Innovating Sustainable Solutions
Innovation
Our Impact
The global trends that are transforming the world are generating new humanitarian challenges, requiring us to design innovative tools to face them. Since the traditional “one-size-fits-all" approach to problem-solving has been insufficient when addressing the ever-changing context of our broken world, World Vision recognises how investing in innovation is imperative in reducing humanitarian needs and delivering transformational results to the communities we serve.
Through innovation, we aim to align with current needs while taking on a future-facing focus to be at the forefront of breakthrough ideas that can change the lives of the most underprivileged. That’s why we see the great opportunity that exists at the country office level. By providing capacity, support, and financial resources to promising innovative ideas from the field, we demonstrate our commitment to fostering locally-driven innovation that empowers children and communities.
Whether it’d be through our partnership with Response Innovation Lab, our Human Centered Design Thinking strategies, or our evidenced-based, localised approaches to humanitarian innovation, World Vision is already unleashing the power of innovation to serve the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Yet there is more work to be done, and we look forward to increasing our innovation portfolio to further unlock the potential of innovation so that every child can have life in all of its fullness, just as God intends.
Learn about the winners of our Innovation Challenge of 2023 and how their innovations are generating waves of impact!
Discover how World Vision Honduras's Innovation Challenge winner, Schools of Peace, has been empowering children amid fragile contexts.
Innovation Framework
World Vision’s innovation programmes are guided by our framework emphasising the four I’s: Inspire, Initiate, Impact, and Ignite. Within these four categories, stakeholders (both innovators in Field Offices and Regional Offices and enablers or supporters through our Global Centre office and Support Offices) play a key role in ensuring that the processes and solutions outlined within each role are defined and actioned.
Furthermore, we live out our vision of “fostering locally-driven, transformative innovation by empowering children and communities to co-create sustainable solutions” by:
- Enhancing innovation resource mobilisation, marketing, and engagement approaches
2) Identifying organisational capabilities, culture, and change that can strengthen field innovations and impact
3) Reflecting on ongoing innovation challenges and projects to seek improvements
Innovation Key Objectives
Our vision is further emphasised by key objectives that we use as a guide to ensure measurable steps are taken to put innovation at the core of World Vision’s programming efforts. These objectives are:
Embed field-driven innovation into World Vision’s core programming implementation: Communities and local partners have the relevant tools, capacity, and resources to create innovative solutions to emphasise field-driven, community-led innovation projects.
Grow internal and external investments and partnerships for greater access to resources. Source internal and external opportunities to increase the financial resources available for innovation and leverage partnerships to grow resources.
Promote a collaborative design and learning culture to leverage our Unique Value Proposition. Promote innovation knowledge management and showcase promising innovation practices, learnings, and outcomes internally and externally.
Innovation Challenge
The World Vision Innovation Challenge seeks to stimulate innovation from the field and effectively harness emerging innovations to bring to scale and adapt for all contexts, to deliver high-quality programming that will work toward deepening our commitment to the most vulnerable children. World Vision field offices apply for funding and innovative solutions are chosen through a selection process that grants seed funding of $80,000 to the winning offices to implement their innovations. Now, in its third year in funding, 20 projects have been funded with many more currently underway.
The primary target for the Innovation Challenge is World Vision field offices responsible for implementing development, humanitarian and advocacy programmes. The Innovation Challenge aims to support these offices in integrating innovation into programming, using a solutions-based approach to solve humanitarian, development and advocacy barriers to Child Well-Being. It helps promote community-led, child-led and or frontline-led innovation, providing an opportunity for the field to creatively design, collaborate, build and implement solutions that address today’s challenges to child wellbeing.
- Context-fit solutions to Child Well-Being challenges: Field office teams transform child-focused ideas into solutions that seek to solve child vulnerability problems.
- Funding and support for innovative solutions: Offices that successfully identify innovative solutions will benefit from funding and ongoing technical support.
- Positioning as innovation pioneers for the needs of vulnerable children: Offices are provided with an opportunity to disrupt the status quo in the humanitarian industry by championing innovation scalability.
- Co-creation with partners, children and communities: Field offices are given the space to co-create, collaborate and implement innovative solutions with local partners.
Innovation Coaching Sessions with Response Innovation Lab
In partnership with Response Innovation Lab, our country offices (or Field Offices, as we call them) receive complementary innovation coaching to learn the critical steps of Human Centered Design that help them best develop and implement their projects. Watch the recordings to learn more!
Where We Are Innovating: A Global Snapshot of Our Innovation Projects
Our Promise to deepen our commitment to the most vulnerable children, and given trends over the last few years and the years to come, the World Vision Innovation Challenge has focused on five key drivers of child vulnerability: Vulnerability, Fragility, Urbanisation, Gender Inequality, and Climate Change. 
Here are the innovation projects that address each challenge:
Vulnerability
- Nepal + Somalia - Happy Journey Child Protection Board Game
- Vanuatu - Lifting Up the Lives of the Most Vulnerable
- Honduras - Schools of Peace
- El Salvador - Food Security and Aquaponics System
- Syria - Enhancing Children’s Meaningful Participation in Humanitarian Action
Climate Change
- Guatemala - Biofilters: Smart Water Solutions for Resilient Food Systems
- Vietnam - Crop Guardian
- South Africa - WV Nelson Mandela Bay’s Water Innovation
- Lesotho -Faith Partnerships on Climate Justice Initiative
- Papa New Guinea -Improving local governance of Marine Protected Area
Education
- Albania - Digital Board Gaming App on Financial Education for Young Generations
Peru - Developing Reading Skills in Children by using ICT (Information and Communications Technology)
- Mexico - "One peso; per each Mexican"
- Costa Rica – iSmart360 Platform
Our Partners
Response Innovation Lab
Government of Honduras, Department of Education
Innovation Norway
UNCHR – UN Refugee Agency
Food for the Poor
Government of New Zealand
Government of Nepal, Ministry of Education
