Designing a problem analysis toolkit in the context of humanitarian engineering

Humanitarian Engineering and intercultural sustainability projects involve parties who are situated in very different ethnic contexts. Because the stakeholders have varying knowledge bases and access to resources and values, it is important to approach and start projects without assuming the problem. Broadly speaking, the aim is to tackle humanitarian challenges, but the underlying factors influencing the issues are not always clear. The paper aims to offer an effective tool for engineers to be aware of intercultural differences and accommodate this in the problem definition phase. Firstly, the necessary social, cultural and technological dimensions for developing a problem exploration and definition toolkit in the context of humanitarian engineering will be described. Secondly, the potential relationships that affect the outcomes of a problem analysis toolkit are uncovered. These influencing factors address themes such as intercultural context, sustainability and knowledge sharing, each with positive and negative impacts on the toolkit. Finally, a first layout of the problem analysis toolkit that includes, higher community engagement, better-tailored educational opportunities and relevant socio-technical solutions is presented and discussed.