INNOVATION UNHCR 2013 Year End Report
AMPLIFY.
CONNECT. EXPLORE.
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The solution you create is only as strong as the problem you’ve defined. In some of the toughest environments, and working for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, UNHCR has constantly needed to innovate to serve displaced persons around the world.
Contents. Introduction
Home Lab
Energy Lab
In 2012, the organization sought a new approach, creating a team dedicated to innovation. Innovation Jam
03
The Vision
05
Learn Lab
09
13
Link Lab
17
Self-Reliance Lab
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25
Innovation Fellowship
UNHCR Ideas
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33
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Partnerships
37
Hello.
UNHCR is an innovative organization, and has been since its inception. Operating in some of the most challenging contexts, and working for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, the organization has constantly needed to innovate and adapt in order to operate at the highest possible standard. In 2013 the organization’s innovative spirit was clearly represented around the world. Whilst Syrian refugee numbers soared to over 2.4 million, the Data Analysis Group in Beirut worked with their colleagues to create and adapt tools to respond to the increasing data and information needs across the region. In Dollo Ado, South-East Ethiopia, the operation embarked upon a project to integrate anthropology into programming as part of its wider approach to do things differently. In Malaysia, a new online education content platform was piloted in several locations in order to improve refugees’ access to learning resources. Our office was initiated in November 2012 to formally encourage, foster, and reward innovations like those mentioned above from within the organization. Under the stewardship of the Deputy High Commissioner, UNHCR Innovation aims to highlight the innovations and good practices that exist within the organization; to connect like-minded innovators in UNHCR; and to explore and engage external partners, products, skills and expertise. In 2013, our small team in Headquarters launched, supported, or developed 25 projects globally – of which 16 are currently in the field – that seek to reinforce the principles of user-centered design, testing, prototyping, adaptation and iteration. We launched the UNHCR Innovation Fellowship, to engage 20 of UNHCR’s most creative and determined individuals in a year-long program of project management, brainstorming, mentorship and support. We explored a range of partnerships, and engaged a wide range of organizations in challenges emerging from the field, from universities, multinational corporations, to other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations. We were also able to celebrate a number of firsts: The first use of online crowd sourcing platform, UNHCR Ideas; the creation of an Innovation Circle, a group of influential advisors from outside of UNHCR; the establishment of the first-ever refugee-centered Innovation Jam – an event tackling some of the deeper questions around humanitarian innovation; and the establishment of the first UN-wide innovation collaboration. We celebrated the High Commissioner of UNHCR announcing innovation as one of six factors for continued strong delivery over the coming years. We look forward to sharing our journey with you in 2014 and beyond!
03 | Introduction
Olivier Delarue Lead UNHCR Innovation, Geneva
Chris Earney Co-Lead UNHCR Innovation, Geneva,
amplify innovations already happening within UNHCR
innovators within UNHCR to time, resources, and each other
inno
vate
connect
UNHCR Innovation partners with people inside and outside of UNHCR to innovate with and for refugees. We work collaboratively with refugees, academia, and the private sector to creatively address challenges faced by uprooted or stateless people worldwide. Whether it’s co-developing mobile tracking technology for distributing supplies, or applying IKEA’s flat-pack principles to designing shelter, if there’s a more efficient, more sustainable way to meet refugees’ needs, we will find it, learn from it, and promote it.
explore innovations happening outside UNHCR. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we look for ways to adapt them to refugee challenges
01 learn lab
02 home lab
5 Labs Learn Home Link Self-Reliance Energy
03 link lab
04 self-reliance lab
05 energy lab
A lab is a learning space, a place of action, a space for thinking and exchange. The four main functions of a lab are to: 01 02 03 04
Create an enabling environment for innovation Develop ideas through the innovation incubation process Promote learning and document good practice Advise and support scale-up processes
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i-Fellows
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Current Projects
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Trainings Supported or Participated
Current Innovation Projects iFellow Locations Innovation Conferences &Trainings
01 learn lab
02 home lab
03 link lab
04 self-reliance lab
05 energy lab
Learn Lab.
The Learn Lab seeks to leverage educational innovations to improve quality, expand access and, increase learning opportunities for refugees. The goal of the Learn Lab is to improve methods for ensuring quality education and facilitating access to a greater number of learning opportunities. Aligned with the UNHCR Education strategy, the lab advocates for the adoption of pedagogical innovations and the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance the quality of education in a refugee setting in both emergency and protracted environments.
Challenges: How can we ensure children obtain a quality education in primary and secondary school? How can schools be made safer to ensure protection for children and young people? How can teacher training be improved to ensure teachers have on-going support and that trainings bring change in the classroom? How can schools be more inclusive to ensure equal opportunities for all ?
