IKEA flat pack solutions are making a big difference to refugees
June 20, 2012
Every year millions of children and their families are forced to flee their homes because of famine, war or persecution, and when they do it is often UNHCR that offers their first hope of safety.
At any given time, UNHCR has the capacity to respond to a new emergency, assisting up to 600,000 people, within 72 hours. When every minute counts, everything from how a warehouse is designed to how a shelter tent is packed makes a big difference.
Sharing know-how
At the IKEA Foundation we are constantly looking to improve the lives of millions of children living in poverty. To do this, we have worked with UNHCR and IKEA to create a unique donation: IKEA’s logistics knowledge.
The ‘knowledge donation’ brings together logistics experts from IKEA and UNHCR in workshops looking at:
- Quality
- Product design
- Packaging
- Warehouse network design
- Procurement
- Transportation
- IT
Workshops have taken place in IKEA locations in Älmhult, Helsingborg and Malmo, Sweden; Pratteln, Switzerland; and Dortmund, Germany.
IKEA co-workers have been able to take the skills that are the core of the IKEA way of working – low prices, simple and efficient packaging, stackable products and use them to help many millions more people have a place to call home. You can find out more by watching the short video above.
“World Refugee Day is the perfect day for everyone to think about how they can make a unique contribution to help refugee children and families,” said Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation. “The IKEA Foundation believes every child should have a safe place to call home, and we believe sharing the skills and expertise of our co-workers at IKEA will help make this a reality for millions of refugee children.”
