Innovation is not the same thing as invention; it need not involve the creation of something novel but often takes the form of adapting something to a different context. It may be incremental (step by step) or disruptive (breaking the…
As practised at UNHCR, innovation is a strategy for change and for problem solving that relies on new modalities and products and that seeks to benefit from the ‘minds of many’ (with the ‘many’ drawn from both inside and outside…
Located in the hilly western edge of Rwanda, Kiziba refugee camp is home to some 16,000 refugees. Kiziba’s population is young, with 50% of its residents under the age of 18. The children born within the camp have spent their…
In 2006 UNHCR was looking for ways to reduce its spending on sanitary pads for refugees in Uganda. Staff read about Dr Moses Musaazi, a Ugandan entrepreneur, who in 2004 had been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation to come up…
In August 2013, UNHCR’s Innovation team launched the UNHCR Ideas platform – an online crowdsourcing tool[1] that enables members of the humanitarian community to put forward and develop innovative solutions to challenges in refugee protection and assistance. Each Ideas initiative…
The US has admitted over 2.5 million refugees for permanent resettlement since 1975. Its goal has always been for them to achieve economic self-sufficiency in the most expedient manner, under the assumption that legal entry into the workforce would provide…
Uganda hosts nearly 380,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of which the majority come from DRC, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. The majority live in approved settlements while some 54,000 live in the capital, Kampala. Contrary…
More than a decade ago Jeff Crisp wrote that “Since its inception…refugee studies has been notoriously ahistorical. Preoccupied with the latest emergency and with the plight of living people, researchers in this area of study have all too rarely looked…
For over three years, Lebanon has been hosting refugees fleeing the violent conflict in Syria; today, there are over 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, comprising over 20% of the country’s population. The continued escalation of the crisis has required…
There is real willingness and prioritisation within the humanitarian sector to invest in innovation in terms of developing new methods and approaches. One example is cash and market-based assistance, where during the last decade humanitarian organisations have developed innovative ways…