Moveable social manufacturing: Making for shared peace and prosperity in fragile regions

•Moveable manufacturing reduces production risks and increases opportunities in fragile regions.•Social manufacturing in cooperatives raises civic engagement and prosperity in fragile regions.•Moveable social manufacturing can enable scaling up of artisanal production by cooperatives.•Moveable social manufacturing can increase market value of local production by local people.•Moveable social manufacturing can contribute towards reducing socioeconomic polarization.

It has been argued that local people making what they need with moveable factories can improve potential for peace and prosperity. In this paper, moveable social manufacturing is described in the context of fragile regions in Somalia. Moveable manufacturing involves means of production that are designed and fabricated to be moveable. They can be used to carry out a wide range of production work from agricultural processing to manufacturing complicated mechatronic assemblies. Moveable factories have received little attention in the literature, but have already started to be used in challenging environments from Afghanistan to Uganda. Social manufacturing involves people sharing the efforts, means and rewards of production. The reported research involved literature review and field study in Somalia. Study findings indicate that moveable social manufacturing is relevant to fragile regions of Somalia. In particular, study findings indicate that the best opportunities for moveable social manufacturing may be scaling up artisanal production, while seeking to add market value through focusing on brand authenticity and integrity. Moreover, moveable social manufacturing has potential to contribute towards reducing the socio-economic polarization, which has developed in many emerging economies.