Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Learnings on your challenge
What are the top key insights you generated about your learning challenge during this Action Learning Plan? (Please list a maximum of 5 key insights)
1. For very technical areas public innovation challenges, it is important to do a survey of the potential and viable projects prior to launching the challenge, in order to corral the proposals to the most viable ones.
2. Two coaches are often needed: one who is scientific and one who is business-oriented or directed towards soft-skills.
Innovation challenges have the potential to shine a spotlight areas of government failure and embarrass the government.
3. To be truly solution oriented, it is essential to have a serious government partner onboard from inception to divert or deal with thorny issues that UNDP either should not be involved in or ought not to for harm to government partners. The government partner will deal with the potential situation before it becomes embarrassing to them and protect UNDP.
The more technical and/or specific the area, the greater the level of training, handholding, and guidance provided, especially for potential partners in remote (rural) areas.
4. Never underestimate the role of word-of-mouth and legacy media advertising as opposed to social media.
Considering the outcomes of this learning challenge, which of the following best describe the handover process? (Please select all that apply)
Our work has led to a significant change in public policy at a national or local level, Our work has not yet scaled, Other
Can you provide more detail on your handover process?
Because of Quantum challenges and the departure of one lab head activities were slow to get started. Many contractors/suppliers took a very long time to be registered. Work that should have been finished in 6 months is ongoing and some projects are only now getting started.
Please paste any link(s) to blog(s) or publication(s) that articulate the learnings on your frontier challenge.
Data and Methods
Relating to your types of data, why did you chose these? What gaps in available data were these addressing?
Tobago is a new area for us and sargassum is a very technical area. We started with a small survey to map the level of sophistication in the area and then crafted the call for solutions along the lines of what we saw as the reasonable level of technology within the space. We held an online meeting to get a sense of where the innovators were in terms of technologies and ideas. For the Tobago innovation challenge in particular, it was necessary to have two whole-day workshops and extensive liaising with the would-be applicants to clarify doubts and concerns. This was the case because the relationships are new. Focus groups served the mutual purpose of learning from the participants and having them learn from us. Together with GEF SGP and the Institute of Marine Affairs we took the opportunity of being in Tobago for a separate workshop where we probed ideas and where we built relationships. Focus sessions were held here again.
Why was it necessary to apply the above innovation method on your frontier challenge? How did these help you to unpack the system?
The relationships are all new, so we required more face-to-face interaction and hands on training. The area is also new to us so we needed to map where the stakeholders are (in terms of level of technical knowledge and technology) and to meet with them in collective thinking sessions.
Partners
Please indicate what partners you have actually worked with for this learning challenge.
Please state the name of the partner:
Winners of the challenge: three private individuals/companies (Riversdale Dairy, Habitats for Ocean Life and Ocean Systems, and Tobago Youth Bicycle Trails) + GEF SGP and Institute of Marine Affairs.
What sector does your partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the partnership.
Project implementation will take place with the 3 private sector partners. They will provide in-depth technical knowledge (goat farming and cheese making, composites for artificial reefs and sargassum biochar and youth environmental education and bicycle repair).
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
End
Bonus question: How did the interplay of innovation methods, new forms of data and unusual partners enable you to learn & generate insights, that otherwise you would have not been able to achieve?
Unfortunately, the work here is delayed (due to Quantum and staff shortages for more than half the year). This time around we re-used the challenge and had a lot of handholding of participants. Horizon scanning, mapping the area and focus groups are really good for understanding new environments somewhat in depth.
Please upload any further supporting evidence / documents / data you have produced on your frontier challenge that showcase your learnings.
The closing form saves automatically or via the blue "save changes" button the top left. Thank you
13Climate action
14Life below water
15Life on land
Comments
Log in to add a comment or reply.