Innovation

Approximately one billion people in the world are living with a disability,  80% of which are living in developing countries . 1 in 10 are children and this number is ever growing. People with disabilities face not only social discrimination but also barriers to accessing services such as health, education, employment, and transportation. This …

Challenges faced by children and their families have rapidly evolved due to urbanization, climate change, lack of employment opportunities, broken education systems, increased disparities, and digital divides. New problem-solving approaches are essential to address these challenges. In Ghana, as in many other countries, local innovative problem-…

“When I first got my period I didn’t tell anyone for several days because I was ashamed, it took me two months to open up to mother.”  –  An 18-year old girl in Pakistan describes her experience through a U-Report poll on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) conducted on the 16th of February, 2017.  , Prevailing social norms surrounding menstruation, Adolescent girls in Pakistan are often unaware or unprepared for the onset of menstruation (menarche) – mostly due to a culture of silence surrounding women’s reproductive health issues of which menstruation is a part. This lack of preparation, knowledge and poor hygienic practices during menstruation presents negative impacts on girls’ self-…, Poll reveals girls lack knowledge of menstrual hygiene, To better understand this need, UNICEF launched an SMS poll on the 9th of March 2017 targeting 3,800 females aged between 10 and 35 via the  U-Report platform . U-Report is a social messaging tool empowering anyone, especially the youth in any community globally, to respond to polls, and report issues that affect them. The poll sent positive…, Girls’ voices echo the importance of breaking the silence around menarche, “ I wish every girl has proper knowledge and guidance so that when a girl reaches her puberty for the first time, she is confident and not panicked,”  said a young female poll respondent. “When I purchase sanitary napkins from a local store, they always wrap it in a newspaper or a paper bag so that no boys or men can see what I’m purchasing, why…, Social media outreach offers girls a platform to ask questions, In addition to sending a poll, UNICEF also hosted a 3-hour live chat on the U-Report platform – targeting all 25,000 registered U-Reporters in Pakistan. UNICEF responded to over 500 of the 2,500 questions sent by girls and boys across the country via SMS messages (free of charge).A list of frequently asked questions and answers were also created…

23 rd  March 2017 –  Erica Kochi  (Futures Lead, Office of Innovation, UNICEF) participates at the opening of the  World Economic Forum ’s “Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution” in San Francisco. She joined a diverse group to discuss ethical issues, implications, and regulation on  Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.…, Are we ready?, The speed of this transformation is mind-boggling, and I’m concerned about how little the world is prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution benefit society?, If the world continues on its current trajectory, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not likely to add value for the majority of the world. Erica Kochi, Futures Lead, Office of Innovation, UNICEF Erica’s comments at the event are below:, Demographic Trends, By 2050, almost all of the additional people 3.7 billion on the planet will live in emerging economies – notably Asia and Africa. The population of developed economies, which make up the majority of current technology user bases, is expected to change minimally. Today, 2 of the 7 billion people on the planet are below the age of 25, and 90 percent…, Two interconnected challenges for young people, If the world continues on its current trajectory, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will not benefit the majority of the world. This is largely due to two inter-connected challenges that young people are facing today. In the past, the path to prosperity was through industrialization. Economies would keep more of the value chain at home and this…

UNICEF in Kazakhstan  opens an innovation lab in Almaty aimed at developing and integrating information technology solutions to improve the quality of life of children. The innovation lab is the first-of-its-kind laboratory in the Commonwealth of the Independent Countries (CIS) and is hosted by International IT University (IITU). Deputy…

“Children’s brains are capable of problem solving in ways adults, confined by convention, cannot ,” says Professor Gupta surrounded by hundreds of brilliant young inventors and innovators of the future at the UNICEF supported Children’s Creativity Camp in Delhi, India. “UNICEF has been helping children for years, now children are saying to UNICEF…

A mission to Nepal, Last December, a work team of UNICEF visited Nepal. Through visiting communities and health posts, and talking to health workers and female community health volunteers (FCHV), we’ve learned about the great efforts of UNICEF Nepal in reducing child mortality and improving the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia. A key aspect of the reduction of…, Nepal: A Closer Look, Since 1990, Nepal has reduced maternal mortality by 79% and had avoided 1,1 million of deaths in children under five. It is one of the few countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 ( Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate ) and Goal 5 ( Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, maternal…

