International Development in Action (IDeA)

IDeA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to catalyzing economic development in vulnerable communities, those that are subject to destitute conditions due to their limited access to food, water, and other modern essentials such as health care, education, and financial services. Through our operations, IDeA aims to provide sustainable methods of widening access to these basic necessities that can be maintained within informal settlements without frequent and prolonged external support, an approach that has recently gained credibility and popularity within the field of humanitarian work. However, IDeA differs from other philanthropic organizations in our approach to fostering development. Through our annual competitions, we utilize an international network of scholars and professionals in order to produce locally sustainable initiatives targeted towards specific communities. The most promising proposal is determined by an interdisciplinary panel of jurors, composed of eminent professionals within their respective fields, and subsequently implemented in the proposed community in collaboration with an on-site NGO. Our use of innovative submissions from the humanitarian and creative minds around the world gives rise to our name, IDeA. Our current focus is our first annual competition, Place and Displacement: A Marketplace in Refugee Settlements. IDeA focuses on the problems arising from the recent diaspora of asylum-seekers and refugees and their protracted duration of displacement. Participating teams are asked to develop the architectural design and operational plan for a marketplace to be constructed in selected refugee camps, a project that we believe has the potential to lighten the burdens of displacement on both refugees and host countries alike. In addition, IDeA is currently working to construct a community learning center in Kakuma Refugee Camp in collaboration with Solidarity & Advocacy with Vulnerable Individuals in Crisis (SAVIC).