Humanitarian Designers’ community met at IdeaSquare to reflect, share and gather better practices
Nearly fifty participants of Humanitarian Designers community and beyond, came together from all around the world for a three-day meetup lab at IdeaSquare in September.
Humanitarian Designers is a French NGO dedicated to building bridges between aid workers and designers. The goal of this meetup lab was to explore practices, skills, disciplines and principles that come into play when dealing with humanitarian contexts and how design practices and skills might be interconnected. Bringing diverse backgrounds and experiences, the participants were united by a common purpose: to discuss, reflect, and connect different approaches to humanitarian design in response to global crises. The event was marked by dynamic discussions, reflections and a deep feeling of support and belonging.
The workshop kicked off with a warm welcome and introductory session, setting the stage for an interactive experience. Participants were quickly immersed in discussions that tackled critical questions about the potential downsides of humanitarian aid, examining how design practices can sometimes have unintended negative impacts. These conversations were crucial in highlighting the complexity of humanitarian work and the need for thoughtful, well-rounded contributions.
As the days progressed, participants shifted from identifying challenges to mapping out best practices for humanitarian design. Using real-life scenarios, they explored how to address crises from multiple perspectives, ensuring a holistic approach. The focus reflected the deep commitment to understanding the nuances of humanitarian interventions, and how design principles can play a transformative role.
Catarina Batista, co-founder, part of the core team of Humanitarian Designers since 2021 and involved in the development activities of the NGO, as well as educational programmes co-coordinator At IdeaSquare. Catarina’s main contribution/focus is on Education and Research, one of the pillars of the NGO, largely due to her experience in multidisciplinary and multicultural educational programmes.
“Our intention with this Meetup Lab was to create a space for dialogue, sharing of experiences and connecting the community, so IdeaSquare seemed like the best place to gather such a diverse and unique community and to experiment with such an event. The focus was not into jumping into new solutions, but rather give space to listen, learn and reflect on our own roles and practices. The energy, kindness and honest human connections that filled the space were fantastic and gave us momentum to continue with our activities in the future.”
Participants were also guided to some CERN experiments, where they could see the powerful intersection of science, technology, and innovation. This experience provided inspiration for the humanitarian designers to think outside the box, blending creative and scientific approaches to problem-solving, and scaling up their solutions to different orders of magnitude. The visit reinforced the idea that collaboration across disciplines can open up new possibilities for addressing humanitarian needs.
On the final day, the participants turned their insights into action, working in groups to co-design future strategies for humanitarian design. The workshop concluded with participants having formed strong connections across different fields. With the momentum built during this workshop, the future of humanitarian design holds exciting potential.
