How can the use of technology improve the human conditions of refugee camps across European borders?

• Autor(a) principal: Dias, Maria Madalena Castelo Branco de Vasconcelos
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/18311
• topic: Frugal innovation; Humanitarian logistics; 3D printing; Cork; Gestão da tecnologia; Ajuda aos refugiados; Direitos humanos; Logística; Ajuda humanitária; 3D; Cortiça

The world is experiencing the greatest refugee crisis ever since the Second World War. The numbers are frightening and surpass the acceptable barrier. European Refugee camps strive hard to asylum those who arrive and escape the war, but it also violates some human rights in different aspects. From this context, the present dissertation proposes to work this challenge with the use of technology in the improvement of human conditions lived in refugee camps. Several people were interviewed in order to ascertain the main difficulties experienced in the European refugee camps. These people have direct access to these problems and therefore have the knowledge and experience to opine on the subject, being able to point out possible solutions. The results point to the urgency of resolving human conditions of dignity - privacy, access to sanitary structures, safety in sleep and lack of occupation of the adults. Based on literature and official documents’ research, frugal innovation - concept explored throughout this study - is a constantly evolving concept, capable of satisfying needs at low cost, sustainability and great quantities, being possible to fill the necessities of a great number of people. 3D printing and cork bricks have proved to be solutions that meet the concept defined as the basis for this study. Both technologies may allow to solve many of the problems found at refugee camps, and represent solutions that are sustainable, economical and easy to implement, requiring reduced resources, compared to the quantity currently required.