09 | Learn Lab
How can more young people have access to secondary and higher education?
Showcase.
Planting the Seeds for Innovation Linked with the Education Strategy objective to increase access to improved quality education, a large portion of Learn Lab activities for 2013 included connecting the field to new partners and models, setting the ground work for implementation for the 2014 school year. As a result, a series of exciting innovation programs will launch in early 2014 including the dissemination of eReader kits in Tanzania with Worldreader, the implementation of mobile ICT labs in schools in Malaysia and Djibouti; a dynamic roving Skype-in-the-classroom resource in Kenya, and the launch of cultural center kits with BSF in the Great Lakes region and Lebanon.
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02 home lab
03 link lab
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05 energy lab
Highlights.
ICT in Education Inventory In partnership with Interagency Network on Emergency Education (INEE) and FHI360, an online inventory for good practices in ICT Innovations in Education was developed, launched, and embedded within the INEE network, leveraging the existing community of practice and allowing for external actors to highlight new innovations and approaches. The inventory can be accessed here: http://ict.ineesite.org/
Community Technology Access In May 2013, with support from HP, Microsoft, and UNHCR partners, 7 computer labs were established in secondary schools in Dadaab. The labs are used for the instruction of computer studies, and enhance subject-matter learning through the Kenyan eLearning Curriculum. The program also supports vocational training centers and primary schools. The project’s design is based on community participation - which is essential for sustainability and ownership - through project planning and implementation capacity. The project is still on-going with a range of partners supporting expansions, including Vodafone Foundation.
Tertiary Distance Learning Programs Throughout 2013, the Learn Lab worked with tertiary distance learning providers to support their efforts in increasing access to higher education in remote and protracted refugee settings. The Learn Lab had the pleasure of working with innovative leaders including the Borderless Higher Education Program (BHER), Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM), and InZone, University of Geneva; providing coordination and technical assistance and, in some cases, resource support.
“Innovation goes beyond technology. It is about change and daring...Innovation does not just happen, it is a team effort in a creative and collaborative process to solve challenges.”
11 | Learn Lab
Francesca Fontanini, Regional Public Information Officer Bogota, Colombia
Empowering Education Innovations The lab had a prominent role in international education & innovation conferences, facilitating professional development opportunities for three education focal points who were invited to present and learn from others within this dynamic field. UNHCR Innovation was also able to spotlight the innovative educational work taking place in the field, generating over 20 feature stories in social media, and hosting a well-attended ICT webinar with support of the Global Learning Center. The collaborative efforts from both Innovation and the Education Unit enabled the amplification of innovations in the field, setting the groundwork for implementation and allowing education colleagues to build on existing good practices and to develop connections with new partners, who include Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF), Worldreader, and Vodafone Foundation.
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02 home lab
03 link lab
04 self-reliance lab
05 energy lab
Home Lab.
The Home Lab aims to investigate the exoskeleton of support provided to refugees during displacement and to rethink the ‘home’ environment for refugees and displaced communities. In 2013, the Home Lab focused on the Refugee Housing Unit. The Lab also investigated alternatives to refugee communities, together with students at Stanford University’s d. School. In 2014, the Home Lab aims to investigate field delivery more broadly, and seek solutions to challenges that are based around how UNHCR delivers assistance, as well as specific products of delivery.
Challenges: What constitutes a ‘home’ and how can we ensure that refugees and other POCs are given all of the basic needs to create those conditions in their new environment? How can we create longer-lasting, low cost alternatives to current refugee housing during emergency and transitional situations? Why are refugee camps built the way they are, and are there alternatives? How can we learn from analogous living environments?
13 | Home Lab
What are the main needs of refugees in the camp settings, and how can we better address those needs?
Showcase.
Refugee Housing Unit The Refugee Housing Unit (RHU) prototype is a new, alternative shelter design for refugees resulting from a partnership between the IKEA Foundation, a small non-profit design firm (RHU), and UNHCR. The partnership was formed in 2010, linking funding from the IKEA Foundation with the expertise of the Refugee Housing Unit, 15 other partners including Eindhoven University, and the vast knowledge of UNHCR regarding protection of refugees around the globe. After a collaborative design and product creation process, the shelters were brought to two field locations for an intensive 6-month testing period. In Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, the shelters were built in two camps with teams of refugees - who then inhabited and tested the product. In the vicinity of Erbil, Iraq, the shelters were set up in a new camp to be tested by partners and refugee communities. In both locations, monthly surveys
and in person data collection have been conducted to feed back into the improvement of the shelter design. The testing will be complete in the first quarter of 2014. In Dollo Ado, the user surveys have been complemented by a group of anthropologists, who have unique insights into the cultural context and usability of the shelters for Somali refugees. RHU shelters are designed to last for around three years and are built out of a water-proof, sun and flame retardant material around a steel frame. The shelter is modular in nature, while a shade net and solar light complement the external frame.
