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At the occasion of Humanitarian Day this month, we spoke to Ilya Shapira co-founder and CEO at Emnotion. Emnotion develops climate forecasting solutions for urban and rural areas using a methodology based on ML and Big Data. The company's solutions are designed to enable the creation of accurate behaviour models, climate change dynamics, forecasting, and event scenarios for specific districts, towns, farms, and regions, taking into account the climate and other factors. What is Emnotion's story? We take weather personally! Prior to establishing Emnotion, we were supplying smart agriculture solutions in Georgia. We realised that agriculture was highly influenced by weather and there were no tools to predict it. This is why in 2016, we decided to establish Emnotion in order to solve this problem. Tell us about the technology! For two years, we have learned about the behaviour of microclimate conditions in Georgia. We established 20 weather stations in Georgia's urban and rural areas and we interviewed hundreds of farmers, using our accumulated knowledge based on serving as climate and water advisers for UNDP in developing countries. We have developed a solution based on Big Data analysis, NLP and multilevel clustering analysis (GIS) - all in house development. The climate data is supplied bу IBM Weather, but сап bе supplied also bу any other reliable source. It is an automated forecasting. The combination of static mapping and dynamic weather data (after our deep processing) enables us to monitor and forecast weather conditions from short to medium range and foresee climate dynamics in long range globally. We establish tailored event forecasting scenarios for real demands of specific users for his specific location and analyse possible risks for specific locations and specific farmer use cases. Why are you interested in the humanitarian market and how do you think your technology will improve humanitarian actions? With climate change severing, we are going to witness more and more extreme weather events, causing damage and havoc. The ability to predict precisely those events will help make better plans, prioritise risks, reduce suffering and save billions of dollars fixing the damage afterwards. Your tip for other entrepreneurs: Amid COVID-19 and climate change reality, we see that more and more businesses need to transform. Build your business as flexible as possible. Thank you Ilya for this inspiring story. We wish you good luck in accomplishing your mission.

On August 19th, we celebrate the 17th World Humanitarian Day. Each year, World Humanitarian Day focuses on a theme, bringing together partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being, and dignity of people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers. This year, considering that the work carried out by humanitarians has been made even more challenging by the COVID-19 pandemic, UN OCHA decided to feature the stories of humanitarian workers. Have a look at the campaign #RealLifeHeroes, focusing on what drives humanitarians to continue to save and protect lives despite conflict, insecurity, lack of access, and risks linked to COVID-19. The World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity for us to look back at the development of the humanitarian innovation ecosystem, making sure that the basics are set. How technology can help the global humanitarian crisis? What is humanitarian innovation and how can entrepreneurs enter that field? In this blog, we are featuring humanitarian innovation’s definition and potential impact as well the Pears Program’s activities related to this growing field. What is humanitarian innovation? Today’s emergencies are more protracted and complex than ever before. Over the past 10 years, the number of people affected by humanitarian crises has almost doubled, and the cost of international humanitarian aid has more than tripled. 79.5 million people are compelled to live away from home this year, according to the UNHCR report published to mark World Refugee Day in June 2020. There is a need to adapt to the current realities, join forces to address these global challenges and maintain human dignity. There is a need to find faster, cheaper, more effective, and more sustainable ways to reduce global risks and work with individuals and communities affected by crisis and displacement, and eventually increase the resilience of the communities. Humanitarian innovation is “an iterative process that identifies, adjusts and diffuses ideas for improving humanitarian action.” The Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) explains that, “in contrast to standard programming, innovation is a process of creative problem-solving that seeks to generate new and improved ways of operating and to contribute to lasting positive change in how assistance is delivered and how communities can become more resilient.” According to OCHA, a humanitarian innovation isn’t necessarily a new invention. It could simply be an existing product, process, model, or technology that is adapted to new realities. As an example, Everest is a decentralized platform incorporating a payment solution with a multi-currency wallet and a native biometric identity system. The startup uses blockchain technology to help establish a legitimate identity and create a digital wallet, or more understandably, kind of like a digital bank account. Everest’s technology can thus be used as a means to verify identity, prevent human trafficking, store medical records, store vouchers that serve to provide food and keep refugees in contact with other family members. The ID authentication is a massive problem in humanitarian context, as highlighted by the World Bank’s Mission Billion Challenge. To know more, read about inspiring initiatives of humanitarian innovation on our World Refugee Day blog. How can interested entrepreneurs enter this market and what is the Pears Program doing to support humanitarian innovation? We can identify two ways in order to enter the humanitarian market: Develop a new