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Innovate for children

Innovation at UNICEF is focused on improving the lives of children and their families through new or better products, services or systems. UNICEF Supply convenes leaders across development agencies, academia, industry and others, to create solutions that respond to user needs.

Recent innovation work emphasised: maternal and newborn health; child-friendly spaces and education; enhanced data capture, analysis and sharing; and sustainable solutions.

Colleagues in Zimbabwe used RapidSMS mobile technology to monitor the distribution of $63 million worth of textbooks and, in Project Mwana, RapidSMS solutions were deployed around maternal, newborn and child health in rural areas of Malawi and Zambia with high HIV/AIDS burdens.

This year a number of education challenges were presented to design students worldwide participating in the INDEX Design Challenge. More than 100 proposals were received including solutions around hand-washing, feminine hygiene and learning tools for children with visual impairments.

Innovate for Children Strategy Overview (pdf)

UNICEF Innovation overview

A snapshot of the strategies and process that underpin UNICEF's innovation work and partnerships with others as together we work to address the challenges that impact the most vulnerable.

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UNICEF Congratulates World’s Largest Design Awards for Helping Improve Lives

Current innovative solutions and work in the pipeline

Emergency shelter

In partnership with its suppliers, UNICEF is developing improved designs for emergency response tents which will be more compact, lighter and easier to erect – reducing both assembly time and transportation costs.

Co-packaging of medicines

Failure to take zinc with oral rehydration salts (ORS) for diarrhoea can lead to treatment failure, recurrence of the diarrhoea and death. UNICEF is working with academia on methods of combining ORS with zinc tablets in one package – incorporating simple instructions, encouraging uptake and saving children’s lives.

Feminine hygiene

Washing hands in schools is encouraged by one of the finalist designs of the INDEX: Design Challenge. Its playful nature and potential for local manufacturing, makes it an interesting concept to develop to help ensure good hygiene among the young.

Learning games

A finalist in the INDEX: Design Challenge, this game incorporates all the senses – a new learning tool for visually impaired children.

Faster lab results

In rural areas in Africa, transferring medical samples and returning test results can take months. In Malawi and Zambia, UNICEF’s Project Mwana is piloting RapidSMS – a framework which allows health workers to use the most basic mobile phones and SMS (text messages) to get results more quickly, thus enabling timely life-saving treatment for children infected with HIV.

Acute respiratory infection diagnosis

Pneumonia is the major cause of death in infant children. UNICEF is developing an improved diagnostic tool that is both accurate and easy to use. Community health workers will be empowered to provide improved quality of care with this new user-centred design.

Collapsible water container

UNICEF’s current 10-litre jerry can for use in emergencies is collapsible but awkward to carry. A team including academic partners is creating an improved carrier that is collapsible, durable, easy to carry and less expensive.

Ice from the sun

Uninterrupted refrigeration of vaccines is vital, and a major challenge in parts of the world with limited or unreliable electricity supplies. SolarChill stores the power of the sun by creating ice – instead of charging batteries – to keep vaccines cool. The open-source SolarChill technology was developed by UNICEF and its partners, and is currently being improved following successful piloting.

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