Equipping UNICEF Innovators to Achieve Greater Impact for Children

At UNICEF, Innovation is about discovering, iterating and scaling potentially transformative solutions to improve outcomes for every child, everywhere. 

However, with a network of innovators in over 190 countries, COMPASS was designed as a resource to support UNICEF colleagues in their innovation journey.  It equips colleagues to navigate an ever-evolving technology landscape with a strategic approach to their creative process. 

Innovation is one of the key drivers for change to accelerate UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. To achieve this ambitious goal, UNICEF country offices need to strategically source and invest in those solutions and approaches with the potential to yield the highest return for children, youth and their communities. 

UNICEF’s innovation portfolio approach helps by providing an operational framework and guidance on setting objectives, understanding innovation readiness levels, implementing solutions, and making decisions about financing, governance, capacity, and partnerships.  

But to scale innovations, one size often doesn’t fit all. Innovative solutions need to be tailored to a country’s unique competitive landscape and socio-political context, to prove successful.  

An example of a successful scale journey is FunDoo, a digital learning tool engaging over 1.5 million adolescents through gamified, chat-based features. Launched in India in 2021, it was originally designed to counter vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since been developed into a global skills and knowledge-building solution for young people.

But attaining this kind of transformational growth requires the right skills and knowledge. 

UNICEF created the COMPASS methodology to help innovators navigate the decisions and steps necessary to develop, implement and manage impactful innovation strategies, adapted to country-specific contexts. 

The COMPASS toolkit is based on a series of activities from structured conversations to mapping exercises. It helps ensure that innovations demonstrate operational efficiency in meeting programmatic objectives, while also aligning with wider in-country and global strategies. 

Alongside guidance on sourcing, piloting and scaling specific solutions, users learn about innovation-enabling environments by focusing on issues of governance, partnerships, funding, capability, talent and culture. COMPASS also supports with effective monitoring and evaluation to better assess the viability and scalability of innovations, including indicators to measure impact. Ultimately the approach aims to build working cultures of continuous improvement and collaboration, embedding innovation in daily practice.

COMPASS was developed and piloted in 2023 with the help of UNICEF innovators from Iran, Egypt, Djibouti and Iraq. Participants were tasked with using the tool to develop country-level innovations strategies, followed by a six-month incubation period for further iteration. In May 2024, the first cohort of six countries (Brazil, Uruguay, Ukraine, Serbia, Nigeria, and Lebanon) was introduced to COMPASS in an Induction Week held at UNICEF’s Office of Innovation in Stockholm, Sweden which engagement with the Swedish innovation network.  With six-month mentoring and ongoing peer support the participants are part of a growing network of innovators to encourage   their journey towards maximizing innovation impact for children around the world.

An expansion of the cohort is underway to support more innovators across UNICEF country and regional offices.