technology according the needs in humanitarian settings and the NGO organisational processes Pivot and adapt existing technologies to address humanitarian needs Pears Program for Global Innovation has been operating for the last twelve years and its mission is to build bridges between the Israeli innovation ecosystem and the developing world in order to increase the relevance, professionalism, and impact of Israel’s contribution to innovation for development. We have been operating in the two directions with a few programs in order to encourage entrepreneurs and startups to engage in humanitarian innovation. Indeed, the Pears Challenge 2019, our venture builder program, was focused on WASH in humanitarian settings. A group of 25 entrepreneurs, selected over 300 applications, have brainstormed and worked for 4 months to develop new solutions addressing water or sanitation needs in humanitarian settings. Read more about the six promising ventures that came out from the challenge. Pears Challenge 2019 participants during the validation trip in Uganda, in November 2019. From left to right: visit to MIT-Lab, visit to UNHCR, village Central Uganda. Additionally, in 2020, we have launched a program enabling existing technologies to be field-tested in humanitarian settings: the Pears Program - IsraAID Pilot Fund. We have selected seven technologies addressing WASH and education challenges, identified by IsraAID field representatives. The program was created to improve WASH and Education conditions for communities affected by humanitarian crisis through field testing Israeli technologies, toward their long-term, sustainable deployment. On top of it, the program is designed to tune technological development to the specific needs of humanitarian contexts and introduce it in an ethical, impactful, and locally-driven manner. A pilot is a necessary prerequisite for commercialization. What does our partner IsraAID say about humanitarian innovation? Naama Gorodischer, Senior Director of programs at IsraAID says: “In the humanitarian field, communities are constantly faced with new challenges, varying needs and different types of emergencies. Remaining flexible and innovative is key to completing our tasks. Innovation can come in the form of technology, adaptation of existing practices, or challenging perceptions of what is possible. This is complemented by appropriate adaptive technologies that make our responses more precise, adaptive and relevant. Now, more than ever, we must include communities in addressing those challenges, in finding the most appropriate solution and the most relevant technology to remain flexible and agile. No emergency looks like another, and neither should our responses. IsraAID is committed to working with communities and technologies to create the best plans to overcome the crisis.” IsraAID's innovation activities: Left: Mathika, edTech platform teaching mathematics non-language based, is currently field-tested in Lesvos Regufee camp in Greece. Right: NUF technology in IsraAID's emergency actions. What are the challenges of humanitarian innovation? Developing effective, sustainable and financially-viable “humanitarian innovation” is challenging. Therefore a few institutions are existing in order to help and guide entrepreneurs who would be interested in entering this market. Here are a few challenges to have in mind: There is often a “clash of mindsets” between the entrepreneurs and the humanitarian world. Both parties need to adjust their approach of innovation, their vocabulary and their implementation processes in order to make a successful partnership. However, more and more agencies tend to develop the required resources to manage innovation, such as UNICEF Innovation or World Food Programme accelerator. The customers in the humanitarian market are often not the end users themselves, but donors and humanitarian organisations. Whereas it is a B2NGO model, the technologies need to address the needs of the communities. Therefore it is important to connect the 3 groups of actors involved: the entrepreneurs, the practitioners/ donors and the beneficiaries (end users). Without such a strong connection, the technology may not create the expected impact, may entirely miss the scaling opportunity and even create harm for end users. There is a key difference between innovation as an output and innovation as an activity. The humanitarian system has the ability to produce innovations, but struggles to take good ideas to scale quickly. Some tips, as a starter: Read more about humanitarian innovation (ELHRA): The Humanitarian Innovation guide by Humanitarian Innovation fund: The Humanitarian Innovation Fund supports organizations and individuals to identify, nurture and share innovative and scalable solutions to the challenges facing effective humanitarian assistance, available Have a look at Response Innovation Lab Tool Kit: Response Innovation Lab (RIL) aims to complement the traditional humanitarian system by strengthening connections between response implementers and the holders of innovative solutions to their challenges. Check out the funding opportunities available and the pilot opportunities - Subscribe to Pears Program newsletter here in which we publish every month the open calls for proposals! The humanitarian market has a huge potential in terms of impact and financial return. However, the humanitarian settings are a complex environment and the challenges to enter this market can dissuade the entrepreneurs from exploring its full potential. Additionally, we believe that Israel’s innovation ecosystem can contribute to the development of the market and that way improve the humanitarian response globally. Therefore, at the Pears Program, we are dedicated to working with both Israeli entrepreneurs and humanitarian practitioners, guiding them for mutual understanding and constructive cooperation and removing barriers to unleash humanitarian innovation impact. Anyone interested in hearing more about the potential of the humanitarian market, wanting to pivot or adapt its technology, feel free to contact us!

