Innovation basics

With a 40 per cent annual shortfall in funding, it is vital that the humanitarian sector finds more effective and more efficient ways to address the needs of crisis-affected populations.

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This Guide is based on three organising principles that should inform your innovation journey.

Set an impact goal

This activity will help you write a clear and brief statement of the specific impact you wish to deliver through the development of your solution.

Introduction

Understanding the ‘Knowledge Areas’

We base our understanding of a problem by developing three Knowledge Areas that are relevant to the problem:

Finalise your Challenge Brief

This activity will help you to complete the remaining sections of your Challenge Brief, preparing you for the next stages of the innovation journey.

Define design criteria

This activity will help you to define the attributes and outputs an innovation needs to achieve to be seen as a viable solution to the problem.

Revise your problem statement

This activity encourages you to review and revise your problem statement.

Set the problem importance and parameters

This activity will help you set parameters around the 'problem space' so that you can maintain focus and understand what is urgent and what is important.

Diagnose root causes

This activity will help you get below the surface-level understanding of the problem to identify what is causing the problem, and what is contributing to the problem.