Throughout 2020, Somalia RIL has seen great utilization of the interactive directory and a detailed relationship map that provided insight into the Somali innovation ecosystem. The feedback on these tools has been positive. A trend in the feedback was that it primarily came from those in Somalia, and the Somali RIL was keen to understand how it looked at a global level.

Through some research, Somali RIL partnered with the StartUp Blink platform, which does ecosystem mapping of ~200 countries and 500+ cities worldwide. Taking the mapping information we collected through the USAID RISE project, the lab mapped the ecosystem using StartUp Blinks platforms to see how it ranked against other country-level ecosystems.

Impressively, Somalia made a debut as the 95th most innovative country for start-ups! Only the top 100 countries are ranked. Due to this data, Somalia was placed on a global platform with a positive entrepreneurial storyline, a welcomed positive storyline on the country.

>>> Click here to access the map.

>>> Click here to access the Startup Ecosystem Rankings 2020 Report.

Somalia RIL hosted a “Sankalp Dialogues” webinar in Partnership with TetheredUp and the Sankalp Forum. The focus of the webinar is to hear from an enterprise, a business support organization, an academic institution, and a consulting firm based out of Somalia and how they are working towards being more resilient to shocks caused by crisis, such as COVID-19. Nishant Das, the Somalia Response Innovation Lab spoke with Abdulkareem Hassan Jama from City University of Mogadishu, Rahma Ahmed from Asal Consulting, and Mustafa Othman from Shaqodoon Organization during the webinar. The session was moderated by Arielle Molino from Intellecap's Sankalp Forum Team.

>>> Click to view.

Covid-19 Innovation Prizes for local initiatives were developed to support innovations that had sprung up in response to community needs related to COVID-19, where solutions had already been ideated, tried, and worked. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, via Save the Children Norway, funded the Prize modality. The total was 26 prizes in the categories of:

• The Response, Prevention, and Treatment

• Continuous Learning

• Sustained Livelihoods

• Refugee-led innovations

The winners were selected end of 2020 and will be announced in March 2021 publically. They each received a small prize based on evidence of Covid-19 innovative activities completed in 2020 and tailored coaching.

>>> Click to see the call

RIL Uganda was selected to facilitate the Dutch Relief Alliance Innovation Fund Call for proposal. This 3rd round of the fund was designed to support innovation with a high emphasis on local ownership from the theme-selection, to challenge-identification, to partnership building and expert review of applications. The fund is now investing 3 million EUR into local humanitarian innovation in Energy and in Safety and Protection. There will be 6 pilots implemented in 2021 through DRA-affiliated INGOs and Ugandan NGOs and startups.

>>> Click to see the call.

The RIL built a consortium with the International Rescue Committee and Impact Initiatives to secured a 3-year DFID/FCDO award for the U-Learn program (GBP 6 million). The program is designed to support improvements in the quality and accountability of protracted refugee crisis programming, in collaboration with a range of actors, institutions, and individuals across Uganda. The RIL is leading the overall consortium management, and responsible for the delivery of the Learning Hub (one of the three core program pillars of U-Learn). The Learning Hub supports and facilitates cross-sectoral learning within the Uganda refugee response to support the uptake of evidence. Amongst other things, the Learning Hub will foster learning by curating existing resources and making them more accessible, bringing people together to learn and increase collaboration, and by identifying and filling learning gaps.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U-Learn Consortium quickly pivoted to deliver a special COVID-19 adaptation program:

• Helped the Ministry of Health revamp its information portal targeting responders (COVID-19 Response Information Hub).

• Conducted a deep-dive assessment on the topic of COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE). The assessment aimed to strengthen the evidence base surrounding RCCE approaches in Uganda, exploring information accessibility, communication modalities, risk perceptions, and behavior changes in particular in refugee communities, to inform the successful delivery of RCCE.

• A Good Practice study was conducted on the Refugee Engagement Forum (REF) which will be disseminated during Q2 of 2021. The REF, implemented by the Ugandan refugee response community, promotes Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) in line with The Grand Bargain commitments by including people who are receiving aid in the decisions affecting their lives. It enables 37 representatives of the refugee community from all settlements and Kampala to convene and discuss matters of the refugee response vital to them.

>>> Click to learn more.

SafeBangle is Ugandan based social enterprise devoted to designing and developing solutions to curb Sexual and Gender-Based-Violence for a free safer world. SafeBangle Team is developing a wearable safety tool that can be used by the would-be victims of assaults, SGBV, and other forms of injustices to be empowered to call their trusted relatives and loved ones for help and notify them where they are in-case stranded and trapped. RIL Uganda and the CSU are supporting the team through advisory services as well as a part-time residency opportunity for one of the team members that are able to access daily coaching as well as the RIL tools and network. This past year, SafeBangle won an award by Spindle for 30 MOST INSPIRING DIGITAL INNOVATIONS OF 2020.