This month, we spoke to Yau Ben Or co-founder and managing director at Rural Senses. Tell us about Rural Senses! Rural Senses is all about putting people at the centre of decision-making. We are passionate about helping development and humanitarian practitioners take data-driven decisions based on what communities really care about. We use AI and empower local data collectors to shorten the time it takes to access quality data from months to days. Rural Senses was part of the Pears Challenge 2019 on WASH in Humanitarian Settings and also joined the Microsoft for Startups - Tech for Good “AI for Good” Accelerator program in 2020. Born out of frustration Our story starts in 2010, when Stephanie Hirmer, Rural Senses’ co-founder, worked with one of the largest international development agencies. Stephanie was frustrated to see many expensive projects fail due to their low uptake. While Stephanie and her colleagues worked really hard “by the book” and many projects were registered as “successfully implemented”, she saw long-term impact was often limited. At the same time, she realized that truly understanding rural communities’ needs and measuring long term impact would take too much time and money. And therefore did not fit with the typical tight budget and deadlines of international development projects. To try and solve this, Stephanie conducted a 6-year research at the University of Cambridge to find the best way to efficiently and ethically capture data from rural communities – data that would give a true picture of their needs, concerns and desires. And it was also at Cambridge that Stephanie and I met, when I came there after working for several years at tech and AI startups. In November 2019, Stephanie and I joined forces to place the needs of local communities at the center of project design and execution. We combined Stephanie’s research with advanced AI technology to create an innovative tool that enables on-demand high-quality data collection and analysis. Today, Rural Senses’ team has grown and is now operating in East Africa and Israel. Our tools are already being used by several of the leading international NGOs, such as CLASP, Energy Saving Trust and more, to better understand local needs and rigorously measure impact. What is your motivation to do what you do? Development and humanitarian practitioners are inevitable - they dedicate their talents, skills and hard work to improve the lives of vulnerable communities. However, our analysis concludes that the majority of budget invested in development and humanitarian projects fails to create the intended long-term impact. We share the frustration practitioners feel when the invested efforts don’t result in a sustainable positive impact. We want to fundamentally change this by providing project developers with the tools they need to make fast, reliable decisions that result in positive impact. We do this by offering insightful data on what is important in local communities. COVID-19 has only made this need more pressing. In these times of global pandemic – when resources are more scarce – we must invest resources only into projects that are targeted to real needs and are most likely to achieve tangible impact. What is special about your approach? Thanks to local networks of data collectors, unique qualitative data collection techniques and AI-enhanced analysis, Rural Senses can provide deep unbiased insights faster and more cost effectively than other solutions. The insights provided include what is most important to vulnerable communities, what motivates them, their greatest challenges, cultural norms and traditional aspects. These insights are a unique and powerful tool for project planners, implementers and evaluators. You have conducted a pilot in South Tel Aviv on mapping the needs of the Sudanese and Eritrean communities in Israel. Tell us what have you learned so far from your pilot? Our results show that one of the most important elements in these communities is freedom of choice. Having the ability to choose what to do and where to go is a very strong need. It is understandable considering the past and future challenges these communities face. This observation can have a very actionable outcome today when the Sudanese community members are requested to go and test for Covid-19. We notice that many of them refuse to go due to the obligation to comply with forced testing. Applying the results of our analysis can help design a “call to test” that doesn’t threaten the freedom of choice and instead – empowers people to take an independent action. We invite organisations working with these communities in Israel to reach out to us and explore how to take these insights into action. Thank you Yau for this inspiring story. Join the Data 4 Good Club here to get exclusive access to the advanced data services Rural Senses is developing, tailored to your needs, and help build the next generation of user-centric data platforms. Follow Rural Senses on Twitter and LinkedIn!

