The GDPC engages with partners to support innovation at scale.

The GDPC provides technical assistance, expands access to knowledge and data, and maintains a robust program of evaluation and learning for its partners.

The GDPC connects partners within the Red Cross Red Crescent network and the global preparedness practitioner community.

The GDPC plays an essential coordination role with external partners on issues related to disaster preparedness, including universities, research entities, international organizations and technology companies.

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WhatNow Service

WhatNow Service, developed by the GDPC in partnership with Google is designed to increase the speed and dissemination of disaster preparedness and risk reduction messages. The service features tangible, actionable messaging for people receiving emergency alerts through the Red Cross Red Crescent and companies that they do business with. WhatNow messages help people understand what to do once they are aware of an impending emergency.

This illustration represents the design process as a squiggle that straightens out as one moves from research on the left, to resolution on the right.
The Design Squiggle - Damien Newman

Building community

The GDPC sponsors participation in global meetings for partners throughout the Red Cross Crescent network. The group holds workshops in the field that focus on sharing best-in-class knowledge and expertise.

The GDPC also builds community by co-designing products and services with partners, and giving them an active voice in what tools are made available to their constituencies. An example of a product that was designed using this approach is the Co-designing Solutions for Urban Community Resilience toolkit.

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Building a creative community inside the Red Cross Red Crescent network, rooted in Human-Centered Design

Going forward, the GDPC will evolve its role in the Red Cross Red Crescent network to provide a space to discuss preparedness innovations. The group will continue to focus on transitioning ownership of new products and services to groups within the Red Cross Red Crescent network, who will maintain and scale new innovations.

There is an opportunity for the GDPC to build operational partnerships, and to broker consultancy and research services within the a creative community of preparedness practitioners.

 

The GDPC understands that people within the Red Cross Red Crescent network are working on similar things, and that they could benefit from learning about what works in other contexts.

– Karin Metz, Project Management Consultant, IFRC Alert App

The current GDPC team embodies so much diversity from around the world. It has fueled innovation and fresh thinking.

– Rebecca Scheurer, Humanitarian Initiative, Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Former GDPC Director

As a convener for conferences and webinars, the IFRC and the GDPC would be really good. There are not a lot of groups that do [these types of] high-fidelity updates across sectors.

– Private sector partner

The GDPC has written the playbook on how to localize disaster preparedness tools. Relationship building is one of the key aspects of localization in that it enables local adoption and tailoring of tools, rather than providing partners with tools without a smooth, personalized transition.

– Sawyer Baker, Director of 211 Programs, United Way Worldwide, GDPC alum

At the GDPC, we always advocate for using the right tool to address a particular problem. Not every problem is solved by an app. We also steer our partners to non-digital channels, like radio, which have broader reach in rural environments.

– Jessica Ports Robbins, Technical Advisor, Preparedness ICTs, GDPC

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