Supporting disabled people in emergencies: Motivation’s appropriate and affordable wheelchairs

This case study describes how Motivation, in partnership with Handicap International (HI) and Johanniter International (JUH), developed a wheelchair and training package for use in emergency response contexts that aimed to offer clear improvements over the donated orthopaedic wheelchairs currently used. Research for this case study was desk-based, drawing on a review of project documents and nine interviews with key project and partner staff in early 2015.

This is one of 15 case studies undertaken by ALNAP in partnership with Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), exploring the dynamics of successful innovation processes in humanitarian action. The case studies examine what good practice in humanitarian innovation looks like, what approaches and tools organisations have used to innovate in the humanitarian system, what the barriers to innovation are for individual organisations, and how they can be overcome. The case studies are synthesised in the summary report, ‘More than just luck: Innovations in humanitarian action‘.