This month, we spoke to Eyal Dessou Tzafrir, founder and CEO at Mathika. Mathika is an EdTech startup developing a web-based and mobile educational application to teach Mathematics. Many schools in Israel are using Mathika and during the coronavirus pandemic, many children have started using the application from home. Mathika is one of the technologies selected for our Pears Program- IsraAID pilot fund, whose mission is introducing and testing promising Israeli technologies with the potential to make a positive impact in the humanitarian field. IsraAID is about to field-test Mathika in its education programs in refugee settings in Greece and Colombia. What is Mathika's story? The roots of Mathika go back to Eyal's childhood. Eyal had difficulties with math and teachers immediately stigmatised him as 'stupid'. As Eyal got older he realized the toll that it took on him: he doubted his abilities, even his ability to go to university. Eyal teamed up with his child's math teacher Yiftach to develop innovative ways to help children struggling with math, just like Eyal. What challenge you are tackling through your work? Educate facilitators on a new approach to teach math. A real change needs to happen in conventional thinking about how students learn, how students can move forward on their own and at their own pace. What is special/unique about your approach? With Mathika, children from 5 to 13 years old can learn Math by themselves by using video clips, games, and tools. The main emphasis is the ability to learn math without written language, without teacher’s supervision and putting the realms of the learning in the learners' hands. As a result, it is teaching children to take responsibility for their learning and for their life. You are about to pilot your technology with IsraAID. What is your motivation to enter the humanitarian field? We would like to be the go-to tool for children who don't have access to regular education and be the platform that helps them feel fully part of society all over the world. By working with the Pears Program and IsraAID, we are learning about this field, about what we need to take into account in those specific settings, so that we will be able to deploy the platform in other countries. In addition, through our pilot, we will be able to get evidence on impact. Thank you Eyal for this inspiring story. We wish you good luck in accomplishing your mission.

For the last post of the series featuring inspiring technologies related to Humanitarian Innovation, we spoke to Eyal Dessou Tzafrir, founder and CEO at Mathika. Mathika is an EdTech startup developing a web-based and mobile educational application to teach Mathematics. Many schools in Israel, including in Arab villages, are using Mathika and during the coronavirus pandemic, many children have started using the application from home. Mathika is one of the technologies selected for our Pears Program- IsraAID pilot fund, whose mission is introducing and testing promising Israeli technologies with the potential to make a positive impact in the humanitarian field. IsraAID is about to field-test Mathika in its education programs in refugee settings in Greece and Colombia. Mathika in use in a school of South Tel Aviv, which counts many refugees from South Sudan and Eritrea. What is Mathika's story? The roots of Mathika go back to Eyal's childhood. Eyal had difficulties with math and teachers immediately stigmatized him as 'stupid'. As Eyal got older he realized the toll that it took on him: he doubted his abilities, even his ability to go to university. Eyal teamed up with his child's math teacher Yiftach to develop innovative ways to help children struggling with math, just like Eyal. What challenge you are tackling through your work? Educate facilitators on a new approach to teach math. A real change needs to happen in conventional thinking about how students learn, how students can move forward on their own and at their own pace. What is special/unique about your approach? With Mathika, children from 5 to 13 years old can learn Math by themselves by using video clips, games, and tools. The main emphasis is the ability to learn math without a written language, without the teacher’s supervision and putting the realms of the learning in the learners' hands. As a result, it is teaching children to take responsibility for their learning and for their life. You are about to pilot your technology with IsraAID. What is your motivation to enter the humanitarian field? We would like to be the go-to tool for children who don't have access to regular education and be the platform that helps them feel fully part of society all over the world. By working with the Pears Program and IsraAID, we are learning about this field, about what we need to take into account in those specific settings so that we will be able to deploy the platform in other countries. In addition, through our pilot, we will be able to get evidence on impact. Mathika’s key messages for World Refugee Week:: Every child needs to have proper access to education. Every child has the right to move up in the world and be able to grow physically, emotionally, and mentally. Children see the world without limitations; and even if reality is not such, by giving kids the right tools, they can thrive and succeed. About Pears Program - IsraAID Pilot Fund The Pears Program - IsraAID Pilot Fund was created to improve WASH and Education service delivery in communities affected by humanitarian crisis through field testing Israeli technologies, toward their long-term, sustainable deployment.. Amid the increasing frequency and intensifying consequences of humanitarian crises, there is still a need for solutions to support recovery and rehabilitation. Israel is already a world leader in relevant technological areas; however, in order to be effective, technological development must be rooted in the specific needs of humanitarian contexts and introduced in an ethical, impactful, and locally-driven manner. Over the past decade, a range of Israeli start-ups have emerged targeting humanitarian needs. There is an increasingly well-developed ecosystem in Israel for