SEATTLE — Kilian Kleinschmidt is the former manager of the U.N. High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan. He created Switxboard in 2014 as a progressive and efficient response network for humanitarian crises and global development issues.
Kleinschmidt worked with UNHCR and other humanitarian institutions for over 25 years before creating the Innovation and Planning Agency (IPA), the organization responsible for building Switxboard. The Borgen Project interviewed Kleinschmidt about Switxboard, which will create a networking platform using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Technology (IT) to connect stakeholders to solve global challenges.
During his interview, Kleinschmidt explained to The Borgen Project why he left the U.N. to start IPA, “I realized that somehow the big institutions, the big systems don’t fit with a flexible, fast pace of innovation and change you need. Particularly being in Za’atari camp, I felt that everything we needed was not coming from the internal structures, the internal mechanisms of the U.N. or even the NGOs.”
Kleinschmidt decided, “Let’s provoke the system from the outside and set it up.” He believes that the most effective form of development comes from combining capacities, resources and know-how technology to overcome challenges.
Switxboard is the perfect tool for this initiative as it provides a database to connect a diverse array of experienced stakeholders. As the construction of Switxboard progresses, it will use AI and IT to connect stakeholders with increasing effectiveness and efficiency. As described by Kleinschmidt, “the organization of the future is decentralized and small, working together as the need arises, as the opportunity arises, bringing capacities together and then disintegrating again.”
The widespread outlook on foreign aid should also shift in order to enact more effective development projects. Kleinschmidt pointed out that foreign aid recipients are often victimized in a very colonial way, which simply does not work.
An article published in The Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) echoed this sentiment explaining that the West has generated a lot of wealth from the resources of many impoverished areas. Kleinschmidt told The Borgen Project that aid should be viewed as “giving back only a very small portion of the profits we are making out of the resources of the world.”
A collaborative approach like IPA Switxboard challenges colonial power dynamics by connecting the needy to resources necessary for innovation and progress. Kleinschmidt explains that “in any community today, you will find people who are there to be the change makers, who are the generation of the future. But they’re too weak.” Switxboard is the tool that will empower and help them become better connected.
Despite the funding difficulties of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, Kleinschmidt believes in the change-makers within global communities and feels hopeful about their ability to achieve these goals. Switxboard is confident that the world has plenty of resources and technology to meet global challenges. It is only a matter of connecting them to form effective solutions. The idea is to become something of a “social Google,” a database for connecting key stakeholders and innovators to available knowledge and resources.
Speaking of funding, the business model of the nonprofit sector relies on donor submissions for financing. Kleinschmidt explained that the operational costs and lack of independently generated capital means that these humanitarian institutions are unable to fulfill humanitarian challenges. He suggests that a financing system based on endowment similar to that of U.S. universities, could be an effective approach.
Switxboard is aimed at maximizing the impact of capital and other resources. The organization has been working on a variety of projects such as creating fabrication labs in crisis areas, offering safer transportation for refugees, developing long-term sustainable systems and infrastructure in refugee camps, etc.
IPA Switxboard has about 20 immediate members in Vienna, Berlin and New York. However, in reality, the organization has a network of many more individuals ready to jump in and respond to unexpected humanitarian challenges. Right now, the organization is working to transition from an association to a nonprofit organization to attract more capital from impact investors.
Financing Switxboard has been a challenge for Kleinschmidt. An additional challenge has been that IPA Switxboard is currently still dependent on aid, which is competitive and very difficult to get for new organizations. They hope their transition into the nonprofit sector will provide the necessary funding to boost the organization’s impact.
Wrapping up the interview, Kleinschmidt highlighted that the global refugee crisis has generated a lot of discussion and reflection upon these issues. The way Switxboard sees it, there is no shortage of capacity for sustainable, inclusive and progressive solutions. It is simply a matter of putting the pieces together.
– Laura Isaza
Photo: Flickr