A key solution to achieving the objectives of the WORM project is with a plug and play model that is developed as a decision support tool for deploying humanitarian organizations across various settings. This decision support tool is developed to provide humanitarian organizations with information on local processes, requirements, settings, policies, and regulations so as to guide their procurement and waste management practices. With the myriad of medical supplies and products that are used over a humanitarian deployment, the plug and play model will highlight dependency linkages across different operational and strategic parameters, for example, duration and type of deployment, and operational role. The model will also enable humanitarian organization to rank operation and strategic objectives and will consider such dynamics when providing guidance, for example, is economic efficiency prioritized over capacity to adopt sustainable practices for waste management. Based upon such input parameters, the model will then highlight the local humanitarian waste management ecosystem offering insight into the available waste treatment methods and technologies, list of local waste management service providers, and list of local regulatory requirements. For now, the plug and play will be built for Vietnam and Kenya but will be extended to more settings going forward.

The implications of the plug and play model for humanitarian organizations are that they will get a rapid assessment of the underlying landscape of waste management within their operational settings. This rapid assessment tool will be utilized to understand mismatches between organizational capacity and the local waste management infrastructure of the country of operations, and the specificities of local regulations that require engagement.

The innovation friendly procurement approach is a tool that can help humanitarian actors balance the need to safeguard against corruption and tight budgets, while maximising the impact of the procurement, and manage sustainability considerations. The process lends itself particularly well for a strategically important procurement connected to an organisation’s core business, where there is little competition in the market and a buyer wants to stimulate market growth, and in areas or markets that evolve quickly. The differences between an ordinary procurement and an innovation friendly procurement lies in: 

1. The approach to the needs assessment, with an increased focus on the outcome that is sought with the procurement and less on the input. 

2. The introduction of an open and transparent dialogue between the buyer and the private sector, an element that is often prevented by humanitarian organisations’ procurement regulations today. 

3. In the formulation of the specifications in the request for proposals. These should be formulated around the performance and impact sought, not on technical specifications describing a solution.

The added value of adopting the innovation friendly procurement approach: 

- A more inclusive procurement process fostering improved dialogue between the supplier and the purchaser and ensuring that the product or service delivered from the suppliers meet the needs of the beneficiaries. 

- De-risking the procurement process by contracting a product or service based on performance-based specifications. 

- Potential for increased impact and value creation for the target group building on a thorough and user-centric needs assessment.

WORM seeks to establish common policies and standard operating procedures (SOP) for the humanitarian context and particularly any environmental repercussions incurred during operations involving field hospital deployments. With LCAs of prioritised product groups conducted, it is possible to identify and prioritize improvement opportunities, and/or compare different products or processes. These comparisons are made between fossil-fuel based products and bio-based or -sourced products. The LCA is also used to determine the environmental impact of current waste management strategies for hazardous medical waste. This will also help to determine alternatives to e.g. incineration, which can cause harmful emissions and air pollution, and is one of the common ways of disposing of waste in many contexts. Alternatives include sanitary landfills, pressure steam or microwave sterilisation, and chemical disinfection. The trade-offs between alternatives are highlighted with causal loop diagrams (CLD). CLDs provide comprehensive information on the effects of decisions by conceptualising the balancing or reinforcing effects of factors. Trade-offs include:

- environmental friendliness of bio-sourced products versus their durability

- material selection and hygiene requirements

- increase in bio-based material versus food security, deforestation and climate change

- change in materials vs the livelihoods of waste pickers

Dialogue between stakeholders in the humanitarian supply chain is crucial for environmental sustainability. Neutral guidelines and policies would enable IHOs to implement environmental guidelines on strategic level. The emphasis has thus far been on transactional processes such as procurement, whereby the holistic view of the organizational strategy remains neglected. An output of WORM will be a catalogue of products used in humanitarian contexts, where crucial details of these products will be clearly available for end users. 

The workshop produced several significant outcomes:

1. Framework Development: Participants collaboratively contributed to the draft sustainability framework that prioritizes key criteria across three dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. This framework serves as a guideline for integrating sustainability into humanitarian procurement practices.
2. Increased Engagement: Feedback was gathered through polls and breakout sessions, emphasizing a collective commitment to advancing sustainability in humanitarian operations.
3. Consensus on Criteria: A consensus emerged on the necessity of mandatory environmental requirements and the importance of establishing standardized supplier assessments to ensure systematic integration of sustainability in procurement policies.

End-users, including humanitarian organizations and procurement officers, can implement the results of this project by utilizing the developed sustainability framework in their procurement strategies. By adopting the standardized criteria outlined in the framework, organizations can enhance procurement processes, reduce environmental impact, and improve supplier engagement. Additionally, there is a critical need for a go-to knowledge base that provides all stakeholders with access to relevant information and resources. This knowledge base has materialized in the WORM project into a new key deliverable of the WORM project—the bio-based catalogue of product categories—designed to showcase sustainable options available in the market for humanitarians and health workers globally (to be launched Q4 2024). The main added value for end-users lies in the opportunity to align their procurement practices with sustainability objectives, thereby contributing to more responsible and effective humanitarian operations. The framework not only provides a practical tool for integrating sustainability into procurement but also promotes collaboration among stakeholders, enabling a unified approach.