humanitarian effort and innovation sino africa forum 19-25 august, 2014 beijing

www.ifrc.orgSaving lives, changing minds.

Disaster Management

Humanitarian Effort and Innovation

Sino Africa Forum19-25 August, 2014

Beijing

Innovation


Innovation

“if you don’t practice the change management that looks after the future, the future will not look after you” (Bill Gates)

Definition : Being innovative is being different in a cost

effective way. Innovation is a process of taking new ideas

through to satisfied “customers”. It is the conversion of new knowledge

into new products and services.

Continuous Change and Innovation as a Norm

Innovation: A Paradigm

Shift

http://www.fun4biz.com/coach/intro/be_different_brief.html

http://1000ventures.com/business_guide/innovation.html

http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/customer_satisfaction.html

http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/new_product_development.html


Invention Vs. Innovation : the difference

“If invention is the pebble tossed in the pond, innovation is the rippling effect that pebble causes”

Steve Jobs : the poster boy of Innovation

Invention• Creation of a product or introduction of a

process for the first time.

Innovation• When someone improves on or makes a

significant contribution to an existing product , process, or service.


Innovation alone is not enough…

“Competitive” advantage

Alignment to the strategic focus of the organization

“Beneficiaries” – who will benefit from the innovation?

Execution – resources, processes, risks and partners

Organization’s values


Organizing for Innovation

Innovative people Innovation strategies

Innovation Processes Innovative Organization

Innovation as a key to success


Creating a culture for Innovation

• Provide an inspiring vision; lead innovation; emphasize opportunities, not problems; trust your peopleInspire

• Set rules; create a system, guiding structures, and processes supporting innovation and idea managementOrganize

• Leverage diversity; facilitate cross-pollination of ideas; create and empower cross-functional teams

Synergize

• Create a culture of questioning; encourage risk taking; give your people freedom to experiment, fail and restart

Empower

• Measure progress; reward both individual and collective contributions; celebrate success, make work interesting

Reward


Why do Innovation Initiatives Fail?

“Business” model is more technology-centered than “customer” oriented

Innovation is not institutionalized

Weak entrepreneurial skills of innovation leaders

Insufficient insulation from the corporate bureaucracy

Play-it-safe, risk averse culture Poor employee motivation


What are we doing in IFRC?

Some Practical Examples


Beneficiary communication (BC)

The development and implementation of processes that allow us to engage more effectively with the individuals and communities we work with. Beneficiary Communication uses both traditional and high tech methods to open up channels of communication

In Asia Pacific 5 NSs are implementing Beneficiary Communication (Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh) and 4 National Societies are preparing proposal to work on beneficiary Communication.

Partnership support from Asia Pacific in implementation of BenCom in Africa: Support from regional post for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands:

Rwanda – monthly radio shows in 5 districts on health issues and disease prevention Burundi – mobile cinema in 4 districts to tackle cholera Kenya – TERA SMS system to provide early warnings and other community-based messages South Sudan – BC inputs into emergency appeal

West Africa: support for Ebola response operations in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria Sensitization and awareness-raising to address stigma and encourage prevention/protection Activities include radio, SMS and face-to-face visits


SURGE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMPhilippines Typhoon Haiyan Response

The Surge Information Management System (SIMS), a support service to the global surge tools, seeks to define, coordinate and advocate for improvements to IFRC disaster information management, proactively setting the groundwork for effective systems to collect, organize, and convey important information during emergency response

The Typhoon Haiyan response was the largest deployment of Red Cross Information Management specialists ever. SIMS directly supported the response on the ground through: • Deployment of 6 dedicated Information Managers, who tracked, aggregated and reported on

response data.• Deployment of 8 members of the SIMS working group filling roles including IT/Telcoms, Health,

Beneficiary Communications and Shelter Cluster mapping.

Building a Better Response

Moving forward, SIMS will evaluate impacts and lessons learned from the Typhoon Haiyan response and use these lessons to shape the development of Red Cross information management moving forward.


"What is MEGA V“ and ODKImproving Beneficiary registration

• MEGA V is a relief distribution software developed in the Americas Zone originally for Haiti earthquake relief operation. It was designed to be used by volunteers to carry out distributions in the field in the simplest way possible.

• MEGA V now has more than 3 years of field-testing and evolution. The success of the tool has been the simplicity of the configuration and ease of use, as it is friendly enough to be used by someone without technical skills or database management background.

MEGA V has been developed to support imported data from smartphones using the ODK platform. Volunteers receives a quick induction in registration of beneficiaries using the smartphones provided. Once data is uploaded to ODK database, the data is used to provide a dataset for MEGA V distributions.

ODK/MEGA V was tested in Haiyan Operation in Philippines, IFRC and Philippines RC are looking for the adaptation of the system in Asia Pacific.


Resource Management System (RMS)

RMS is an integrated and web-based system which manages staff, volunteers, membership, ware-housing and assets with geographical mapping (GIS), project tracking and vulnerability tracking features for national society and secretariat staff.• 14 National Societies are implementing RMS in Asia Pacific and 5 more are in the process to

adapt the system.• Asia Pacific is sharing its experience in implementation of RMS in Africa as follow:

-IFRC Africa Zone currently using RMS for RDRT management and alerts.

-Malagascar Red Cross Society is interested to implement RMS.


What is the humanitarian world thinking about it?

Some key points from

World Humanitarian Summit consultation meeting in Tokyo,

July 2014


Humanitarian sector needs to…. (WHS consultation…)

Product innovation introduces or improves a product or service such as a change of food aid, the process of sheltering

populations, or water purification systems.

Process innovation is about how products

are created or delivered such as developing complex logistical

structures which can rapidly respond in crisis.

Position innovation refers to changes in how a humanitarian product or process is perceived.

Paradigm innovation is about change on an

organizational or system level. It is not about

improving an existing approach, it is about

adapting to a new approach altogether.


Transformation through Innovation : WHS consultation meeting

Innovation needs to focus on

preparedness and DRR as well as

immediate response.

End-to-end and disaster resilient communication

systems should be strengthened to better document

and share information.

Innovation in this area of work is

already splintered and needs better

joining up; there is not necessarily a need for “new”,

rather a need for “more coherent”

approaches.

There is a risk that individual efforts

by donors and humanitarian actors do not

result in widespread

systems change, but in one-off

solutions that are not shared and

diffused.

Those involved in humanitarian action are not

calling for additional

coordination mechanisms for innovation but rather a more

conducive environment in which they can collaboratively

work together on innovation.

Incentives for innovation and

learning are needed, as is a

more robust tolerance for

failure.

Governments and the humanitarian community need to capitalize on

regional organizations’

emerging role in humanitarian

response for the repository,

dissemination of knowledge and

expertise on innovation.


Transformation through Innovation: Recommendations (WHS consultation meeting)

Forums Utilise regional organizations (or similar)

to create a regional network for knowledge sharing and expertise on innovation and to convene regional

forums where innovations can be shared, showcased and recognized. • Create a

regional humanitarian journal on innovation to ensure the sharing of

information on advancements in humanitarian innovation.

Funding Establish humanitarian innovation funds at the

national and/or regional level, with allocations to be made available from within the existing budgets for

research and development and innovation of all actors and organizations. It is proposed that these allocations should be at a minimum of 0.25 per cent for local CSOs

and a minimum of 1 per cent for international organizations and governments.

Framework Establish a regional-level

framework that addresses the principles and ethics of innovation.


Thank You

Jagan ChapagainDirector, Asia Pacific

humanitarian effort and innovation sino africa forum 19-25 august, 2014 beijing

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