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02 home lab
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Highlights.
Redesigning Refugee Communities In partnership with IKEA Foundation, this project aims to design and build community-focused, protection-oriented settlements where refugees and host communities can live in peace and dignity in Dollo Ado. Desert Rose Anthropologists are involved involved in monitoring and evaluation and provide continuous guidance to the project. The vision focuses in part on camps’ physical arrangements and promotes smaller living settlements within the larger camp structure in order to increase access to basic services and ultimately to foster a more conducive protection environment. The layout considers access to facilities and services for refugees in the immediate and medium term as well as the longer term needs of the host community when durable solutions are found. Stanford University, in partnership with UNHCR, ran a course on redesigning refugee communities in 2013. Students from this course were partnered with the Innovation Unit as well as other units in UNHCR, and worked on solving site-planning as well as other UNHCR-identified challenges.
Planting the Seeds for Innovation Understanding of social and cultural practices and the effects – both positive and negative – of new approaches is necessary to inform programmatic alterations and to learn from new approaches. For this reason, Sub-Office Dollo Ado is engaging and testing the use of anthropological expertise as a key component of project design and project adaptation to best suit the needs of the people UNHCR serves. This integrated system of dialogue and qualitative feedback loops enables a deeper understanding of the refugees and host-communities. This research will focus on energy, housing, and livelihoods solutions in particular.
“At times, little practical ideas might be of great help in improving something and fully exploiting its potential; however, when the limits of those potentials are getting close, only radical changes can lead beyond them.”
15 | Home Lab
Antonio Di Muro, Protection Associate Bari, Italy
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02 home lab
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Link Lab.
The Link Lab aims to connect and empower multiple audiences, including refugees, UNHCR operations, and external partners through better use of technology and better understanding of data, communication and information. The Link Lab works at the intersection of data, communication, and technology. In 2013, projects responded to a wide array of challenges, from enhanced representations of refugees’ needs through data visualization, to issues of access to UNHCR and partner services in urban environments.
Challenges: What are the best uses for communications technology in situations of displacement?
UPS/UNHCR Relief Link
How can we improve refugee access to information and services provided by UNHCR and partners?
The Assistance Tracking project is a collaboration between UNHCR and the UPS Foundation that seeks to explore solutions to tracking the distribution of Core Relief Items to refugees, by UNHCR or its partners. The software is under development in partnership with FloTrac, the UPS Foundation, the UNHCR Field Information and Coordination Support Section (FICSS), and UNHCR Innovation. The software is developed to work with handheld barcode readers such as the Motorola A75 bar code reader but is also compatible with Android and iOS devices. Field testing began in Lebanon and has moved to Dollo Ado with an improved product. Another test location is being finalized for the beginning of 2014.
How can we improve the use of data within UNHCR and partners? What are the barriers to linking people with each other? Linking people to information? How can low-tech communications technologies be used in new ways?
17 | Link Lab
Showcase.
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Highlights.
One Stop Shop in Niamey, Niger UNHCR Innovation and UNHCR Niger have teamed up to augment access to services for refugees living in Niamey. At the beginning of the project, approximately 7,000 refugees displaced by the Mali emergency are currently based in Niamey. UNHCR Niger and partners have piloted a physical ‘Guichet Unique’ or ‘One Stop Shop’ to consolidate services from the Niger government, UNHCR, and other organizations into one location. This in turn increases refugees’ access to services and information. The Innovation office has focused on pinpointing technological tools to create an online version of the Guichet Unique to operate in parallel to the physical centre. This online platform will be tested in situ, with ongoing external technical support from SAP.
Ascend: SMS Surveys and Demographics Ascend is designed to improve communication and information sharing between refugee communities, UNHCR, and partner offices. The system utilizes a two-way SMS communication tool. Staff can use this system to collect demographic information, carry out surveys with refugees, and broadcast information to targeted groups. This may also enhance the speed and efficiency of data collection and, more importantly, may help refugees gain access to information more reliably. The information collected through this project will have additional benefits, including enhanced analysis of refugees’ needs. This system was tested in Ecuador in 2013, and will be tested in Costa Rica in the spring of 2014.
UNHCR AXIS
“Innovation means not being afraid to jump outside one’s field of expertise and continuously learn from other fields in order to find an ideal way to meet a certain need or requirement.”