accelerating start-ups and funding prototype development. However, once a working prototype exists, it can take 1-2 years for start-ups to find field partners and funding for pilots; a necessary pre-requisite for commercialization. Unlike technologies targeting developed country needs, start-ups targeting development/humanitarian needs cannot successfully launch product sales without impact evidence from rigorous field pilots. The absence of an Israeli pilot fund presents a significant barrier to growing this humanitarian innovation ecosystem. This project provides this essential link in the prototype-to-market innovation value chain. Mathika is one of the companies selected to pilot their technology with IsraAID. Stay tuned to see how Mathika's pilot and the other pilots are going.. IsraAID is an Israel-based international non-governmental organisation that works to support people affected by humanitarian crisis around the world by partnering with local communities to provide urgent aid, assist recovery, and reduce the risk of future disasters. Since its inception in 2001, IsraAID has worked in emergency and long-term development settings in more than 50 countries.

Today we would like to feature two amazing, inspiring and successful Cameroonian social entrepreneurs: William Elong and Arielle Kitio (both Forbes 30 under 30), who seem to be on all innovation fronts in Cameroon: Willian is the CEO of the start-up, Algo Drone Holdings, that provides drone solutions both to deliver medicines in rural and displaced communities, and for agriculture purposes; Arielle is the CEO of CAYSTI, a social enterprise that provide tech education solutions to youth. Together, they are launching (today) a coding school in Cameroon, in collaboration with the Israeli coding School ‘Developers Institute’, and provide coding camps to reduce the ‘tech literacy’ gap between displaced persons and host communities; and finally, they recently created a low-tech handwashing device to respond to COVID-19 in Cameroon! They have reached very successful partnerships with UN agencies, global philanthropists, and the international private sector. So, let’s learn a bit more about these two tech rising stars and what they did for displaced and host communities during COVID-19! What is the top challenge that your solutions are addressing with regards to displacement? When we saw that Cameroon was one of the first African countries severely hit by COVID-19, we decided to put our resources together to tackle hygiene and safety needs during a global health crisis period. We developed a low-tech hand washing solution to address the immediate urgent needs of displaced and host communities in Cameroon. In parallel, we target the long-term livelihoods needs of displaced and host communities by providing coding camps, to reduce the "Tech literacy" gap of displaced people, and strengthen income-generating opportunities during this time of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic showed us the need to: 1) address immediate crisis-related needs; and 2) think about long-term resilience and livelihoods of both displaced and host communities in Cameroon. Our parallel tech projects seek to address these inter-connected needs. Cameroon is currently facing three massive parallel humanitarian crises that generate high levels of displacement, risks, and vulnerabilities – and yet little global attention. First, the Far North Region continues to be impacted by the Boko Haram armed conflict with half million people displaced in that region. Second, Cameroon’s eastern regions are hosting 270,000 refugees from the Central African Republic. Third, an internal conflict has been raging in the Western part of the country since 2017 and has internally displaced 700,000 Cameroonians. Tell us how you do that? What is special/unique about your approach? We are local young entrepreneurs working with young people for young people with a strong focus on technology tools. We look at the challenges affecting our country today. We use our technical capabilities to build leadership within communities. Our programs are not just humanitarian, but they also have a strong business component to help people we support sustain themselves on the long term. For instance, not only did we develop and distribute our hand washing solution throughout the country (through UNICEF for instance), but we are also teaching youth to build such (or similar) products so they gain the skills needed to ensure sustainable livelihoods solutions. What gave you the idea of tackling this challenge? With the COVID-19 example, we noticed that healthcare is a serious problem within local communities and many times, it starts with some basic hygiene practices which are not followed because the tools are simply not there. You can't say to people to wash their hands everyday during a humanitarian workshop and don't care about how they can actually do it. So, because we are working on different tech solutions to tackle different problems (e.g. the drones, the tech schools), we thought we had a responsibility to provide a simple, easy to use, easy to maintain and locally-produced solution to address this need. The whole process took us less than a month, and UNICEF is now distributing the product throughout the country. What is your key message for World Refugee Week? We would like to say that " A refugee is someone like you and us and who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, it can happen to anyone so it's our duty to act together and support talents within that community. And tech is a great tool to do just that." Willian Elong is the CEO of Algo Drone Holding, a start-up that provides AI-based solutions and unmanned aerial vehicles for agriculture, security, and delivery in Cameroon and other developing countries. He is Forbes 30 under 30. Arielle Kitio, also Forbes 30 under 30, is leading female voice in tech in Cameroon. She is the CEO of Caysti, a social enterprise that provides tech education solutions in Cameroon. They work together to identify and respond to social and economic challenges in Cameroon, like during COVID-19 rapidly and effectively.

