Marc Salvado i Vallmajó is the president and co-founder of La Cooperativa Humanitaria. Currently he is occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic response within Spain itself. The virus also triggered an early release and scaling of the Solvoz platform for Corona response in low and middle income countries. ‘We needed to collaborate with a network of committed professionals,’ says Claire Barnhoorn, ‘La Cooperativa Humanitaria now has several experts supporting our CTO Robert Simpson with setting up the back end and systems of the Solvoz platform. In order to structure and classify expert knowledge, translate user needs into solution packages and criteria settings.‘
So why does La Cooperativa Humanitaria choose to collaborate with Solvoz?
Marc is an experienced aid worker who started working with MSF (Doctors without Borders) 15 years ago. In 2014 he co-founded the Spain based La Cooperativa Humanitaria. ‘Solvoz is a platform that allows us to evolve in the R&D of new technologies for the humanitarian sector. At The Cooperative we have extensive experience in the humanitarian sector. Together with the Solvoz team, we set up a working group with large knowledge on different topics that can allow these R&D projects to be successful.‘
But in the end it is trust in professionalism and expertise that counts. ‘What convinced me to collaborate with Solvoz is the very good relation with the Solvoz management team and a trust on them, and on the project.‘.
Is Solvoz something new to you as president of La Cooperativa? If so, what and why?
‘La Cooperativa and Solvoz are working together to improve humanitarian response through new technologies and tools.’. There are not many aid initiatives that see technology as the main accelerator for humanitarian aid, so the collaboration was obvious. Marc sees a chance for real impact: ‘This platform can improve the response to humanitarian needs. It simplifies the way humanitarians look for resources. Solvoz integrates knowledge, materials and professionals in one site. To have all the info solving several of these problems in one place, will make the user extremely happy.‘.
What is the strength of Solvoz?
‘Their ability to identify interesting projects, accelerate them and bring together different professionals to make them evolve.‘.
What are you excited about in this collaboration?
‘I am excited to see when Solvoz users will start asking for more resources on the platform and how the platform can answer to these needs. I am also curious to see how projects will have an impact on the life of beneficiaries around the world.‘.
