Humanitarian Innovation Fund 2012-2013

Greater support for innovative solutions to the challenges facing operational agencies in the field is increasingly seen as key to improving the effectiveness of humanitarian action. The Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) supports organizations to develop test and share new technologies and processes that aim to make humanitarian assistance more effective and cost-efficient. CIDA support for the HIF contributes to the development and diffusion of these innovations while strengthening innovation efforts at a global level through improvements to innovation processes research standards and the evidence-base for how innovations can improve humanitarian responses.

Outputs: The development and diffusion of humanitarian innovations with the potential to make tangible and verifiable contributions to improving humanitarian performance; a strengthened evidence-base of how innovations contribute to improved humanitarian accountability and performance; increased collaboration between humanitarian agencies in innovation processes and better access by humanitarian agencies to academic and corporate actors with expertise in innovation; and enhanced support for humanitarian innovation at a global level including growth in pooled research and development resources for the sector to invest in new and ongoing innovation processes. Outcome: The principal outcome of the HIF is to deliver a measurable increase in innovation in humanitarian practice resulting in cost-effective and demonstrable improvements in humanitarian outcomes.