Meet the Community of Practitioners
Collaborative working is central to the ethos of the IARAN and is the basis of our operating model. Given the scale of the challenges facing humanitarian actors, we believe it is imperative that organisations are more open to sharing their resources and expertise.
In 2024, IARAN's fellowship transformed into a Community of Practitioners, better reflecting the interests of its members to have an informal platform for sharing practices and experiences related to foresight and innovation in the humanitarian world. Today, we proudly host a network of over 30 humanitarian and foresight members.
Our community of practitioners means that we are better able to respond to the demands of our partners by having a knowledge and skill base that we can readily tap into, to meet any required brief.
The Practitioners’ voices
In this article, Miguel Castillo, a healthcare professional with over 10 years of experience at field level and hospital-based facilities in conflict-affected, developing and western countries, discusses his experience during the Rohingya crisis, highlighting the critical role of digital solutions in enhancing healthcare in humanitarian settings. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of such technologies, improving healthcare coverage globally, including in crisis-affected areas. The focus is on the digital transformation of health services, emphasizing the importance of technological infrastructure and the challenges in transitioning to digital systems. Key aspects include the expansion of 5G technology and increased smartphone accessibility, especially in low-and-middle-income countries. The article projects a significant rise in smartphone adoption by 2030, driven by affordability, and explores how these advancements improve health coverage in humanitarian situations.
