Balancing Innovation & Ethics: The Tech Revolution in Humanitarian Aid

Shruti Viswanathan

In 2022, the UN launched the Early Warnings For All initiative, with a call for every person on earth to be protected by EWS in the next five years. The Global Status Report (2022) suggests that the presence of comprehensive EWS can lead to mortality rates that are eight times as lower than in countries without such EWS. Another report finds that a mere twenty-four-hour notice can help reduce damage of disastrous events by 30 percent.

Today, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) coordinates its humanitarian help and services through the RedSafe Platform, a secure digital platform for humanitarian work.

These are a couple of examples to highlight the rampant use of emerging technologies in humanitarian and development assistance. At the same time, this use by public, private and international actors need to be moderated by ethical considerations which do not contradict the core principles of humanitarian work.

Earlier this year, Athena Infonomics, along with RAND Europe and Glass.AI , undertook a landscape review of emerging technologies in the humanitarian sector and strategies to incorporate ethical design and humanitarian principles into this use. This global study included scoping interviews with leading humanitarian organizations, ethics workshops, horizon scanning exercise and engagements with stakeholders in research and implementation.

Our conversations with implementers highlighted the need for an adaptable, flexible framework to guide decision-making, which could be transferrable across different technology areas. Ethical use was paramount to humanitarian organizations, but they were struggling with devising quick, implementable systems which would guarantee that rapid technological use was informed with ethical design.

Across the conversations, three major concerns emerged. These included:

• Tech extractivism and tech colonialism: The power asymmetry between the developers of technologies and the people/communities where they would be used was a key concern across workshops and breakout rooms. There was concern regarding tech enterprises using humanitarian contexts as markets to develop technologies, and the neglect of technologies developed within the communities they serve. There was a strong feeling that the use, design, deployment and governance of technology needs to be aligned with the values of humanitarian work and a lot of attention on ensuring this alignment is required.
• Digital Harm: Security threats from unauthorized breaches and requests from state/non-state actors were key concerns for humanitarian practitioners. A few notable examples include the request for government access to digital registries maintained by humanitarian organizations, and the misuse and exploitation of biometric systems by governments. There was a stated need to examine the harm that could be caused if digital protections were not properly implemented and the need for strict data independence and data protection by humanitarian organizations.
• User- centric design and purpose alignment: The research highlighted the lack of alignment with technology adoption in larger organizations, where centrally procured solutions may not always meet the needs or realities of field operations. Issues such as poor connectivity or overly complex features were cited as common barriers to usability in the field. Participants observed that technology developed from the bottom-up, with input from field practitioners, tended to yield better results in terms of usability and effectiveness. However, there is often tension between the desire for standardized technology solutions across the organization and the need for solutions tailored to local contexts. This disconnect challenged the fundamental promises of effectiveness and usability that greater technology use came with.

The use of emerging technologies in the humanitarian sector is not just a trend; it's a reality that's already reshaping how aid is delivered while minimising harm. However, this technological revolution comes with a responsibility that we cannot ignore. As we harness the power of cutting-edge technologies, we must also forge a path that balances innovation with ethics, efficiency with empathy. The future of humanitarian aid is digital, and it's our collective responsibility to ensure it's also ethical, inclusive, and truly serves those in need.

For more details about the project, reach out to Shruti Viswanathan.