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Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed.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.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Syrian Local Solutions Platform
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that local solutions in Syria, which are often innovative and context-specific, remain fragmented and inaccessible. This limits their potential for scalability, knowledge sharing, and broader impact. Additionally, there is no centralized platform to connect solution providers, community members, and global stakeholders to collaboratively address development challenges and drive sustainable change.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
The history of our challenge lies in Syria’s protracted conflict and socio-economic crises, which have disrupted traditional systems of knowledge sharing and innovation. Despite these challenges, communities have developed numerous local solutions to address pressing issues like water scarcity, food security, and waste management. However, these solutions often remain isolated, lacking documentation, dissemination, and support for scaling.
Key Drivers:
Fragmentation of Local Knowledge: Due to limited collaboration and weak institutional frameworks, valuable grassroots innovations are often lost or underutilized.
Lack of Digital Infrastructure: Limited internet access and digital tools in many areas hinder the sharing and development of local solutions.
Absence of Centralized Platforms: Currently, there is no dedicated space to map, validate, and amplify these innovations.
Stakeholders Involved:
Local Innovators and Communities: Creators of context-specific solutions to address daily challenges.
Journalists and Bloggers: Key in documenting and promoting these solutions.
Development Organizations and NGOs: Potential supporters and implementers of scalable solutions.
Government Entities: Could play a role in institutionalizing and supporting proven solutions.
International Networks: Provide global insights and connections for scaling successful practices.
Current Situation:
Local solutions exist but are scattered and lack visibility.
Potential synergies between community innovations and international best practices remain untapped.
Key stakeholders, including solution providers and decision-makers, are disconnected.
Undesired Effects:
Missed Opportunities for Scaling: Promising innovations fail to reach a wider audience or gain necessary support.
Duplication of Efforts: Similar problems are solved independently, wasting resources and time.
Limited Impact: Isolated solutions have a reduced ability to influence systemic change and contribute to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Emerging Grassroots Innovations:
Local innovators in rural and urban areas are developing low-cost, frugal solutions to tackle issues like waste management and water scarcity. These solutions, though effective, lack documentation and wider recognition.
Increased Interest in Solutions Journalism:
During recent workshops, participants demonstrated a strong interest in storytelling about local innovations, signaling a growing recognition of the value of these solutions in driving community resilience and change.
Community-Led Platforms and Groups:
Informal social media groups (e.g., Facebook groups in Deir ez-Zor) are actively sharing tips and solutions for preserving cultural heritage and addressing local challenges, highlighting a grassroots desire for connection and knowledge sharing.
Demand for Knowledge Sharing:
Workshop evaluations show that 87.5% of participants believe the skills and knowledge gained will benefit their communities, underscoring the need for a platform to continue such engagement.
Example:
A recent workshop on frugal entrepreneurship revealed innovative agricultural practices like composting using organic waste, which have great potential for scaling but currently remain localized due to a lack of formal support channels.
These signals indicate a critical need for a centralized platform to capture, validate, and amplify these solutions for broader impact.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
Solutions Mapping Expertise:
We specialize in identifying, documenting, and validating grassroots innovations through participatory approaches, ensuring that local solutions are visible and accessible.
Localized Knowledge with Global Insights:
Unlike other actors, our Lab bridges the gap between global best practices and local innovations, adapting proven solutions to Syria’s specific context while amplifying local solutions to a global audience.
Network Building and Co-Creation:
We foster collaboration across diverse stakeholders—local communities, journalists, NGOs, and international partners—creating a dynamic ecosystem for solution sharing and scaling.
Digital and Behavioral Innovation:
Our experience in digital platforms and behavioral insights enables us to design a user-friendly, inclusive platform that drives engagement, learning, and action.
Agility and Experimentation:
We operate with flexibility, allowing us to rapidly prototype and iterate the platform based on user feedback, ensuring continuous improvement and relevance.
Why Invest?
