Response Innovation Lab (RIL) and 48percent.org are announcing a strategic partnership to scale further and support innovations around access to connectivity in humanitarian and emergency contexts.

The case for innovation in the Humanitarian sector is well known, as is the importance of investing in new innovations and the need to adapt and adopt innovations that already exist to make wide-ranging improvements in people's lives. For a long-time, the focus of many humanitarian donors and organisations has been on creating new innovations in the hope of making significant change across the sector. This is an incredibly important focus, and area resources need to be allocated too. However, just as important, donors and organisations need to focus on the adoption of innovations that already work to create a significant change with people affected by the crisis.

In December 2020, RIL held a week-long virtual global retreat to share reflections from the past year on each of the humanitarian responses and challenges, success, and plans for the upcoming year. Each session is about 30 minutes long.

UNDP Accelerator Labs, Honey Bee Network, and GIAN have jointly organized the first International annual competition for creative & innovative ideas or traditional knowledge practices around the world, which solve day-to-day problems. Life Shelter received this International Award among 2,500 solutions around the world.

Innovation hubs are connecting young entrepreneurs, programmers, designers, and investors and facilitating growth and collaborations across the innovation ecosystem. The Response Innovation Lab has set up an interactive platform to empower innovators with innovation support which highlights innovation hubs, accelerators, and co-working space’s location and hours.

The Uganda RIL published an Op-Ed in Devex regarding lessons learned integrating innovation into the Uganda refugee response. Localizing innovation takes a central theme in the article. Please take a read!

Innovative techniques and platforms are proving to be a key factor in humanitarian responses to ongoing regional conflicts, severe weather patterns, a changing climate, and forced migration. Read how RIL’s work aligns with the 2030 SDGs goals.

The Hiddo & Hirsi educational videos are the first series of its kind for Somali-speaking children. Together, the innovator Poet Nation Media, the Somali Response Innovation Lab, and its local host World Vision Somalia developed a segment called Hiddo & Hirsi – the Protector Twins. These twins envision themselves as superheroes protecting their community from the Coronavirus and show how they deal with the challenges of closed school, psycho-social and mental health awareness, gender inclusivity and handicap representation, and much more!

A founding principle to RIL has always been the focus on strengthening local ecosystems to build resiliency and contextualized support for the response.

In Somalia, a challenge to the local health ecosystem was identified that there wasn’t a way for refugees and vulnerable populations to track their care or access care. An innovative solution was identified and needed support with piloting. The Somali Response Innovation Lab has been helping OGOW EMR with its first pilot. Click to learn about the impressive results.

The Response Innovation Lab (RIL) has developed an Innovation M&E Toolkit to gather evidence around humanitarian innovations to better understand whether it’s having the desired positive impact. This video is a short case study for the toolkit’s use in Somalia to gather evidence around the OGOW EMR digital medical records, health pilot project with World Vision.

The Uganda Response Innovation Lab ( Uganda RIL) has developed a dynamic map of the local ecosystem to better identify actors, innovators, in the response. The map is comprehensive of the humanitarian and social impact innovation stakeholders and supporters in the innovation ecosystem.

The Uganda RIL is one of several sponsors of the Kampala Innovation Week. Learn more about this unique event, and RIL’s role in the local ecosystem.

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) produced a report in November 2020 on the future of technology and innovation from the COVID-19 response. The Response Innovation Lab’s both in Iraq and Uganda were highlighted.

Khalid Hashi, founder of the Somali-based OGOW EMR health record innovation talks about the lessons he has learned as a social entrepreneur in a humanitarian setting.

Saul Kabali, who started as an intern at the Uganda Response Innovation Lab shares the 6 lessons he learned from his time at the lab, and how it has impacted the growth of his innovation - SafeBangle.

The REF is an innovative Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) mechanism in the Uganda refugee response. The study showcases REF as a good practice for community engagement in a refugee response setting and hopes to inspire other countries to do the same and attracting more support for the REF in the country.

Chris Lukolyo, Digital Country Lead UNCDF digital and Charlene Cabot, manager of the Uganda Response Innovation Lab interviewed with Smart24TV about innovation inclusiveness in Uganda during the Kampala Innovation Week 2020.