"NGOs need better tools and less money from taxpayers”. Under this leitmotiv, the Spanish startup Humanitaria™, driven by the UNICEF Lab acceleration program, has designed the most basic and economical humanitarian bed in the world: in cardboard, 100% sustainable and biodegradable, which ensures a humanitarian response in the first 24 hours of an emergency. It is between 60 and 200 times faster to assemble than any other, costs a tenth of the average price of the usual equipment and is manufactured at a rate of 24,000 units per day.
With Humanitaria, the startup applies for the first time the concepts of specialization and super-efficiency to humanitarian equipment, the daily tool of social sector organizations, and one of the biggest expenses that every NGO faces annually, exceeding 40% of their annual budget. In fact, the beds used by NGOs all over the world are camping beds. With an average price between 100 and 200€, they take minutes to assemble (5 to 20 minutes) and are not very well prepared for transport in large quantities.
The Humanitaria bed facilitates humanitarian response in the first 24 hours of an emergency, the threshold that makes the difference between the success or failure of an operation. And it does so in a safe and resistant way, as it can support up to 350 kilograms of weight, well above the 150 kilograms that support the usual models used by NGOs.
Reducing cost and implementation time
Humanitaria provides two solutions to the frequent challenges that NGOs face in a humanitarian emergency: the time it takes to react to an emergency and the financial cost. "The cost of 1,000 beds for a refugee camp ranges from €100,000 to €200,000 and it takes up to two weeks to produce them, another two weeks to ship them (by land or sea) and more than 24 hours to install and set them up. With Humanitaria, 1,000 beds cost €16,000, are shipped folded by plane and set up in 20 minutes," explains Juan Sanz Molina, CEO and co-founder of the project.
Only 46% of humanitarian emergencies worldwide receive aid from international NGOs. And the worsening international environmental and political situation increases this gap between needs and humanitarian response every year. "By reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of the equipment, we make it accessible to as many organizations as possible, who will be able to help more people. We are just one part of a whole," says Sanz.
The advantages of a cardboard humanitarian bed
Humanitarian beds are made of cardboard - a sustainable and resistant material - with a production rate of 1,000 beds per hour, which allows high demands to be met in a short period of time.
In terms of production, the cardboard bed represents a cost reduction of 90% compared to the price of other humanitarian beds. The cost per unit is around 16-17 euros and is 99% more efficient than any of the solutions commonly used by NGOs around the world.
"Using a light and extra-flat material such as cardboard, as well as being ecological and recyclable, we can massively ship hundreds of beds in the hold of an airplane. Something unfeasible until now due to the weight and volume limitations of air transport, which forces NGOs to send by plane only the most urgent materials, such as clothes and medicines. Palletized by the hundreds and with a light weight, the beds can travel perfectly well in that first shipment," explains J. Alberto Paniagua, mentor at the UNICEF Lab accelerator and new director of business development at Humanitaria.
The benefits of the packaging industry applied to humanitarian equipment
The material and design of the bed allows us to take advantage of the many benefits of packaging technology for the benefit of humanitarian work: simplicity, speed of assembly and a high rate of manufacture. "With the Humanitaria bed, we have a production speed of 1,000 units per hour in 24-hour shifts. Thanks to the automation of the packaging industry, in any average factory we can manufacture these beds at a rate that is light-years ahead of any other solution. This allows us to respond to any peak demand without stock-outs or impossible lead times, as happened with the Asian supplier network during the pandemic," according to Sanz.
The speed of assembly is a record in the social sector: a system that starts from an extra-flat sheet and transforms into a bed in less than 5 seconds, a task that a single person can perform autonomously, without tools or prior training. "It is between 60 and 200 times faster than any alternative used in humanitarian emergencies, greatly shortening the time it takes to set up a field hospital, reducing the number of staff and associated costs. A single person can set up 700 beds in one hour. Simply opening the bed like a cardboard box. Which is what it is, in short”, explains Humanitaria’s CEO.
High strength and durability
Cardboard is the cheapest structural and durable material there is. It lasts long enough to cope with a humanitarian emergency. "It is a fast, versatile and cost-effective solution. It can double the approved strength of a humanitarian bed and provide comfort and shelter in a time of high vulnerability. People can't believe it when they see five people standing on our bed," argues Héctor Muñoz, head of manufacturing.
"Those who question the durability don't understand the approach of this product. It is the fastest, most pluralistic and most economical solution. It was not in our plans to design a product that would last ten years in perfect condition. Even so, we doubled the approved resistance for a humanitarian bed," comments Muñoz.
The Humanitarian bed is intended to be the essential resource for this first humanitarian response "offering a safe place for hundreds of thousands of people seeking shelter and a living space that meets the guarantees of safety, comfort and quality at the lowest possible cost. A decent bed on which to sleep and find healthcare". For this important work, Humanitaria is a super-efficient tool. The first few hundred units of the bed will be tested during the rescue operations planned by Creu Roja de Catalunya this autumn.
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Press release and photos courtesy of Humanitaria
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