Exploring & Reconnecting humanitarian design practices – HD Meetup Lab 2024
- Project
Our non-profit organisation, Humanitarian Designers, conducted a three-day workshop from September 23rd to 25th, 2024. A total of 46 people, coming from 16 countries and having diverse professional backgrounds and experiences, gathered at CERN IdeaSquare (Geneva, Switzerland) to “Explore & Reconnect humanitarian design practices”.
Explore a preview of all the activities conducted during this intensive event or read the full report to find an extensive overview of the various activities we organised and the insights that emerged from each of the activity.
We would like to thank all the organisers: Catarina Batista, Cecilia Scolaro, Pierre Rabant, Cédric Fettouche, Gwenn Descamps, Beatrice Duguid-Cox, Olivier Lauras, Thomas Jäger, Yara Dobra, Christoph Erle, and Giulia David. A special thank to CERN IdeaSquare for providing a space and to La Caisse des Dépôts de France for financing Humanitarian Designers’ event this year.
Table of Contents
Day 1: let's connect!
During the first day, we took time to create a space where trust and collaboration could emerge within a group that, at first glance, seemed very diverse. We gradually introduced participants to challenging conversations through light activities and collaborative exercises connected to their daily work. After gathering a wide diversity of input from the tip of the iceberg, we began converging and clustering these challenges to realise that, beneath the surface, were deeper, difficult to address, interconnected systemic issues.
To end the day on a positive note, we quickly discussed how even small, collaborative actions can create meaningful change. Humanitarian systems, like all designed systems, are not fixed—they can be reshaped and improved. By working together, questioning assumptions, and making intentional adjustments, we can contribute to a more effective and just approach to humanitarian design.
Day 2: diving deeper
On day two, we aimed to dive into these underlying systemic issues and emerge with more informed and effective practices, so we asked “What practices would make humanitarian design better?”. In working groups and with fictional scenarios, participants mapped the good practices they knew and pitched them to the group to learn from each other’s experiences.
To conclude day two, we gathered everyone together for a collective reflection session. Participants shared their key learnings, thoughts, and experiences from the day’s activities.
Then, we organised a dinner for all the participants and organisers, near Geneva’s Lake. Everyone seemed energised by the workshop and seemed to want to carry on talking about the topics that emerged.
Day 3: what's next?
For the last day of the event, we organised very chill and flexible morning activities. Participants had to choose between four tracks to have tangible discussions on how can we help each other as a group of same-minded people.
Participants not only embraced this journey, but truly connected as a community of practice eager to continue these discussions beyond the event. The joyful group hug and heartfelt goodbyes at the end demonstrated this connection.
There was a definite positive energy from everyone throughout the whole event and we received a lot of positive feedback on how the event was organised. Many expressed interest in joining and supporting HD, asking about future events. While the shape of our next gathering remains undefined, we can confidently say: see you next time!
Read our full report
In this full report, you will find all the activities that we facilitated during the event, including insights from the various discussions and thoughts on how we could improve our activities. It’s a practical reusable guide that will surely inspire you on the topic of humanitarian design.
Humanitarian Designers
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Cédric Fettouche
Cédric Fettouche works as a design strategist for the European Commission on the New European Bauhaus Initiative.
After three years of humanitarian experience in Greece and Central Mediterranean, he founded the NGO Humanitarian Designers (HD) in 2021 to bridge the gap between the design and humanitarian sectors.
Passionate about design and societal challenges, he strives to experiment his committed vision into new sectors, and share his learnings back to the design communities. You can contact him on Linkedin or on the HD Slack.
