The Library
Innovation metrics for human development – what have we learned
Inspired by the recent frank reflection by UNCHR’s amazing Innovation Team on designing metrics for humanitarian innovation, we would like...
A future-looking approach to energy and environment in Angola
Julie Gassien bats at an incessant onslaught of gnats attacking the moisture in her eyes. All around her is the green fernery of the...
The Measurement Problem
The need for building better data and monitoring mechanisms in humanitarian action. A challenge that education staff have always grappled...
Shame! You went to another humanitarian conference.
For a long time, it seemed that the bandwagon of people who wanted to work on interesting social issues relating to technology, digital...
How connecting neuroscience, storytelling, and psychology can create measurable impact for refugee youth
Today, science shows us how stress and trauma impact our physical bodies and even genetics. But there is a layer that science still needs...
How we can better support innovation in emergencies
Looking back: how did we do in Uganda? At the beginning of this year, we wanted to take a critical look at our engagement with the Uganda...
Can we look into the future? Using demographic models to project displaced populations.
UNHCR provides crucial support to forcibly displaced populations around the world, including access to shelter and basic services....
We need to fix the gender imbalance in our stories on innovation
Here’s how we’re going to do it. Have you ever felt like a hypocrite? Or worse: an imposter? Both emotions have the effect of surprising...
Innovation is about diversity and inclusion. Stop with the gimmicks, catch up.
The title says it all. You either get this, or you’re pushing tech and getting your bosses to be excited about products with little...
Can social science accelerate innovation on behalf of the world’s displaced people?
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Innovation Service has launched a yearlong partnership with the newly established...
Jetson: insights into building a predictive analytics platform for displacement
Project Jetson is a platform aimed to provide UNHCR operations predictions about population movement (arrivals/departures) for specific...
Overcoming hate: an activist’s journey from Syria to San Francisco
Maybe Subhi Nahas was always meant to wind up in San Francisco. What better city for a young, gay activist with a penchant for new...
How to control the ‘CTRL+P’ urge: Embracing Audio
In a recent blog, I commented about the reliance on text-based communication in humanitarian settings. Leaflets, banners, notice-boards...
Linking innovation management, circadian rhythms, inclusion, and giphys.
I’ve never been trained in management. And I’ve never been trained in innovation. This week I realised that I really don’t know what I’m...
Teaching a ‘robot’ to detect xenophobia online
A robot? Not exactly. Machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are two buzzwords, particularly when talking about the realm...
Planning a Mobile Phone Distribution? 10 things to consider, okay… there’s a few more.
When I’ve recommended a mobile phone distribution, to strengthen our communication with communities, I’ve seen a lot of colleagues recoil...
Communication by refugees, for refugees, in Angola
I’ve always wanted to visit Angola and remember reading about the end of years of bloody civil war when I was at school. This year, I had...
Q&A with Jeff Wilkinson from UNHCR Aleppo on designing solar street lighting with the Syrian community
Jeff Wilkinson has been based in UNHCR’s Aleppo office since October 2016. Prior to moving to Syria, he worked with UNHCR as Head of Field...
Ligne Verte – how a free phone number is providing information to refugees in Niger
The UNHCR Representation in Niger was established in 2012 to respond to the influx of refugees from Mali, following the outbreak of...
Beyond numbers: Why cultural change has to accompany our renewed investment in data.
Data is important. Obviously. UNHCR sits on a data goldmine. Data is gathered, circulated, cleaned, analysed, continuously visualised,...
From big data to humanitarian-in-the-loop algorithms
The Data Revolution is no longer a new topic but a reality trying to catch up with the expectations it has generated. The private sector...
How to do workshops better (if you have to do them)
The Regional INS Workshop: A workshop we ‘did’ even though we ‘don’t’ As a rule, we don’t go to workshops. Well, some of us do, but only...
The promise of boring innovation
Administration is probably the first contact point anyone has in the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). In reality, everything we do has a sort of...
Why UNHCR is taking action on climate change displacement
From her office at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, Erica Bower keeps track of the wildfires ravaging Santa Rosa, California. For weeks it...
Integrating storytelling as a tool for healing and community building
It started like this: a small, white video camera; two Syrian youth facilitators; and twenty-five Syrian youth in the Zaatari refugee camp...
Education is key for refugees to build their futures. Here’s how we can help them do that.