At the occasion of World Refugee Day, we are happy to feature an important ecosystem player in humanitarian innovation and our partner, Response Innovation Lab, a global collaboration between World Vision, Save the Children, Oxfam and Civic that supports innovations in humanitarian settings. It also provides us a great opportunity to feature one of the inspiring Ugandan start-ups RIL is supporting, Akaboxi, that gives access to financial services in refugee camps. What are the top priorities you are tackling through your work? Each of the five Response Innovation Labs focuses on humanitarian needs and opportunities that are specific to each location (check out each lab here - Iraq, Uganda, Somalia, Puerto Rico, Jordan). The challenges are identified through collaborations with civil society and government organizations responding to emergencies. They reflect the barriers they face in designing programs addressing the needs of displaced communities. For example, humanitarian organizations in Uganda face the substantial challenge of including marginalized populations, such as refugees, into financial services, which prevents them from accessing saving and related safeguarding channels. Akaboxi, a Ugandan innovation, offers a solution to this challenge by replacing the unsafe practice of keeping money in boxes in homes, by a more secure and reliable program that monitors savings and transactions, and connects to financial services. What is special/unique about your approach? RIL’s method looks at how innovation can positively impact and bolster humanitarian responses by comprehensively looking at challenges across the emergency spectrum; engaging the ecosystem in the identification of needs and opportunities; sourcing global and local innovations to respond; and supporting these innovations and related good practices towards replication and scale. Each emergency and displacement context is different and faces its own challenges. In Uganda, Akaboxi provides a great example of contextualized solutions to a local problem. It limits the need to physically hold cash, and encourages opening accounts where savings are safer, can earn interest, and eventually in which small-saving associations can turn into cooperatives. Response Innovation Labs' top messages for World Refugee Day: "As we look at our current humanitarian responses and how they support refugees and IDPs, we look into innovation when challenges are encountered and persistent.' The RIL has a number of online resources to support humanitarian innovations, and are available for consultation to maximise humanitarian innovation. Refugees and internally displaced populations (IDPs) are some of the most vulnerable populations in the world, and some are enduring displacement that stretches for years, if not decades, which dramatically affects their livelihood. As a global community, in our support to refugees and IDPs, we must look at empowering, and building comfort and livelihood for, displaced families and individuals where they currently are and for when they return to their homes. Check out RIL’s article featuring Akaboxi in Uganda: How innovation is solving access to financial services for refugees in Uganda Akaboxi was co-founded by Businge Joshua Muleesi and Sarah Atuhaire Baryaija, two Ugandan entrepreneurs involved in financial inclusion in local rural communities. It is a cloud-based digital financial technology which enables communities to manage and monitor their monetary savings and transactions within community or village saving groups. The collaboration between RIL and Akaboxi has accelerated growth for the innovative start-up. They have been able to start collaborating with 15 new saving groups, with 375 end-users, in the refugee settlement of Kiryandongo, demonstrating the relevance of their solution for refugees and host community members alike.