19 | Link Lab
Ru’a Al Abweh, Senior Shelter Assistant Amman, Jordan
UNHCR-Axis was born from an initiative that began in the Education Unit in collaboration with UNHCR Innovation in response to a need to visualize monitoring and evaluation data from a more strategy-centered view. At the time, there was no method to examine how the Education Strategy performed globally or at an operational level. Furthermore, there was no recourse for those within the operation to add supporting materials to the data existing in UNHCR’s monitoring and evaluation framework, such as articles, images, and video. During the third quarter of 2013, a prototype was built to demonstrate the potential of a data visualization system that would deliver strategy-specific data, supplementary materials and publish to a PDF report. The success of the prototype created momentum to further develop an effective, robust and efficient platform to deliver more accessible and insightful data analytics.
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Self-Reliance Lab. The Self-Reliance Lab aims to strengthen the economic and social resilience of refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities. The goal of the Self-Reliance Lab is to explore ways of giving refugees access to work, with all of the social, emotional, psychological and, economic benefits it brings. Like everyone else, refugees want the independence to work and support their families. They want to improve their situation and create better futures for their children. Many refugees, however, face a multitude of barriers to finding employment or to starting businesses.
Challenges: How can entrepreneurship be encouraged?
Impact Sourcing and Microwork
How can inclusive value chains be created?
Impact Sourcing is outsourcing that benefits disadvantaged individuals in low-employment areas. It aims to provide higher-income employment and access to new income opportunities to individuals who might not otherwise be employed in this sector. UNHCR is initiating an action-research and capacity-building project across 2-3 countries to enable refugees to gain employment in impact sourcing companies, or alternatively, to successfully participate in online market places for micro-digital work, such as ELance, ODesk, and Mobile works. Knowledge farmed from these pilots will be captured into global-level guidance and made available to refugees worldwide.
Do impact sourcing and microwork provide viable livelihood options for refugees? How can we engage with the private sector in refugee operations? How can refugees benefit from online business networks? How do refugees innovate to diversify their livelihood strategies?
21 | Self-Reliance Lab
Showcase.
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Highlights.
Smart Business Services UNHCR has explored inclusive business approaches and business solutions to poverty. Our strategy is to bring business solutions to livelihood challenges in refugee settings. The model to be developed in 2014 combines an online platform of resources for refugee entrepreneurs and for the institutions that support them, along with capacity building for business development services in selected refugee operations. Online services will be integrated within UNHCR’s Community Technology Access programme. Both global online and local services will target the challenges facing refugee entrepreneurs, and offer access to business planning, project design, legal advice, networking, training tools and funding solutions.
Community- Based Enterprise Development Community-based enterprise development (C-BED) is a methodology designed by ILO Enterprise which builds on entrepreneurial capacity without the need for external trainers. It creates low-cost, adaptable training tools, that organizations can easily implement in marginalised and remote communities. The method empowers participants to find their own solutions to business challenges, and creates networks between aspiring entrepreneurs, small business operators, and manufacturers. A UNHCR partner is piloting this approach in refugee camps along the Thai border, and scaling is planned in other Asian countries initially. In 2014 and beyond, C-BED tools could be promoted and made available via online platforms, and become a standard offering of business incubators or business service providers in refugee settings.
Inclusive Value Chains
23 | Self-Reliance Lab
“Innovation means adaptation and transformation; it means finding original approaches/solutions to situations or problems. Being dynamic and evolving myself is an objective that I seek to achieve in my daily life, both at the personal and professional levels.” Astrid Callegaro, Associate Programme Officer Beijing, China
UNHCR has started documenting inclusive business models at work in UNHCR operations. These efforts are being combined into a project that will help preserve the unique heritage of refugee craftsmen and women, and maximize their access to retail and online market places. The arts and craft sector offers opportunities for skills transference and an increased job market benefitting refugees and host communities alike. UNHCR’s Livelihood Unit has initiated a project that promotes Syrian and Lebanese craftsmanship and supports the Lebanese economy by identifying an international market for high quality products and providing access to global marketplaces, including online markets. In addition, building on the success story of a social entreprise that employs ethnic-Karen refugee weavers, UNHCR is seeking to maximize the market opportunity provided by UNHCR’s own Private Sector Fundraising campaigns.
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Energy Lab. The Energy Lab will be at the forefront of UNHCR’s efforts to increase refugee access to energy for cooking, heating, lighting, and electricity. Refugee communities and their country operations will be placed at the center of the identification, development and implementation of new and appropriate renewable and sustainable energy solutions. The Energy Lab aims to find holistic approaches to energy challenges in refugee contexts, particularly to respond to the perennial issue of deforestation around refugee settlements. Through research and program design, the foundation was set for the Energy Lab to begin work in full force in 2014.