>>> Click to learn more.

IRC approached RIL about support for a training program for urban refugees on Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Financial Literacy. After a competitive selection, young refugee graduates in Kampala organized into three self-selected groups to identify community challenges. Then together, brainstormed and generated solutions to the challenges based on human-centered design principles. The RIL provides a monetary prize to support the refinement and implementation of those project ideas and mentorship and coaching.

RIL has been developing relationships with core ecosystem entities to be able to efficiently function as a platform that connects the private sector, non-profit, academia around humanitarian challenges. During the 2020 Kampala Innovation Week, RIL was highlighted as a core member of this ecosystem, and Startup Uganda, an association of ecosystem-building organizations, also recognized the initiative. This is a great success as it demonstrates the value add of RIL.

As its hosting organization, Save the Children International was also recognized as a critical humanitarian innovation convener and enabler in Uganda and on the international scene from the various speaking opportunities from the past few years.

>>> Click to learn more.

Over the past year, the Response Innovation Lab Uganda has begun developing a partnership with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in Uganda, with an MoU, signed in March 2021 formalizing the partnership. The partnership's nature is to promote problem-solving socially-oriented innovation in the humanitarian and development sectors and strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Uganda. We will specifically seek to conduct innovators' capacity building, joint resource mobilization, organization events in innovation-related matters, collaboration in evidence-generation, dissemination, advocacy, and support of the local innovation ecosystem with a focus on humanitarian and resilience-building innovation-clusters. The parties will be working on innovative solutions to some of the challenges in Disaster Preparedness and Refugees management, Gender, Labor, and Social Development related issues.

>>> See more information.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Response Innovation Lab, in partnership with Engineers Without Borders, held an Innovation Competition for Ugandan innovators for the design of solid-soap dispensers. The winning design is now being used by Engineers Without Borders, and Save the Children across 30 schools with good initial feedback. Additionally, the dispenser is being sold independently by its creator, who has produced and sold 267 dispensers between July 2020 and January 2021. This solution, produced by a local team with materials available in Uganda, was a rapid response to the need for Covid-19 prevention, affordable and accessible during a time of international travel and import ban.

>>> Read more.

In partnership with the UN Capital Development Fund, and on the World Food Programme's request, the RIL delivered a Matchmaker package on financial literacy training solutions. Financial literacy training is vital for short-term sound use of cash-based transfers and longer-term for inclusive development, equitable empowerment, and financial inclusion. The Covid-19 pandemic presents new challenges in delivering training with safety restrictions that require limited human contact. In-person training puts the trainer and the community at risk of the disease spreading. Numerous internet-based solutions exist to deliver learning, communities affected by the digital divide with limited access to the internet or smartphone device ownership risk being left behind. For instance, the proportion of the population owning a phone in Uganda is 71%, but this proportion drops to 43% among refugees. Hence, Organizations like the UN's World Food Programme are looking to continue delivering training on financial literacy, are searching for innovation in process, method, and technology to implement training with limited human contact under Covid-19 safety restriction.

>>> Click to see the packet.

Iraq's economy has its share of problems, and agriculture is one of the most significant challenges. Agriculture is often described as the backbone of the county, unfortunately, it is one of the most neglected sectors in Iraq. The country relies heavily on oil exports as a source of income, and other neighboring countries’ exports for agriculture. Yet fertile land and knowledge exist to make local agricultural production a source for the country. With imported goods entering the market at a low cost, local agriculture is not able to compete at the same margins and thus suffers. Agriculture is often seen as a separate entity from business, which leads to a lack of efficiency and innovation, which leads to many modern technologies, new advances, and environment-friendly practices to not be promoted.

With these challenges and more, the Iraq Response Innovation Lab launched the Agribusiness Incubator under the Go Green Initiative to support further developments in local agricultural production. The Incubator focuses on innovative ideas and adapting them to the Iraqi context with language and cultural expectations.

In 2020, the plan was to hold an extensive in-person training for innovators, however with the outbreak of COVID-19 the training moved online. Over the course of ten months, 12 projects were fully incubated, and five projects earned seedfunding of 20,000 USD each to support their launch. Some of the project highlights are using cost reduction methods through technology, reducing wasted water, introducing organic techniques, and knowledge and capacity building for local farmers.

>>> Click to learn more.

Iraq Response Innovation Lab has been working closely with two women-led social enterprises that tackle issues relating to employment and access to the market.

• Yalla Limited - One challenge in Iraq is finding service providers such as plumbers and electricians. Many times people need to ask around and wait for contacts, which isn’t helpful during an emergency. If you are starting a business as a service provider, there is the challenge of creating a customer pool with no formal marketing other than word-of-mouth. Two local Iraqi women, Ms. Ravan and Ms. Hala, launched the Yalla application which helps locate services through the app with a rating and pricing system. The app works to create a link between skilled workers and the needs of a household or other job.