Rural Senses is developing an innovative solution for the collection of unbiased local community data and its rapid analysis using AI techniques to transform the design, delivery and evaluation of humanitarian response projects around the world. The startup was founded in 2018 by Yau Ben-Or and Dr. Stephainie Hirmer and joined by Barik Sale, a member of the Sudanese community in Israel as Community Engagement Manager. Rural Senses was part of the Pears Challenge 2019 on WASH in Humanitarian Settings and also joined the Microsoft for Startups - Tech for Good “AI for Good” Accelerator program in 2020. In the picture: Melat Mikil, Solomon Gebremariam, Barik Sale and Aharon Woldemerhrit, team members which contribute to the project on mapping the needs of the Sudanese and Eritrean communities in Israel. The Motivation: Access to accurate and unbiased data is essential to design effective projects, evaluate impact and to drive policy change. Unfortunately, many of the decisions in development and humanitarian projects are based on partial and outdated data. It is also often deeply biased. As a result, such projects are not aligned with local preferences and have limited impact and sustainability. According to Rural Senses’ analysis, the problem is substantial: out of the annual $150 Billion worth of development and humanitarian projects, it is estimated that over 80% fail in creating the intended long-term impact. Rural Senses originated from 6 years of research at the University of Cambridge with the mission to provide NGOs, governments and other stakeholders with state-of-the-art data collection and analysis tools that ensure every project is specifically targeted to the local needs and that project success is defined primarily by its evidence-based impact. The Unique Approach: Thanks to local networks of data collectors, unique qualitative data collection techniques and AI-enhanced analysis, Rural Senses can provide deep unbiased insights faster and more cost effectively than other solutions. The insights provided include what is most important to vulnerable communities, what motivates them, their greatest challenges, cultural norms and traditional aspects. These insights are a powerful tool for project planners, implementers and evaluators. Rural Senses is currently working with members of the Eritrean and Sudanese communities in Israel to map their needs on the ground and to reflect them to key influencers. Top Messages for World Refugee Day: Understanding the history, personal stories and current needs and challenges of displaced communities is a moral duty for everyone. We should avoid using words that cause division - like the word "refugee" itself. Instead, let's treat everyone as equals, and work together to create a better reality for everyone.  Addressing the needs of displaced communities will benefit them and the society as a whole. In Israel for example, approving work permits will allow Sudanese and Eritrean community members to secure dignified livelihoods and to become productive members of society. It will also reduce the burden from south Tel Aviv, which is currently the only place that allows working without a permit. "We should all speak up and fight for the rights of displaced communities. Policy makers, businesses, key opinion leaders and everyone else - no one should stay silent!" says Barik Sale, Community Engagement Manager at Rural Senses.

Solarfreeze, a Kenya-based start-up, is a successful localized solution to food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dysmus Kisilu, Solafreeze’s founder, represents a generation of young African entrepreneurs who tackles the core social and economic challenges of the continent. He created Solarfreeze to address post-harvest food losses by offering portable cold storage units powered by solar energy for rural smallholder farmers. Solarfreeze is now piloted in Kakuma Refugee Camp to help the refugee and host communities durably achieve food security and secure livelihoods. Solarfreeze is one of the 11 start-ups of Google’s global SDG accelerator. The motivation: A significant barrier to inclusive growth, access to employment, and increased food productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of access of most smallholder farmers to modern farming equipment. There are an estimated 550 million smallholder farms in the world, producing up to 80% of the food consumed and supporting up to two billion people. Agriculture is Africa's biggest employer, accounting for about 60% of the GDP's in many of the continent’s countries. The workforce is composed of a majority of women who use basic tool with low levels of productivity. “We watched our parents, grandparents and those before them work tirelessly in the rural farms only for a huge chunk of their fresh produce to rot away due to lack of proper cold storage units” Dysmus Kisilu indicates. Now, Solar Freeze provides access to productive use assets such as solar powered cold storage for both the preservation of agricultural produce and the healthcare sector. The tech: The solution offers a one stop turnkey portable off-grid toolkit for localized food production containing a complete ecosystem of smart farm technologies to enhance agricultural productivity, from 3kWp solar power and micro-drip irrigation, to solar powered cold storage and IoT Smartfarm Kit with Wi-Fi connectivity. The portable unit comes equipped with all core components needed to start and maintain a 1-acre farm ideal for African smallholder farmers. The change: It increases smallholder farmers productivity by 200 percent, reduces water waste by 90 percent, and enables more women and youth entrepreneurs to reach employment through Solarfreeze’s micro-franchising model. Solarfreeze's top message for World Refugee Week: “Productive use of assets can make a difference to the lives of refugees not only do they increase incomes but they also provide sustainable livelihoods to communities and families that had no access to such equipment.” Dysmus Kisilu

