Trying to survive the shifting sands of a humanitarian crisis must strain every sinew. And in the maelstrom, calming the storm – a gargantuan task, calls for the types of ingenuity celebrated in Brussels Tuesday at the first-ever European Prize for Humanitarian Innovation (InnovAid).
The outright winner, the Signpost initiative, received €250k in prize money for its ‘community-led information service’, which provides ‘critical information to people in emergencies’. Signpost was created through a collaboration between the International Rescue Committee (IRC Germany), NetHope, MercyCorps and Internews, along with tech partners including Google and Cisco.
“The winners of this first InnovAid prize are fantastic examples of the ingenuity of humanitarians, as well as the role that partnerships with the private sector and research communities can play in delivering better and more cost-effective aid,” said Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. “Receiving this prize should not only mark these organisations out as being at the forefront of transforming humanitarian assistance, but also support their technological innovations to scale up, to benefit more organisations and reach more people in need.”
The InnovAid prize, awarded during the European Humanitarian Forum, also recognised two runners up: GOAL 3 B.V (The Netherlands), who received €150k for a tool that harnesses machine learning to ‘help healthcare workers quickly detect and predict critical illnesses amongst hospitalised children’; and the Humanitarian Logistics Cooperative (France), a ‘joint cooperative company for the pooling of logistics and supply chain resources and expertise’, which received €100k.
“My warmest congratulations to the winner as well as the runners-up,” added Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation. “They exemplify the spirit of humanitarian creativity, pushing the boundaries to benefit the lives of vulnerable people in crisis. They embody what the InnovAid Prize is all about: celebrating innovators that transform compassion into action to deliver more effective humanitarian aid.”
On the frontline of innovation
Crisis might also try and shape reality for refugees but the innovation of refugee-led organisations (RLOs) is another example of human ingenuity overcoming seemingly impossible odds. In Malawi’s Dzaleka refugee camp, we reported on the pioneering RLO, Women for Action, which leads an aquaponics project tackling food insecurity and equipping women with vital new skills. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is helping to support innovations like this through its Refugee-led Innovation Fund – check out our article on the fund for more.
And go to the European Prize for Humanitarian Innovation 2023 winners page for more information about the winners of the inaugural InnovAid event held in Brussels.
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