• The Workshop - Supports youth and job seekers in their quest for employment, by offering a set of high-demand courses and integrated tools that support applicants in evaluating their skills, then offering training for areas where skills can improve. The platform is accessible on the web and mobile for ease. The entrepreneur behind the app, Ms. Sazan, sees the application a way for job seekers to find job vacancies, apply, and see how their skills meet the needs.

Both projects are expected to launch at the end of March 2021.

>>> Click to learn more.

One modality of the Agribusiness Incubator is focused on Social Enterprises in Iraq. As the first incubator in-country for local Iraqi NGOs, it launched in December 2020, with the support of SIDA. The incubator includes weekly group sessions and extensive one-to-one sessions with each participant on topics related to the social enterprise model, problem identification, and solution creation. The incubation continues until March 2021 where two of the participating 14 NGOs will be receive seedfunding up to 17K USD.

In Iraq, the training included in the incubation is important since the Social Enterprise model is a relatively new model in the country. The Iraq Response Innovation Lab proposed that capacitating local NGOs with knowledge and training around this model is the best way forward to support the NGO’s work on creating social impact. With a better understanding of business models and enterprise structure, these NGOs will be able to implement their projects and build sustainable revenue sources from their business models. All projects are focused on positively impacting vulnerable populations and sustainable revenue models.

>>> Click to learn more.

Every year in Nairobi there is a global impact investor forum for ecosystem stakeholders to come together, convene, and push each other forward. The Somali RIL research into the Somali innovation ecosystem led the organizers of Sankalp to ask the RIL to showcase the many opportunities Somalia had, as a “Frontier Economy,” despite the challenges.

The RIL brought together its local partnership with SomReP and BRCiS consortiums to co-fund the event, and to facilitate a panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Nasra Ismail (former Director of the Somali NGO Consortium), and an insightful conversation was had about partnerships, investment, and innovation in Somalia.

>>> Click to view the sessions:

• 10 min highlight video

• 90 min full session video

The MatchMaker program is a new online platform developed by the Response Innovation Lab that seeks to connect humanitarian problem holders with tested solutions. Whether in the public or private sector, our program is open to any organization that is interested in using new solutions to solve humanitarian challenges. Users of the service can be humanitarian organizations, government ministries, the private sector, CBOs, social enterprises, or any organization that is interested to use new solutions to solve humanitarian challenges. The Matchmaker has been piloted in the five RIL country labs since the beginning of 2018. Watch this video to learn more about the process.

>>> Click to view.

When piloting humanitarian innovations, it is important to gather evidence around it to know whether it is having the desired positive impact intended. The Response Innovation Lab (RIL) has developed an Innovation M&E Toolkit to support you in this process. This video highlights how the M&E toolkit was utilized in piloting the innovation OGOW EMR, a health record application for healthcare providers and parents, in Somalia. This toolkit has been developed and tested with the Start Network, DANIDA, the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), ALNAP, Save the Children, World Vision, and DFID. 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.

>>> Click to view.

When piloting humanitarian innovations, it is important to gather evidence around it to know whether it is having the desired positive impact intended. The Response Innovation Lab (RIL) has developed an Innovation M&E Toolkit to support you in this process. This video is a short case study for the toolkit’s use in Somalia to gather evidence around the Digital Attendance Application (DAA) education pilot with World Vision. This toolkit has been developed and tested with the Start Network, DANIDA, the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), ALNAP, Save the Children, World Vision, and DFID.

>>> Click to view.

The RIL Jordan received funding from DEPP Labs, a START network initiative. The Jordan RIL was supported to test the Matchmaker platform and provide both humanitarian and innovation technical expertise and tools to break down the barriers to supporting field innovators.

As a result of the DEPP project, the Jordan Lab was able to:

• Match 12 challenges with solutions and deliver solution packs during the project cycle:

  • 9 for institutional actors and NGOs

  • 3 for local communities

• A total of 47 solutions were included in the solution packages

• Make 39 referrals between humanitarian actors and solution-holders locally.

The referrals were developed as a pivot from the formal Matchmaker process that was part of the original DEPP project proposal and implemented in as an informal way of solving humanitarian challenges.

>> Click to learn more.

The Jordan RIL facilitated an agreement between a financial expert and the Jordanian innovation accelerator Shamal Start. The agreement led to the creation of a financial/funding model for the Syrian refugees and host community start-ups. Shamal Start is using it to create a pool of funds to support start-ups north of Jordan from Syrian and host communities to attract investment after they graduate from the Shamal Start incubator program.

>> Click to learn more.