Standing in a refugee camp for the first time in Lesvos, Greece, a team of six students from a USC Viterbi School of Engineering course was shocked to discover an incredible mismatch between donations and what beneficiaries actually needed. Among many of these misguided donations included children’s books in Arabic given to refugee children who spoke in only Farsi. There were also too many toys and not enough men’s underwear.

 

From this shared realization, these six students took on the challenge of addressing such inefficiencies in humanitarian aid, and as a result, they co-founded Duet, a startup non-profit company with the mission of helping refugee families located in Lesvos, Greece by connecting them with donors in a system that allows them to request exactly what they need from local stores instead of relying on chance to receive the items they want.

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Although Duet has steadily grown in size and impact over the years, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has imposed many unprecedented challenges to Duet’s operations. Originally, Duet has partnered with local stores and businesses to support the struggling economy in Greece while improving the lives of refugee families from that region. These partnerships supplied the items that refugee families received from their donors. Essentially, donors were able to choose specific items that refugee families requested to donate their money towards using the Duet website. These items were provided by local stores and businesses in the struggling communities of Lesvos, Greece. This allowed Duet to not only uplift refugee families in need with personalized donations, but also support the stores and businesses that were struggling in the failing economy

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However, while Duet’s original donation system allowed donors to pick the exact items they wanted their money to go towards, lockdown in Greece has prevented beneficiaries from picking up their items in-person. The global pandemic has also lowered Duet’s donor base largely because so many people have been facing financial difficulties due to unemployment and no longer have the means to donate regularly. In spite of these challenges, the need for humanitarian support has only increased.

 

In response to the ongoing crisis, Duet has decided to temporarily replace their original donation system with one in which all donations made go into a donation pool that pre-funds the monthly budget of participating refugee families, allowing them to request and receive the items they need as soon as local stores and businesses reopen.