2022 RIL Innovator Support

Hosted by Response Innovation Lab Uganda

Under the support function, the Response Innovation Lab supports innovators and implementers to build their capacity in selected areas so that they can maximize their ability to deliver successful innovations. Similar to the training sessions the lab conducted in 2021, a series of training sessions in the areas of Safeguarding, MEAL, Resource Mobilization and Intellectual Property will be conducted. Scroll down for some highlights of the 2021 trainings.

Eligibility and Participation

The training programme targets social impact organizations that focus on generating impact relevant for refugee communities or other vulnerable population groups affected by crises and fit the following criteria:

Ugandan company or non-profit organization (priority given to legally registered entity)
Uganda-led or refugee-led organization
A local or national entity (headquarters in Uganda as opposed to abroad)
Have been in operation for at least one years and have traction.
Have an existing proof of concept

The trainings are open to 1-2 persons per organization and are provided at no-cost to the participants.

All trainings are provided at no-cost to the participants. There will be no facilitation provided by Response Innovation Lab .

Training Topics, Modality & Certification

The training sessions will be delivered as a full day in person workshops followed by self paced learning activities to be completed in a given time frame. An option to book CLINIC sessions will be available for innovators who desire more in- depth sessions on particular topics from the trainings delivered. The 30 minute CLINICS are scheduled for Friday between 11:00am and 1:00pm, one can book a timeslot here. Online, follow-up sessions and exercises are proposed for some of the topics. Each training session will generally have between 4-5 modules delivered by Response Innovation Lab and expert partners including United Social Ventures and Save the Children. A certificate will be delivered on satisfactory completion of a training.

1. Safeguarding

Safeguarding is an essential part of ensuring protection of children and adults from all forms of abuse and exploitation that may arise from an organization’s projects, partners or staff. This training provides an overview of safeguarding standards and procedures that can help organizations live up to their commitment to be safe for the people they aim to support and innovate with and for.

This is a full day training workshop that will be conducted on the 22nd of June 2022. Some templates will be shared to help innovators start with their own policies. This training is delivered by the National Safeguarding Coordinator of Save the Children.

This is an induction training, it does not give the right to a certificate of completion. However, organizations that are interested to go further on this journey are given an opportunity to engage in further training.

2. MONITORING EVALUATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEARNING – (MEASURING IMPACT, GENERATING EVIDENCE, TOOLS)

This is a five-part training that looks at developing a theory of change for your innovation, measuring impact and generating evidence for your innovation and developing an ethics checklist for your innovation. The participants will be taken through the RIL MEAL tool kit and trained on tools such as the feedback tool, data management tool, ethics checklist and Pivot diary.

This training combines a full day workshop, a two hour online live session, self-paced learning and take home assignments to allow participants practice using the tools. A certificate will be provided to those who successfully complete all modules.

The target audience for this training is primarily organizations with:

Limited MEAL experience

A good understanding of MEAL but limited practical experience monitoring innovation projects

The training will be conducted on the 22nd and 27th of July 2022 respectively.

>>> Click here to register

3. Resource Mobilization

This is a four-part training that looks at Business Strategies and Operations one needs to have in place, Marketing and Communications assets, Relationship Management with possible funders and what to consider when building a good organizational Reputation.

This training combines a full day workshop scheduled for mid September with take home assignments to allow participants practice what they have learned. A certificate will be provided to those who successfully complete all modules.

4. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

The Intellectual Property (IP) Module frames everything from the perspective of 'How one can protect the competitive advantages of their innovation from copycats?' to helping participants understand whether they need to be looking into different forms of IP registration. It also looks into the power of a brand and whether an innovation needs to protect itself against others pretending to be them through obtaining a trademark. Copyrights are also discussed.

This is a full day training workshop scheduled for mid September.

Attendance and Distribution of the 2021 MEAL training

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2021 TRAININGS

The training sessions had participation from across Uganda, this created a diverse networking pool.

Participants of the resource mobilization training appreciated that the training helped them design documentation like their elevator pitch deck, a one pager business plans, a partner tracker e.t.c which would help them with their resource mobilization strategies.
I CAN South Sudan refined their impact hypothesis during the training and they put it in a booklet which they are using to communicate their vision clearly.
One innovator said, that as a result of the MEAL training they got clarity on their target beneficiaries and this redefined their strategy on how they accessed them and how they distributed their products.

Contact

In case of any questions or suggestions, please contact: rhian@responseinnovationlab.com

Background

The Response Innovation Lab (RIL) is a network of field-based labs set up to solve humanitarian problems. In Uganda the Response Innovation Lab is hosted at Save the Children which is one of the founding partners of the lab. In the locations where the labs are, they map and convene actors, matchmake and broker partnerships, support and scale innovation, generate and share evidence so as to better serve vulnerable populations.