Together We Stand

[ 51 ] field. This could result in approximately US$5 billion being redirected into humanitarian programmes each year. The effective engagement of local actors is a core aspect of the Innovation Lab. In partnership with a team from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, the Innovation Lab established guidance on how to attract, interface with and promote local partners. The guidance was created after three weeks of consultations with individuals, businesses, trade organizations and government and non-government organiza- tions within Nepal. The results of these consultations reinforced the understanding that local partners with strong community links and access are best positioned to identify, envisage, design and generate the types of breakthrough innovations that will contribute most significantly to improved disaster response and improved quality of life thereafter. Local partnerships are also key to testing, promoting and scaling up solutions within Nepal. Linking local and international partners to co-develop and refin- ing concepts and then to pilot and field test concepts will ensure innovation is appropriate and welcome in the specific context. Key learnings at this stage of the Lab’s development have been in understanding the critical importance of identifying innova- tion efforts and the capacity of local organizations, institutions, communities and individuals in order to best connect them with external skills and capacity from outside collaborators. In developing methodology for mapping the local innovation landscape, the Innovation Lab will be able to shape projects, focus resources and deliver sustainable solutions that are devel- oped in close partnership with local communities. The Innovation Lab is at an exciting early stage in its devel- opment. It is now both a physical location, a dynamic shared working space situated in-country, and a set of processes and methodologies that support a pipeline of partners and projects to enter, innovate and scale up. New projects and partnerships are set to enter the lab, exploring how new technology and delivery modes can enhance learning platforms in remote areas. These include international and local construction industry partners devel- oping a technology-enabled system for quality assurance on earthquake-resilient construction projects, and health partners developing new devices and systems to enable telemedicine and remote health care monitoring for difficult- to-access communities. Discussions are ongoing with a range of international stakeholders, from leading tech and innovation companies to forward-thinking NGOs, as well as with academic teams and other key actors. Local partnerships are being forged across private, public and civil sectors. The Innovation Lab represents a paradigm shift — an entirely new approach to the way in which humanitarian agen- cies respond to disasters. The complexities of a post-disaster context call for us to go beyond simply meeting immediate needs, and instead create platforms that can support new partnerships, processes and products to emerge. Currently, the Innovation Lab accounts for 1 per cent of World Vision’s Nepal Earthquake Response with secured funding for three years. This is the first lab of its kind — focused on high-level innovation in a rapid onset emergency, based in the field. The Innovation Lab is designed to grow through partnerships with a shared commitment to invest in and raise the investment for growing what works. Ultimately these partnerships will produce practical, useful, replicable and scalable solutions leading real investment into developing countries. Perhaps just as importantly, the lab will demonstrate a new model of partnership between the private sector, NGOs and communi- ties that goes well beyond the transfer of money and goods to achieve true collaboration and partnership. World Vision anticipates that in time, Innovation Labs will be incorporated into humanitarian responses as standard operating procedure. In his Agenda for Humanity, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls for us to draw on our comparative advantages and work together towards collective outcomes by promoting a stronger focus on innovation in the humanitarian sector based on complementarity among actors, whether local, national or international, public or private. In response, World Vision was one of a few select NGOs to represent the humanitarian community in designing and shaping the structure and mission of the a new multi- stakeholder Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation (GAHI) in preparation for its launch and rollout at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. World Vision will continue with its engagement and participation in GAHI after the launch, in order to share our learning and speed up adaptation of innovative solutions to humanitarian chal- lenges across the sector. The alliance aims to bring together a wide range of actors from academia, the private sector, and local and international civil society to champion innovation in humanitarian crisis response. GAHI is designed to deal with innovation challenges that separate actors in the humanitarian space cannot deal with on their own. 3D printing enabled new, more powerful radio antennas to be built, increasing coverage across Nepal and helping families to reunite Image: Field Ready, 2015 T ogether W e S tand