Challenges: How can UNHCR relieve dependency on wood for fuel? How can the right energy solution be chosen for a particular context, out of the many available options? How can the impact of energy solutions on the lives of refugees and the environment in which they live be accurately measured? How can off-grid communities be given better access to energy, for lighting, heating, and cooking?
25 | Energy Lab
How can UNHCR innovation projects learn from good practices or failures in the field?
Showcase.
Dollo Ado: Renewable Energy Solutions Due to environmental degradation and the negative impacts of firewood collection, among other factors, it is a priority to replace firewood as the main domestic energy source for refugees in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia. UNHCR has been implementing alternative energy options in a number of operations already, including in Dollo. UNHCR Dollo Ado wishes to explore the most cost-effective, sustainable, and appropriate alternative energy solutions for their needs and the environment. UNHCR Innovation has been supporting the Dollo office initially to carry out the ground work to create a space in which innovation can feasibly be applied. A feasibility study is currently underway in Dollo Ado; the results of which will be used both to pinpoint the areas that are crucial to ensure improved access to energy, and also to learn from short-falls of previous non-successful
projects. A number of proven solutions may be scaled up and/ or improved. This effort will be coupled with an exploration of what exists outside of UNHCR that can be brought into the operation to ameliorate energy provision. UNHCR Dollo Ado and UNHCR Innovation have also been working with a group of anthropologists to better understand energy use in the area and the potential for local innovations or creative designs from end-users.
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Highlights.
Energy and IKEA In 2013, UNHCR worked closely with the IKEA Foundation to prepare for a concerted push to put Energy at the forefront of UNHCR’s efforts. For the first time, an Energy Expert will work in the Division of Programme Support and Management, who will also be joined by an Energy Lab Coordinator in UNHCR Innovation. Their efforts will combine to support Cause-Related Marketing initiatives, which will enable UNHCR to revamp existing efforts in regards to refugees’ access to energy. UNHCR Innovation is excited to partner with UNHCR Energy and Environment on this new initiative.
Impact Assessment Measuring impact is the base from which all future energy projects will grow. In 2013, a baseline and feasibility study was conceptualized that will be implemented in the first half of 2014. This study will inform future solutions and create a reference point to measure energy initiatives as they are implemented over the coming years. The outcome of the baseline study will enable the impact of innovation projects to be effectively measured and monitored.
Partnership Development
“There are so many incredible ideas that deserve to be shared and recycled; ideas that can be replicated for the development of self-sustainable technologies to protect persons of concern and improve their quality of life.”
27 | Energy Lab
Alexis Ariza, Associate Programme Officer Khartoum, Sudan
Throughout 2013, UNHCR Innovation engaged a variety of partners on energy issues, both internally and externally. Particularly, Innovation worked closely with the UNHCR Energy and Environment Unit to set the groundwork for full Lab work in 2014. UNHCR partnered with a Stanford GIS class on energy issues such as solar cooking potential and environmental factors in migration patterns. A strong partnership was also developed with the UNHCR Ethiopia Operation, where Desert Rose anthropologists studied the cultural factors behind energy uses in Dollo Ado. These, as well as other new-formed partnerships during 2013, will lead to a wide network of collaboration moving into 2014.
Meet the iFellows There are 20 iFellows in the class of 2013-2014
INNOVATION FELLOWSHIP UNHCR Innovation seeks to pinpoint some of the most passionate, proactive change-makers within the organization in order to learn from their creative approaches and support them in solving the challenges that they encounter. iFellows will be matched with resources, connections, and knowledge and then the space to do what they do best— think, create, innovate. The Innovation Fellowship is a year-long fellowship that is awarded to UNHCR staff members based on their innovative spirit, creativity, and desire to solve challenges facing the organization in its service of refugees. iFellows are trained in innovative design thinking and project management and given support to research, test, prototype or scale innovation projects around the world. The twenty iFellows were given the opportunity to come to Bangkok, Thailand to attend a joint Global Learning Center/ UNHCR Innovation workshop on the innovation process. The Fellows were split into teams and taken through the entire design process – from defining challenges, utilizing various brainstorming techniques, interviewing users and finding analogous situations, and finally, designing, prototyping, and testing solutions.
Agnes Kanyonyi
Alexis Ariza
Anicet Adjahossou
Agnes is based in Ulyunkulu, Tanzania, where she is working through her Fellowship to build an adult learning center for women who have dropped out of school, using innovative methods of housing, education, and community.
