Nuturing a community on innovation: networking our networks
Discussion details
Thanks to an inspiring group of thinkers with us today at ECHO helping to shape this 'innov-aid' space and work out how it fits with a wider emerging community on innovation in humanitarian aid. The complexity of overlapping networks and how we can ensure networking of the networks, ensuring innovation is focussed on operational problems, making links, turning outward, getting the balance between open to new perspective and sufficiently expert. How to structure and make easily accessible what we need to find. Matching, social media links. Many potential threads to reflect on together.
All thoughts on innov-aid and the direction it should take are welcome at any time. Infact, why not try the 'comment' function now and tell us what innov-aid can do for you or what you can do with an innovation focus?
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Hello Innov-Aid community,
I think Innov-Aid can play an important role as a cross-organisational forum of Innovation in Humanitarian Aid thinkers & practitioners. In our “business” Innovation and Knowledge initiatives are frequently launched with big fanfares, but soon after struggle to prove their relevance. I hope we with Innov-Aid can strike the right balance of sharing, inspiring, nurturing and setting focus where it is needed.
Actually, here is one of my Innov-Aid topics which you might be able to help me with. If innovation in humanitarian aid primarily spring from the field, then how do we ensure that field staff have the right skills to innovate? Do any of you know of a good e-learning course from which staff could get the “Innovation Basics”? - I am looking for something similar to the IASC e-learning course on gender “Different Needs - Equal Opportunities.”. Any ideas?
Good question - I don't personally know of one immediately but let's hope someone else does. However your underlying assumption is a good one: it's no good us talking about innovation in isolation from our core operational 'field' colleagues who may not even realise that innovative thinking can help address daily problems.