Unleashing Untapped Potential: Investing in this challenge will transform local knowledge into actionable solutions, driving systemic change and fostering resilience.
Catalyzing Sustainable Development: By connecting and scaling local innovations, the platform contributes directly to achieving SDGs in Syria.
Cost-Effective Impact: Supporting frugal, community-driven solutions offers high returns on investment with sustainable, scalable outcomes.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
We’re building a platform to amplify Syria’s local innovations! 🌍💡 Connecting communities, journalists, and global networks to scale grassroots solutions, drive sustainable development, and share knowledge worldwide. #LocalSolutions #Innovation #UNDPAcceleratorLab
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Several NGOs and Socail Media Influencers
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Collaborating with social media influencers and NGOs boosts visibility, builds trust, and engages diverse audiences. Influencers amplify local solutions, while NGOs provide on-the-ground expertise and networks, ensuring scalable and impactful results.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
How can we design and implement an online platform that effectively maps, validates, and amplifies local solutions in Syria, while fostering collaboration among communities, journalists, NGOs, and global networks to maximize impact and scalability?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore, Test, Grow
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Citizen Science:
Engage community members to collect data on local challenges and solutions.
Value: Empowers communities to contribute directly to knowledge-building, ensuring solutions are grounded in lived experiences.
Co-Creation:
Collaborate with users (journalists, NGOs, local innovators) to design platform features and validate content.
Value: Ensures the platform meets diverse needs and fosters ownership among stakeholders.
Collective Intelligence:
Leverage the collective knowledge of various stakeholders to identify, refine, and scale solutions.
Value: Enhances the quality and relevance of solutions by incorporating diverse insights and expertise.
Crowdsourcing:
Open the platform for public contributions of local solutions, innovations, and success stories.
Value: Expands the database of solutions and uncovers hidden grassroots initiatives.
Human-Centered Design:
Use iterative design processes focusing on the user experience to ensure the platform is intuitive and accessible.
Value: Increases user engagement and satisfaction, making the platform a valuable tool for all stakeholders.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Lack of Comprehensive Local Solutions Data:
Currently, there’s limited documentation and accessibility of grassroots innovations.
Value: Citizen science and crowdsourcing address this by collecting and validating solutions directly from communities, building a rich, diverse database.
Disconnected Stakeholders:
There’s a gap in collaboration between local innovators, NGOs, and global networks.
Value: Co-creation and collective intelligence bridge this gap, fostering partnerships and enabling shared learning and resource pooling.
Limited User-Centered Platforms:
Existing tools may not prioritize user experience, limiting engagement and scalability.
Value: Human-Centered Design ensures the platform is accessible, intuitive, and tailored to user needs, increasing adoption and impact.
Underutilized Community Knowledge:
Local knowledge often remains untapped in formal development initiatives.
Value: Collective intelligence and citizen science elevate community insights, integrating them into broader solution strategies.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
Local Innovators and Community Leaders:
Benefit: Gain visibility, validation, and support for their solutions.
Role: Act as champions by sharing their success stories and encouraging others to participate.
NGOs and Development Organizations:
Benefit: Access a rich database of grassroots innovations to integrate into their programs.
Role: Provide technical support, funding, and amplify the platform’s reach.
Journalists and Bloggers:
Benefit: Gain content and stories to report, raising awareness on local solutions.
Role: Help document and promote solutions, driving platform engagement.
Universities and Research Institutions:
Benefit: Access to real-world data for research and collaboration opportunities.
Role: Validate solutions and provide academic insights to enhance platform credibility.
Government Entities:
Benefit: Identify scalable solutions for national development plans.
Role: Institutionalize successful initiatives and promote policy alignment.
Social Media Influencers:
Benefit: Gain meaningful content to engage their audience.
Role: Amplify the platform’s reach and promote its purpose to a broader audience.
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10Reduced innequalities
11Sustainable cities and communities
17Partnerships for the goals
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