Convene & Map
RIL maps out and convenes stakeholders from various sectors in the innovation ecosystem in order to understand the landscape, set the agenda, and locate resources.
Concept Explained
The convening process usually takes a human-centered design approach in the format of large-scale event, workshop or collective conversations. RIL also produces ecosystem mapping to help organizations identify the resources, support, or partners they might need. RIL’s convener events are of two types: 1) diversity-focused with the aim to picture the humanitarian innovation landscape in the context, gathering a variety of stakeholders; 2) depth-focused with a set agenda or guiding topic to advance on an innovation journey.
Case Study 1: WASH Challenge Mapping in NW Syria
The workshop took place over two days on the 9 th and 10th of October 2024, in Gaziantep, Türkiye, with the participation of 24 key stakeholders involved in the WASH sector response in Northwest Syria. The objective of the workshop was to bring together relevant stakeholders to address the challenge of "Poor Sanitation Management," identified as one of the most critical issues in the WASH response. The workshop aimed to uncover the root causes of this challenge while exploring potential solutions and synergies to address it effectively through collective efforts, utilizing design thinking tools and adopting a human-centered design (HCD) approach.
The challenge was identified through a Call for Challenges initiated by the NW Syria Response Innovation Lab (NWS RIL) prior to the workshop. This call received over 32 inputs from key humanitarian actors and experts in the WASH response in the Northwest Syria region. Following an analysis conducted by the World Vision Syria Response technical department, “Poor Sanitation Management” emerged as one of the most pressing challenges within the WASH humanitarian response, highlighting its critical impact on the overall effectiveness of interventions in the region.
Response Innovation Lab has been committed to establishing the Innovation WASH Club as a coordinated and dedicated platform. Moving forward, the convener participants, now collectively committed as part of the Club, will mobilize their resources and bring innovations to enhance the WASH response in NW Syria.
Read the full event report here.
Case Study 2: Financial Innovation Convener for Resource Mobilization in Somalia
Question: How can we address financial challenges through innovative solutions for the local communities??
What we did: We organized a participatory workshop for challenge mapping to address the financial challenges confronting the most vulnerable families by seeking innovative financial solutions from the local ecosystem to strengthen the local capacity and stimulate the innovative financial solutions. The entire project aspires to empower vulnerable women in marginalized communities by co-designing tailor-made financial products and services and expanding access to innovative financing instruments, ultimately reducing their reliance on humanitarian aid.
What we achieved: The three-days convenor in Mogadishu was underpinned by the Design Thinking & Doing Tools and LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology to unpack the challenges in the domain of traditional financial instruments.🏽Four heterogeneous mix of teams jointly explored the breadth and the depth of the challenges related to both the traditional and contemporary financing mechanisms to define the Innovation Challenge Statements on Remittance, Crowdfunding, Access to financial products and services, and the humanitarian aid.
Case Study 3: Convener on Entrepreneurship Support in Uganda's Refugee Response
Question: How is the state of entrepreneurship support in Uganda’s refugee response?
What we did: We organized a participatory workshop with Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs), policymakers, donors, implementers, and technical specialists - to discuss the current entrepreneurship support landscape in Uganda's refugee response, to share insights and good practices around entrepreneurship support, and to provide space for actors from multiple ecosystems to collaborate and share experiences.
What we achieved: Through a panel discussion, collective mapping exercise, and a saturation exercise, participants formed a common understanding of entrepreneurship support across humanitarian, development, innovation, and entrepreneurship ecosystems in Uganda’s refugee response.