmers and financial institutions, reducing their security risk and helps them save time” says Mr. Juan Estrada, Chief of Party of the Agricultural Credit Enhancement (ACE) Program, currently managing the ADF.

Users begin by registering for free on OliveTrips with a Gmail address and mobile phone number. They then register their car, bike or other vehicle, including seating capacity, fuel type and mileage. They can also choose to include expiry dates for their insurance and pollution-under-control (PUC) documents. Next, users can post details of the trips they hope to take, including specifying whether they prefer male or female co-riders, or any other requirements. Once that’s done, OliveTrips can be used to search for other posted trips that match the user’s requirements. When one looks promising, users can express interest, prompting OliveTrips to send an email and SMS to enable direct communication between those involved.

Perhaps even more interesting, however, is that OliveTrips periodically sends users a customized EcoReport depicting the environmental benefits, financial savings, and fuel savings they’ve made from using the service. Such reports are sent quarterly for most, but can be sent monthly for the site’s heaviest users. OliveTrips also offers the option of renewing users’ insurance and PUC documents for them.

Ride-sharing sites are no longer uncommon, so it makes perfect sense to see new competitors expanding the services they offer, particularly in such a way as to emphasize the benefits of what they do.

[via Springwise]

This sort of service is very attractive to clients who would want to show what kind of effect their transport usage has on the environment, and with the sort of detailed reports that OliveTrips does, this is all possible.

Pay as you go is a common way of paying for calls on your cellphone. Now the idea could help make solar power a more realistic option for families in Kenya and other African countries.

The system, called IndiGo, consists of a low-cost flexible plastic 2.5W solar panel that charges a battery. This is connected to a USB mobile phone charger and an LED lamp that provides around 5 hours of light from one day’s charge.

Developed by solar energy firm Eight19, based in Cambridge, UK, IndiGo costs $1 a week to run, though the unit itself must be leased for an initial $10 fee. Users add credit by buying a scratchcard that they validate by sending a text message from their phone.

IndiGo is being trialled in Kenya and will be tested in other countries in the next few months. Eight19 hopes the device will go on sale early next year. The company also plans to offer higher-power systems as demand for solar energy increases, such as a 50W system that could power a small TV.

Many rural areas of countries such as Kenya are not connected to the electricity grid, so people light their homes using kerosene lamps. As well as being relatively expensive, these create smoke pollution and carbon emissions. Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Eight19, says the high cost of fuel locks people into a cycle of poverty. “They’re paying disproportionately large amounts for their energy,” he says – typically $2 or £3 a week.

Bransfield-Garth says the benefits of his firm’s solar power system aren’t just economic – it will improve access to power too. People in rural Kenya currently pay around $0.20 to charge their phone, and many also have to travel to a charger. One man in the trial used to make a 2-hour round-trip each week and wait another 2 hours to actually charge his phone. He can now do it at home.

“There’s no doubt it’s a great development,” says Sabah Abdullah , who researches sustainable energy development in developing countries at the University of Bath, UK. But she warns that the system could be hard for people with low literacy levels to use and that relying on a mobile phone for payment could marginalise those who can’t afford such devices. “These are the people who really need a step up in terms of electrification.”

[via Jacob Aaron]

“See Better to Learn Better” is a free eyeglasses program in partnership with the Mexican government and Augen Optics. The collaboration between the non-profit and Yves Béhar/fuseproject has lead to Collección Escolar 2010. A collection of customizable and iconic corrective eyewear that is specifically designed for students, ages 6-18 years old.

Similar to the OLPC philosophy, we wanted to design products that are suited to the children’s specific needs, life and environment. The children receiving these glasses need frames that are durable, ergonomic and have key customization elements like shape and color that make wearing the glasses fun and personal.

Currently, the percentage of children in need of lenses at or above .75 correction, and can be as high as 60-70% in some schools in states like Morelos, Sonora and Chiapas. The average classroom need percentage is 11%. Additionally, the wearing of glasses is looked at as a handicap, this social stigma adds to the resistance to correct the problem.

To solve all of these challenges, we designed two part frames that are fully customizable with top and bottom colors that can be mixed and matched to fit all children’s personal choices. The innovative interchangeable nose pads let children with more petite noses wear the glasses comfortably. Through the use of the two part construction, 7 colors, 5 shapes and 3 sizes, these glasses can be swapped and adjusted in the field in order to update prescriptions.

At every school, we encourage students to create their very own pair of glasses with their favorite styles, size and color combinations. All this can be done through the special options catalogue, a fun and interactive way for kids to first encounter and chose their glasses.

The glasses are designed to be worn beyond the classrooms utilizing materials, advanced Gilamid plastic, with its hyper-flexible property, making them practically indestructible. Some fun in the soccer field? no problem.

The aim of “See Better to Learn Better” is to provide a solution to children in families that cannot afford the high cost of an eye exam and eyewear. The program gives a free eye exam administered in schools and students pick their own frames. The prescription and desired frames are produced locally by Augen, a Mexican company, and then delivered to the schools.

With Collección Escolar 2010, each pair is designed for students and created by students.