The UNHCR Innovation Fellowship is our annual innovation learning programme for UNHCR’s workforce and members of select partner organizations.
The Innovation Fellowship focuses on building the innovation skills and competencies of participants, in addition to supporting them to engage with colleagues, partners, and refugees to bring innovative approaches into their operations or divisions.
Over the course of the programme, Innovation Fellows learn and practice innovation methods and tools, embedding these new approaches into their projects. They focus on problem solving, ideation, and experimentation to develop innovative solutions to real-life challenges in the field or at headquarters.
Fellows are UNHCR’s ambassadors for innovation and lasting positive change both within and outside the organization.
If you want innovation you need to focus on people – and that’s the very basis of the Innovation Fellowship.
Join the Fellowship!
Are you dedicated to finding new ways of solving tough challenges facing displaced communities and humanitarian actors? Eager to learn more about how innovation can help?
This is the opportunity for you! We’re currently accepting applications for the 2023 Innovation Fellowship.
Voices from the programme:
This was a real paradigm shift for me, because learning about innovation brought me to think very differently about working with refugees. I realized that the existing framework for assisting refugees doesn’t leave much room for thinking outside the box and for self-criticism. This means we risk replicating the same mistakes, or not prepare adequately for change. By contrast, the innovation process allows us to think independently and address problems in a very efficient and timely manner.
One of the main principles with innovation is that diversity is important. Being able to empathise. So seeing people’s, whether that’s staff or persons of concern or whatever, from a different perspective, I think is important. We need all the perspectives.
I think of myself as part of a new generation of UNHCR managers. Slowly but surely as new colleagues are being recruited…we have the opportunity to show them a different arc. To show them from the get-go how things work here and let them know we’re all about change and innovation. We don’t want to stay still. We want to make the most we can with the least.
I believed my idea was so brilliant and that obviously once we deployed this platform, it would revolutionize the refugees’ lives. But after going to the Innovation Fellowship workshop, one of the first things they taught us was not to be married to our ideas and to test assumptions. Following the innovation process made me rethink my approach.
In order to get sustainable innovations and make the organization better, you do need to focus on mindset and culture. Organizational culture is not something to be dealt with when everything else is done, but it is a foundation of everything. It is about how organization’s people interact and work.
Stories
Explore our most liked and popular Innovation Fellowship stories.
Video
Follow our character on their innovation journey, from learning how to solve complex problems to understanding that the inclusion of diverse thoughts and experiences is crucial for novel ideas, and that an optimistic mindset is always welcome.
The zipper that keeps us together – innovation is all about trying things out
Once upon a time, there was a peaceful community living in the middle of an ocean. This community had a giant zipper that joined their two lands together. One day, the zipper broke causing panic and chaos…
The emotional journey of an innovator
The innovation journey can be long and winding, filled with a variety of emotions and fears. So what does the path of innovation actually look like?
Collaborate with inclusion and diversity in mind
Innovation requires collaboration – no one can go at it alone. The journey is better when a diverse group of people is working together.
Bridging the gap with collaboration – but how to get others onboard?
Collaboration led to a new idea! It is simply great. But do others think the same? There’s always resistance to change – can we get them on board with our ideas?
FAQs
Am I eligible to be an Innovation Fellow?
To apply for the Innovation Fellowship Program, you are required to:
– Be a current UNHCR staff member or part of the affiliate workforce;
– Work for UNHCR through the duration of the Fellowship;
– Have the drive, ambition, and interest to find new ways to solve challenges facing the organization in its service to refugees.
I have an innovative idea and I need funding to implement it. Can the Innovation Fellowship fund it?
It is great that you have ideas to make our work and/or organization better. However, innovation is about so much more than great ideas. Therefore, the Fellowship Program is not about funding ideas, but it’s about Fellows working on operational challenges using innovation methodologies (such as experimenting and testing) together with their respective colleagues.
Can I apply if I don’t have a contract with UNHCR or if I am on special leave without pay?
Unfortunately not. The Fellowship also has wider UNHCR capacity building aims – it is for the organization rather than a training for individuals per se. This means that we do need people who are working within an operation, and who will then work with that operation on an/several innovation(s). One of the key objectives of the Fellowship is organizational change.
Can I apply if I don’t have a contract with UNHCR or if I am on special leave without pay?
Unfortunately not. The Fellowship also has wider UNHCR capacity building aims – it is for the organization rather than a training for individuals per se. This means that we do need people who are working within an operation, and who will then work with that operation on an/several innovation(s). One of the key objectives of the Fellowship is organizational change.
Is the Fellowship about technology?
Absolutely not. While new technology can, and often does, play an important role in innovation, we’d like to think of ourselves as being technology agnostic. Over the course of the year, Innovation Fellows address operational challenges using innovation methodologies (such as experimentation and testing) which can involve either high-tech, low tech, and even zero tech solutions.
How can a UNHCR operation benefit from a staff member’s participation in the Innovation Fellowship?
Having an Innovation Fellow is a great opportunity for any country operation or Division. Fellows go through an intensive innovation training and are prepared to facilitate innovation in their respective offices and take their colleagues, partners, and refugees through an innovation process that will lead to innovative solutions and a positive change for the operation involved.
Contact
Get in touch at [email protected]