UNICEF , the world’s leading children’s organisation, and  Pearson , the world’s learning company, are partnering to support marginalised youth in Myanmar and Vietnam. Together they are launching a programme that equips young people with 21 st  century and employability skills and helps them create entrepreneurial solutions to the barriers that…

Implementing innovation for children   requires understanding the complexities and intricacies of a child’s life – what are their needs, interests, and concerns, how do they interact, and in which ecosystems are their actions embedded? Another important question is whether they have access to technology, how do they use it and how often?. Art…

During 2016 and the beginning of 2017,  BICU Innovation Laboratory  supported by  UNICEF Nicaragua  organized three innovation camps implemented in rural and marginalized communities of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast: Pearl Lagoon, Kukra Hill, and Kukra River. These 3-day camps were open to the entire community but specifically geared towards…,  , Behind the Scenes: The Structure, Day 1.  The first day of the innovation camps is aimed at identifying, using two different methodologies, what are the issues affecting children’s rights in the community. On the one hand, a social mapping exercise is conducted along with the participants (children and adolescents), requiring them to pinpoint places in their environment that they…, A space to foster creativity and solve social problems, The Innovation Camps bring an opportunity to create a unique space where the whole community can participate: children, adolescents, youth, community leaders, families, government institutions, and NGOs. In particular, the focus on the principle of “designing with the user” and the participation of the community key actors guarantee that the…

This is a documentation about the referral transport ambulance system set up by the government of Madhya Pradesh and UNICEF in India. From 2013 to 2016, this system has allowed the successful transport of over 4 million women and children to health institutions in the state of Madhya Pradesh alone. Guddi is standing outside the community health…, Reducing the Maternal Mortality Rate, In 2008, the state of Madhya Pradesh in India had the highest neonatal mortality rate and the fourth highest maternal mortality rate in the country. The Government of India and the state government have been committed to reducing these numbers for several years. They identified the need to address the three-delay model – three groups of factors…, How does it work?, 1. A beneficiary (pregnant mother, mother or child needing a check-up) contacts the call centre via the phone number for their district. 2. The call centre takes down the beneficiary’s information and contacts the driver for the local Janani Express vehicle. 3. The driver is given the locations for pick-up and drop off – and has the contact…, Sub-Health Centres, Another intervention that complements the transport system was to upgrade existing sub heath centers for 24 x 7 delivery services. These centres were set up to reduce the distance and travel time needed from remote villages as existing centers were limited in numbers and located primarily at district and block levels. Sub Health Centres The sub…, Call Centres, The communication hubs between the drivers, beneficiaries and the health centres are call centres set up in each district hospital. The call centre at the Shivpuri District Hospital is a simple room with a computer, a few phones, a printer, some logbooks and one operator around the clock. The operator, Mukesh Sharma tells us that this model of the…, Constant feedback loops, Call Center Operator: Mukesh shows on the online monitoring system, how many calls were missed in his district during the week. For him, monitoring the number of calls coming in, tracking the call conversion rate, kilometers travelled by each vehicle and closing of trips are some of the key data points to observe. The call centre operator is the…, Scale, With the technical support and catalytic funding from UNICEF this service was piloted in two districts of Guna and Shivpuri in 2007-08 and rapidly scaled up to all districts in the state of Madhya Pradesh by 2012. Dr. Gagan Gupta, Health Specialist at UNICEF who was behind the conceptualization of this model and was involved right from the pilot…, Looking Forward, While this transport system doesn’t solve all the problems faced in rural maternal health, it helps alleviate one of the bigger issues of access to institutional care. Nearly 8 out of 10 women in Madhya Pradesh are now giving birth in institutions, which is a big shift from 2007 when every second woman was delivering at home. More than half the…

MWC, Barcelona -  Telefónica  announced its collaboration with  UNICEF  through their Magic Box initiative – a Big Data for Social Good platform which collects real-time data, combining and analysing aggregated and anonymised data from private sector companies.  Magic Box  was launched in 2014, when it was used to respond to the Ebola crisis in…