Alexis is Colombian and currently lives in Khartoum, Sudan with his family. Prior to joining UNHCR, he worked with with vulnerable populations, such as SGBV victims, refugees, IDPs and persons in risk of statelessness, in Colombia for several years. He is particularly interested in assessment tools and how to re-create and improve them.
Anicet is working on a master site plan, applying new ideas to refugee camp planning including rethinking how to design the camp layout, shelter communities, and sharing host community and refugee service.
Anup Kumar Aryal
Diego Batista
Erin Hayba
Anup is originally from Nepal and currently works as a Project Control Officer in Lebanon. Before moving to Beirut, Anup worked as a Livelihoods Officer for UNHCR in Nepal, where he was recognized for his innovative ideas and sustainable practices.
Diego is an IT expert specialized in the design and development of databases and data visualizations. For the past 5 years, he worked as a data administrator at UNHCR in Baghdad and Jordan, and is presently a Regional Operations Data Manager Officer in Beirut.
Erin is an American based in Beirut, Lebanon as an Education Officer. At her previous position in Dadaab, Kenya, she vigorously promoted the use of ICT in education, working alongside a variety of stakeholders to bring computers and solar power into the schools.
Throughout the year, iFellows will continue to develop and refine the human-centered design skills that they learned in the introductory Innovation Workshop. They will undertake their own iteration of the innovation process – from defining a challenge, conducting research and brainstorming exercises, to prototyping and testing various solutions – with other colleagues, refugees, and partners who are also interested in the challenge. All iFellows have the opportunity and support to manage their own innovation project in their office/region. Innovation projects are field-based and refugee-focused. These projects should provide an added benefit to refugees and to UNHCR operations globally.
Meet the iFellows
“
Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. - Albert Einstein
Gerard Moya Anton
Jad Ghosn
Khandaker Aminul Islam
Maarouf Isska-Toure
Rebecca Kitcher
Samuel Gonzaga
Soojin Hyung
Stanyslas Matayo
Gerard is a Spanish national working for UNHCR’s Supply section in Budapest. Prior to joining UNHCR, Gerard worked for two other United Nations agencies. He focuses on IT and makes data visualizations in his spare time.
Jad is an Information Management Officer in Beirut, Lebanon. He and a group of other iFellows are creating a mobile app that will allow refugees to better access information about the UNHCR response to the Syrian Crisis.
Aminul works in the Transitional Solution Initiative (TSI), which focuses on durable solutions to protracted displacement. The initiative aims to transform camps into more self-sustaining settlements and improve the livelihoods of refugees and surrounding host communities.
Maarouf is from Togo and has been working as a Regional Data Manager in Tunisia for a little over a year. Previuosly, he worked with UNHCR Regional Hub in Kenya, as well as in Yemen, India, and Rwanda. He is passionate about implementing positive change for refugees through new technologies.
Rebecca works as a Field Associate in three refugee camps in Ghana: Ampain and Krisan, in the Western Region, and Egyeikrom in the Central region. In total, there are approximately 8,000 people in the three camps, and she is the focal point for health- related issues.
Samuel is a Ugandan WASH Officer. Sam worked to introduce solar-powered water pumps in one of the five camps in Dollo Ado in partnership with Veolia Environment. Sam is currently designing an innovation project for his Fellowship focused on improved sanitation systems.
Soojin joined UNHCR as an Associate Refugee Status Determination Officer, where she supervised registration activities and was involved in the hand-over of registration and RSD of asylum seekers to the government of Kenya. She is currently working in Azerbaijan as an Associate Protection Officer.
Stanyslas is an Associate Data Manager currently based in Cairo, Egypt. In 2012, he won the Duke’s Choice Award for his innovative Level One project, a UNHCR Emergency registration system which captures information on the first level detail of refugees in emergency contexts.
Mariann Urban
Markus Kainradl
Natalia Baal
Oukoum Nadjombe Gbatti
Valentina Duque
Yunesti Handayani
Mariann has been working as an IT Assistant in Budapest since 2012. In 2013, she took part in a Hackathon in Haiti named “From Local Solutions to National Systems”, addressing gender-based violence and hosted by Digital Democracy. Prior to joining UNHCR, Mariann worked as an IT teacher for several years.
Markus is an Austrian Protection Assistant collaborating with iFellow Mariann Urban on an Asylum Support Map, giving refugees a friendly way to access information and learn about initiatives near their location.
Natalia works as the Deputy for the Joint IDP Profiling Service, an interagency service based in Geneva. She is interested in bridging the gap between the humanitarian and development spheres. Additionally, she enjoys challenging environments where she is able to work in group - pinpointing great ideas and developing new projects.
