RAND Europe, with Athena Infonomics and glass.ai, conducted a study that characterised the current landscape of technology use in the sector and explored potential development pathways out to 2030, as well as associated risks and opportunities. The study developed five deep dives of promising technology areas, three foresight concepts and a four-step guidance framework to ensure the suitable deployment of technologies in humanitarian contexts.

Opportunities for supporting humanitarians

Technology guidance

Pauline Paillé, James Besse, Hampton Toole, Chryssa Politi, Shruti Viswanathan, Eunice Namirembe, Jyoti Nayak, Jacob Ohrvik-Stott

ResearchPublished Oct 17, 2024

In an international context where simultaneous crises arise, due to conflicts, fragility or climate change, humanitarian needs continue to increase rapidly. In the meantime, resources remain limited, therefore, the pressure on the humanitarian sector is expected to continue to rise over the coming years.

To help address this challenge, ongoing efforts have been initiated to increase efficiency and shift towards the adoption of a forward-thinking standpoint within the humanitarian sector.

In this context, RAND Europe, in partnership with Athena Infonomics and glass.ai, conducted a study exploring the adoption and use of emerging technologies (excluding AI solutions) and to explore opportunities for future responsible adoption of technologies. The research was funded by the United Kingdom Humanitarian Innovation Hub (UKHIH) as part of their Foresight Initiative.

As humanitarians seek to integrate emerging technologies in their day-to-day activities, there are various steps that can be undertaken to determine whether there is a need to accompany the deployment of technologies with practical recommendations and guidance. This document presents a step-by-step approach for stakeholders in the humanitarian sector when looking to adopt emerging technologies, with several issues and factors to be considered at each step.

Key Findings

  • Technological solutions, as well as non-technological solutions, can be considered when seeking to address humanitarian challenges. Specific emerging technologies and their deployment may require tailored guidance or support for its end users as well as humanitarian practitioners. The proposed step-by-step approach can be adapted to specific requirements.
  • Project activities have highlighted the importance of wider considerations when looking to integrate emerging technologies in humanitarian activities, including the involvement or inclusion of local communities or affected populations, continuous engagement with end-users and local stakeholders, communication mechanisms both internal and external facing or potential trade-offs between humanitarian principles, and programme decisions.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

RAND Style Manual

Paillé, Pauline, James Besse, Hampton Toole, Chryssa Politi, Shruti Viswanathan, Eunice Namirembe, Jyoti Nayak, and Jacob Ohrvik-Stott, Opportunities for supporting humanitarians: Technology guidance, RAND Corporation, RR-A3192-3, 2024. As of May 1, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3192-3.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Paillé, Pauline, James Besse, Hampton Toole, Chryssa Politi, Shruti Viswanathan, Eunice Namirembe, Jyoti Nayak, and Jacob Ohrvik-Stott, Opportunities for supporting humanitarians: Technology guidance. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3192-3.html.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

This project was commissioned by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub (UKHIH) and funded by UK International Development. The research was conducted RAND Europe.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. All users of the publication are permitted to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and transform and build upon the material, including for any purpose (including commercial) without further permission or fees being required.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.