In 2019, we witnessed the largest population of refugees and other displaced people in history:over 70 million worldwide. Already vulnerable, those forcefully displaced are particularly exposed to COVID-19. Refugees and asylum seekers who are trapped in overflowing camps and overcrowded cities lack access to clean water, health care, and even clear information. For many of them, social distancing and regular hand washing are not an option. That is why, at the occasion of the World Refugee Day, OLAM invites you to take action to support refugees: learn about the urgency of their situation; donate to organizations working with refugees; volunteer; advocate on their behalf, and pledge to support the cause! Pears Program is proud to be partners of the #70milllion campaign, powered by OLAMand organised in partnership with AJWS, HIAS, IsraAID, JDC Entwine, Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees,Repair the World, and World Jewish Relief. Learn more: OLAM invites you to join the three following webinars this week: How Can We Support Refugees & Asylum Seekers from the UK & Europe? June 23 1PM EST / 6PM UK / 8PM Israel The migration of Asylum Seekers across the Mediterranean and through Europe has been the centre of much attention in recent years. Join this webinar to learn about the current challenges facing Refugees across the UK and Europe. We will be joined by Sarah Danby, Greece Country Director for IsraAid, Moses Seitler, a past refugee studies scholar who works for Refugee Support Network (who assist young refugees with their education) and a refugee/asylum seeker voice. https://www.facebook.com/events/3944942678909955 JDC Entwine Exclusive: Asylum Seekers in Israel June 24 11AM EST / 4PM UK / 6PM Israel There are more than #70million displaced people around the world who have fled violence, economic unrest, and natural disaster. Among that number are 31,000 asylum seekers living in Israel who have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Join the Entwine Exclusive with Michal Ben Dov (JDC Director of Strategic Partnerships), Shauna Ruda (Social Impact Consultant) and other community leaders to learn how JDC and its partners are responding to the crisis. www.jdcentwine.org/thethread Resilience and Leadership: A Conversation with Refugees June 25 11AM EST / 4PM UK / 6PM Israel At the peak of the #70million campaign, we are hosting a live webinar that will specifically highlight refugee voices and stories about their journey to become leaders in their communities. We will hear from a Syrian refugee in the UK, a Rohingya refugee in Canada, and an Eritrean asylum seeker in Israel. More information to come soon, follow OLAM’s social media.

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On May, we are featuring Yoel Ezra, CEO at EFA Technologies. Yoel developed his solution as a member of the Pears Challenge cohort in 2017. EFA Technologies is developing the RevDx, an affordable handheld diagnostic and disease-mapping solution for integrated community case management. What is EFA's story? Yoel Ezra founded the company in 2016 with the mission in mind to eradicate Malaria. After developing the first prototype and participating in the Pears Challenge and the eHealth Ventures Incubator, the team has decided to diversify the product and extend the diagnostic to blood cells for any kind of bacteria and virus. In only 4 years, the product is in its final stage of development and should be piloted in July by one of the biggest Israeli health organisations. Tell us about the technology! EfA has developed the first of its kind mobile blood test lab. The device called RevDx, will enable a lab quality diagnostics everywhere and by anyone (no special expertise required). The first application will be a Complete Blood Count which is the most common test performed in cases of fever and infections to determine if the cause is a virus or a bacteria. Check the demo. What is your motivation for doing what you do? EfA’s vision is to democratise diagnostics. Our motivation is to provide the best diagnostics at an affordable price to anyone, everywhere. How did you adapt your technology in times of coronavirus? We have added a proposed solution for remote activation of our blood sampling bio-chip allowing distancing of the medical teams from the patients. EfA Technologies has won a special grant from the Israel Innovation Authority as part of addressing the COVID-19 challenges. The extension of the medical device RevDx offers a complete blood count everywhere, from a single prick of the finger in a few minutes, including tracking and mapping in real-time. The device will be used as an essential part of diagnostics of the immune system and where there is a suspicion of an infection. RevDx is a completely mobile device, independent and very simple to operate while exposing the medical teams to minimal risks. Thank you Yoel and Amir for this inspiring story. Good luck in accomplishing your great mission!