Oukoum, also known as Martin, is an Ivorian working as the Operations Data Manager in Nairobi, Kenya. Martin has been working with Innovation since 2012, when he was part of an effort to rethink how his office catered for the reception needs of refugees residing in urban areas.
Valentina has been working in the field of refugee protection for 8 years, first with a UNHCR implementing partner, and then for almost 4 years with UNHCR. She is a member of the Durable Solutions team and is based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Yuni is working in Afghanistan to promote women’s empowerment through sport. She is also working with iFellows Alexis Ariza and Maarouf Issaka-Toure to develop an incident-reporting and self-assement App for refugee needs assessments.
To learn more about the Innovation Fellowship, visit the iFellow blog at www.unhcrifellows.org.
UNHCR IDEAS The Challenge. How can access to information and services provided by UNHCR and partners be improved for refugees and people of concern residing in urban areas?
The Winning Solution. A central platform titled help.unhcr.org that delivers information to refugees and unifies the sites that country operations are putting together in isolation. Help.unhcr.org is the concept of an online informative platform for refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR. Though the details of the project may shift as preliminary meetings, research, and project team building take place, the project will try to stay as close to its initial concept as possible. As described by Justin Senn in his idea on UNHCR Ideas, help.unhcr.org will be a dedicated online resource for refugees and other persons of concern to access information and services in their area, and in their language. To begin, the site will have location-specific basic information, such as contact information for nearby UNHCR offices, information on the services that specific organizations provide, links to self-service mechanisms, and sites of governmental
33 | UNHCR Ideas
A “challenge” is a specific question that is posed to a community of stakeholders to jumpstart the creation of ideas around a specific issue faced by refugees, or by the organization in serving refugees. The goal at the end of a challenge is a collection of viable solutions, vetted by the stakeholders and experts that could be implemented as pilot programs in the local area. The launch of UNHCR’s new idea-management platform, “UNHCR Ideas” took place between August and October 2013. The pilot Challenge focused on improving refugee access to information and services in urban areas, and included roughly 250 participants from inside and outside UNHCR, including other UN agencies, partners, and refugees. The exercise generated hundreds of ideas as well as thousands of comments and votes. After passing through an Expert Review and a final Leadership Committee Vote, the top idea from the platform was selected. The idea, which advocates for the creation of a refugee-focused UNHCR website, “help.unhcr.org,” will be pursued by the Innovation team in 2014.
The help.unhcr.org idea will be pursued with an international team of experts within UNHCR, as well as relevant units at Headquarters level. The project will be researched, tested, and piloted throughout 2014, and the process will be documented by UNHCR Innovation and on the UNHCR Ideas site.
12 August 2013
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Launch Date
UNHCR Ideas provides a space for staff members, partners, and beneficiaries to share practical experience and knowledge in solving common challenges. As ideas bubble through the system, contributors will vote, comment, and collaborate to eventually crowd-source relevant and innovative solutions to the problem.
and/or other agencies. The site will be modular, and may have additional resources in further iterations.
Users
Participant Comments
Votes
114
Ideas Submitted
“It is an open, free process, interactive, non-judgmental, and simple, further more; it encourages critical thinking and allows staff to contribute and share personal experiences and views. It certainly promotes creativity.” Zahra Mirghani, Senior Regional Protection Officer UNHCR Nairobi Hub
INNOVATION JAM The first Humanitarian Innovation Jam: Refugee-Focused Solutions, was held on December 5th, 2013 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and was co-sponsored by UNHCR Innovation, Georgetown University, and UNICEF Innovation. Participants in the Jam included a diverse group of approximately 40 practitioners from UN organizations, NGOs, academic institutions, government agencies, and development organizations. This diverse group of change-makers engaged in collaborative discussions that aimed to pinpoint current gaps within the field of humanitarian innovation, sharing good practices and challenges faced, and jointly identifying potential strategic priorities or areas of collaboration for 2014. The Humanitarian Innovation Jam was designed to complement thinking on innovations for refugees and other conflict-affected and forcibly-displaced communities. Participants came from a wide array of UN organizations, and humanitarian and development organizations. The diversity of these participants allowed the contribution of knowledge and experiences from various fields in the interest of discovering good practices that can be applied to refugee-focused innovations in the future.
Challenges: What are current innovation philosophies across organizations? How do the philosophies overlap, and how are they different? Are there trends in current innovations, and what can be learned from them? How is ‘success’ defined in humanitarian innovation? On the ground? In organizational cultures? How can impact be measured effectively? How can effective partnerships be pursued and created? Should they be pursued? How can current innovation practices and thinking be scaled within an organization? Should innovation be scaled? How can the self-reliance of the people on the ground be improved?
35 | Innovation JAM
How can end users be included in innovation work?