Access to higher education scholarships, training, and professional opportunities for refugees is essential. Yet, just one percent of...
Why we need to position UNHCR for the future
This essay was originally posted in the recently released report: UNHCR Innovation Service: Year in Review 2016. This report highlights...
Set up a system to manage two-way SMS in two minutes
Only a few years ago, what was considered 'innovative' was using phones - in any way possible - to engage with communities. Time moves...
10 things to consider before rolling out two-way SMS
While we describe how to get started with two-way SMS in our recent blog, there are a number of things to consider before embarking on...
Refugees are not the crisis. It’s the narratives we tell about them.
Don’t start with a boat. Don’t show it lurching on the waves, a crush of terrified people packed elbow to ribcage, a baby crying. Don’t...
How UNHCR trialed their Innovation Fellowship with the broader humanitarian system
For the first time last year, the UNHCR Innovation Service opened its Fellowship to applicants from an outside organization: Medecins Sans...
Information and Communication Needs Assessment Tool
In order to support UNHCR Field operations and other humanitarian response organisations undertake Information and Communication Needs...
Understanding Information Ecosystems: Making it happen
“...an investment in researching access, sourcing, flow and trust around information movement in any given community is vital to the...
Six steps for adapting your design solutions to the right context
In a recent workshop, we were presented this quandary: ‘I get the challenge definition, but how do you nail down a solution’. I’m writing...
Why we’re doing a series on women in the humanitarian sector
The ‘UNHCR Innovation Women Video Series’ highlights unique perspectives and challenges of women in UNHCR. They offer their experiences on...
Chatbots in humanitarian settings: revolutionary, a fad or something in-between?
‘Hi, can I speak with UNHCR?’ Mobile messaging apps are the fastest-growing digital communications phenomenon to date. Today, more than...
Rethinking what innovation means in emergencies – the case of Angola
This article is a part of our 'Innovation in Angola' series where we highlight innovative ways of working and best practices in...
Why innovators can come from all parts of an organization
Alpha Diallo was perhaps not the most obvious employee among his colleagues in Abidjan to take on the role of Innovation Fellow. As Head...
New App Tells Refugees In Israel, ‘We See You’
It was something Natalia Nahra had noticed at every turn of her career. When people had trouble accessing good information, they struggled...
Practical tips for innovating in UNHCR
The word innovation is ubiquitous and confusing to most. We’d use a different word if we could. So what are the first steps for including...
New paper from UN Global Pulse and UNHCR explores use of digital data for insights into forced displacement
UN Global Pulse and UNHCR published today a white paper entitled “Social Media and Forced Displacement: Big Data Analytics &...
Congolese refugees find hope and safety during relocations in Angola
"I’m tired of sharing every bit of space. I want to have my own place, a place to call home” says Cedrik Ngandu, a 17-year-old Congolese...
“The more I learned about a proposed solution, the less desirable it became.”
"What I have learned is that innovation is not a one-day activity." This was a point that truly stuck out at me after we interviewed our...
Why engaging others is crucial for good ideas
In our second series highlighting the 2017 Innovation Fellows, we are bringing you insights into ideation and prioritization. Now that the...
UNHCR’s first refugee start-up weekend
Nervousness was in the air. Although many of the refugee families knew each other you could feel the tension. For the first time, these...
What the Digital Geneva Convention means for the future of humanitarian action
In February this year, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith took the stage at the RSA security conference in San...
New publication: UNHCR Innovation’s Year in Review 2016
A transparent look at innovation in UNHCR UNHCR's Innovation Service has launched a website and a new publication to highlight how UNHCR...
Why defining a challenge isn’t so easy after all.
When talking about innovation a lot of people focus on technology, the latest buzzword (drones, artificial intelligence, data, among many...
A poem about refugees you need to read
Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, a wave of anti-refugee sentiment made its way overseas to the United States as multiple...
How business incubators can facilitate refugee entrepreneurship and integration
Esmeraldas, one of Ecuador’s least developed provinces, has seen the arrival of over 6,000 refugees and 18,000 asylum seekers in the past...
Comment Paris soutient l’intégration des réfugiés à travers l’innovation et la cuisine
A partir de l’été 2015, les réfugiés plus nombreux arrivant en Europe ont été reçus avec un sentiment de crainte, un manque de structures...