The SomRIL supported the SIMAD iLab to host the Global Goals Jam in Mogadishu in September, 2021. This event looked to using design thinking to address challenges in Somalia around achieving the SDGs.

In December, 2021, the SomRIL supported iRise as they organized the 3rd Mogadishu Tech Summit. We were able to organize 2 panel discussions. The first was on health innovations, and we facilitated the participation of Khalid, the founder and CEO of OGOW Health, and Sahra, the co-founder and CEO of Hello Caafi. The second was on innovations in the education sector where we facilitated the participation of World Vision, Save the Children, the Puntland MoE and Sisitech, to talk about the importance of public-private partnership and collaboration around the digital attendance pilot.

In 2019, the RIL co-convened an event with the Somali Food Security Cluster to better understand the challenges in the sector. One challenge that emerged was around the sustainability of agriculture capacity in local institutions. The pandemic delayed the progression of this MatchMaker submission, but in 2021 the SomRIL was able to partner with the SomReP consortium, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, and the Somali National University (SNU). This partnership and pilot is still unfolding, but the intent is for the SomReP to share their climate smart agriculture modules, have them endorsed by the MoAI, and then to develop a curriculum for the SNU to own and to offer to NGOs and others.

Our annual review for 2021-2022 is here! Please click on this link for a summary of activities, achievements and notable events from our growing network of field-based innovation platforms.

Over the course of four months, the RIL Central Support Unit worked with the Save the Children Sudan Country Office to help its team and partners apply innovation processes to four challenges that they had identified.

Five years ago, Response Innovation Lab launched its first platform in Jordan, kicking off an adventure that continues to prove exciting and essential to this day. To mark this milestone and the start of a new phase in our initiative, we wanted to share with you some of the most noteworthy accomplishments of our amazing colleagues and partners. Together, we have grown RIL into the largest network of field-based humanitarian innovation platforms in the world and have collectively demonstrated that decentralizing innovation processes, strengthening response-level ecosystems, promoting locally-developed solutions and encouraging horizontal scaling can improve humanitarian and “nexus” programming while also delivering on the promises of the Grand Bargain.

The SafeBangle Team is developing a wearable safety bracelet that can be used by the would-be victims of assaults, SGBV, and other forms of injustice to call their trusted relatives and loved ones for help.RIL has been offering mentorship and capacity strengthening, helping the team access new partnerships and resources. Read about their experience here

In 2020-2021, RIL further supported investment in this field by facilitating the 3rd call of the Dutch Relief Alliance Innovation Fund – allowing an investment of EUR 2 million in locally-led innovative proposals. See more about this locally-driven approach to funding innovation and the great solutions that emerged here.

A tailored curriculum has been developed based on an analysis of capacity gaps and existing other training programmes in Uganda. It has been delivered in partnership with Save the Children, United Social Ventures and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. - Learn more about innovator trainings here

RIL Uganda runs a Learning Hub for the refugee response actors and has supported them to learn and uptake best practices around: the Refugee Engagement Forum- Learn more about U-Learn here

With the LINS project, RIL Uganda identified alternative solutions to the traditional distribution of free and imported nutritious foods (corn-soya blend/porridge) through a participative and competitive process.
Learn more about LINS here

The Iraq Response Innovation Lab (IRIL) has completed a study to explore the potential of renewable energy sources in Iraq in the light of their experience with using solar energy for the incubated agribusiness projects in 2021 and the challenges that accompanied that they encountered.
Learn more about the Two Studies here:

Renewable *Energy Reflective Study

*Recycling Reflective Study

The latest startup that has reached the last stages of the Incubation Process is Al Bustan Mobile Application. Al Bustan Application is a mobile application that links farmers, service providers and consultants in a streamlined way. It is being developed to help farmers to move towards improving their production and increasing productivity by facilitating market linkages. The application is under development specifically for the Mosul market, and expected to launch as a pilot within the month of July 2022.

Work for all is an initiative that was launched by the Iraq Response Innovation Lab to support employment in Iraq. As Iraq struggles to recover from the war with ISIS, economic hardship and the impact of COVID-19, people from diverse backgrounds and educational levels have had difficulty accessing employment. [Unemployment rates in Iraq].
Learn more about Work for All here

Social enterprises are sustainable businesses with primarily social or environmental objectives. While the social enterprise adapts the ways that businesses function, their primary objective is to maximize social benefit. Social enterprises use business tactics and modalities to fix, or minimize the negative effect of, a certain issue in society. In Iraq, this concept is new, however, SIDA, alongside Oxfam’s partners and the Iraq Response Innovation Lab, launched an incubator open to local NGOs (Nongovernmental Organizations) willing to create sustainable social enterprises.Learn more about Go Green here

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Watch a video from the incubator here

In 2021, LINS issued a call for nutrition innovations/solutions that are locally rooted, market-driven, sustainable, with satisfactory proof of concept, and less dependent on humanitarian aid flows. The call sought to support quality solutions to at least one of the major challenges of malnutrition

Participation in the MIT D-Lab’s Co-Creation Summit in Arua, Uganda, which promoted locally designed solutions to energy and livelihoods challenges in refugee settlements.

The Open Source for Equality initiative aims to promote the development and use of open source that contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on health, education and equality. In this video we get to hear the experience of how five organizations are using open source for their benefit.

RIL Uganda organized a half day kick-off workshop and launch on 21st July 2022 to officially introduce the Local Innovation for Nutrition Solutions project and selected innovators to key stakeholders and partners. The event was reported on by the national TV network UBC.

Read about the experience from innovator Saul Kabali with Response Innovation Lab developing SafeBangle Technologies for the past two years, a wearable technology for immediate reporting of violence attempts against women and girls.

Hello Caafi! is a groundbreaking telehealths solution from Somalia, designed and led by two remarkable women innovators.