The findings of the event were published in a Knowledge Map on the event website at www.humanitarian-innovationjam.com.
EXPLORING NEW PARTNERSHIPS One of UNHCR Innovation’s three pillars is to explore how expertise outside of UNHCR can be partnered with the knowledge and experience inside UNHCR to create exciting results. Following that, our office works very closely with outside partners – in the nonprofit, corporate, and academic sectors, and academic realms – to improve the way we do business and to put the most up-todate products and best and brightest minds to work for refugees globally. The work of our office was made possible only through the generous preliminary donations of the IKEA Foundation, HP, Hunter and Stephanie Hunt, and the UPS Foundation. In 2013, UNHCR Innovation created the ‘iCircle’ – a group of highly respected individuals, companies, organizations, and foundations who are committed to strengthening innovation for refugees and other displaced populations through UNHCR’s work. The iCircle meets twice a year and aims to connect UNHCR to additional sources of funding and expertise, open new networks for collaboration, and link the organization to the most cutting edge technology and thinking of the day. In addition to our private-sector partners, universities have created exciting new opportunities for research and in-depth learning. NGO’s, other UN Agencies, and government agencies have contributed to our processes, projects, and planning. The partners shown here are just a glimpse of the diverse array of organizations who worked with our office and our projects during 2013.
“It is a privilege for us to work with all the creative members of the UNHCR innovation network and we feel proud to have been a partner in incubating this initiative. They are as passionate and motivated as we are about making the everyday life in and around refugee camps better for all.
37 | IPartnerships
Per Heggenes, Chief Executive IKEA Foundation
Oxford’s Humanitarian Innovation Project was one of Innovation’s earliest partners, and in 2013 particularly worked with the Self Reliance Lab. HIP also partnered with UNHCR Innovation to undertake a review of UNHCR Ideas as an “innovative space.”
Stanford University partnered with UNHCR Innovation to hold a class on Redesigning Refugee Communities, as well as a GIS class with refugee-specific projects.
The IKEA Foundation is the first, founding funder of UNHCR Innovation, and has been a close sponsor, friend, and partner of many of Innovation’s projects and initiatives through 2013, particularly those in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia.
With the UPS Foundation as a close founding sponsor and partner, UNHCR Innovation was able to test a new assistance tracking mechanism for Core Relief Items.
Georgetown University co-sponsored, hosted, and facilitated the Humanitarian Innovation Jam: Refugee-Centered Solutions on Dec 5-6, 2013.
Mindjet, formerly Spigit, worked closely
The first-ever UNHCR Innovation Workshop was partially hosted by the
Microsoft worked closely with the Learn Lab and field offices to expand and improve the Community Technology Access Program.
Bangkok University Creativity Center, an innovative space on the campus of Bangkok University.
HP is a founding supporter of UNHCR Innovation and is helping us to build mentorship programs and strengthen capacity.
with the UNHCR Innovation team to develop, launch, and administer the new idea-management platform, UNHCR Ideas.
UNHCR Innovation teamed up with UNICEF Innovation to increase synergies between our respective labs. We shared good practices and lessons learned, and are looking forward to continuing the collaboration in 2014.
We want to thank those who have supported our office through its early days: Toshi Naito, who co-led UNHCR Innovation from May 2012 to January 2013. Rocco Nuri established the communication and engagement efforts of UNHCR Innovation from August 2012 to December 2013. Gaela Roudy-Fraser established the Self-Reliance Lab, and coordinated its efforts from March 2013 to December 2013. In addition, we would like to thank DPSM, the Education Unit, the country operations of Burundi, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Niger, Lebanon, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, DIST, and DIP for your early support and partnership with our office.
Cover ©UNHCR/ E.Hockstein • Pg. 2 ©UNHCR/ D.Alachi • Pg. 4 ©UNHCR/ J.Rae • Pg. 5 ©Hyperakt • Pg. 7,11 ©UNHCR/ R.Nuri • Pg. 8, 39 ©UNHCR/ J.Strecker • Pg. 9 ©UNHCR/ Å.Sjöström • Pg. 10 ©UNHCR • Pg. 12 ©UNHCR/ I.Bayzid • Pg. 13 ©UNHCR/ J.Ose • Pg. 14 ©UNHCR/ R.Arnold • Pg. 15 ©IKEA Foundation • Pg. 16 ©Luminaid • Pg. 19 ©UNHCR/ B.Bannon • Pg. 20 ©UNHCR Innovation
UNHCR INNOVATION
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Rue de Montbrillant 94 CH-1201 Genève Switzerland T: +41 22 739 8570 E-mail:
[email protected] www.unhcrinnovation.org
