What is innovation for development?
Walking the fine line between innovation, innovation-washing and development itself
As someone working at the intersection of development and innovation, I often find it hard to situate myself. I am always wearing at least two hats - the innovation one for core development folks and the development one for innovation folks. I am always translating - sometimes demystifying jargon and other times, contextualizing innovation to development and vice versa. Essentially, I am sensemaking to understand how innovation can serve development on a daily basis.
If I am not discerning, I can end up fooling myself. Innovation is often masquerading as a tick mark exercise (e.g. design thinking workshops), compliance (e.g. gender and social inclusion), decontextualized digitization and technology (e.g. apps, apps and more apps), a buzzword (e.g. foresight, sensemaking, must I go on?), or communications opportunity (woke causes like diversity, decolonization). Unbeknownst to itself, it sometimes repackages what grassroots development experts have been saying for decades. After all, what are the overlaps between participatory action research and human-centered design? What are the similarities between political economy analysis and power literacy toolkits?
My grandfather would often say that to truly know something, go to its source - how did this opportunity conspire? Knowing and acknowledging something for what it is, is critical in leveraging the true value add of innovation. However, with the growing complexity of the world, it is hard to readily know what is true source material (case in point: the roots of design thinking) or what are the real aspirations of partners involved.
As an innovation practitioner, I have learnt some hacks to realign and ensure that innovation interventions are truly adding value and shifting the status quo. Here are 4 questions I ask myself to reorient my innovation compass -
Is it cross-cutting and pivotal compared to business-as-usual?
In a complex and increasingly siloed world, there is a need to integrate multiple perspectives in each intervention. A climate and disaster risk project is also a gender project, a youth project, a public service innovation project and an indigenous knowledge project among others. The linearity of the internet, the tools we use to conceptualize (power point!) and the 2D nature of our working (no, post-its will not solve the problem), enforce a false sense of causality and control which is just not true in the real world. How do we go beyond log frames? How do we design with a systems change lens? If innovative practices can help hold multiple truths together and be a wayfinder through complexity, then its definitely a go!
Is it bringing people closer to the communities they serve?
For most, there is a huge chasm between who we serve and what we believe we know about them and their needs. Alongside, it is essential to bring unlikely stakeholders in the mix and reach out to those who have historically been excluded from the development process. If the intervention is looking for new ways to disrupt power structures, knowledge exchange and data collection and eventually bringing decision-makers closer to communities, then it gets my green signal.
Is it creating public good and using tech as an enabler?
In contexts where innovation is predominantly understood as technology, the only way it makes sense is if tech is used as an enabler. Technology is seen as the panacea of social problems and this perception is further perpetuated with the increased focus on digital transformation. Use of technology should improve processes, access and eventually produce more innovation. At the least, each technology-based intervention should create public goods - open data, open source software - which should ultimately belong to the people it intends to serve.
Is it helping people build trust, empathy and respect?
There is a huge power imbalance and hence a trust deficit in the development space. This can be seen in international aid, funder - NGO relationships and eventually people who design, draw budgets and the “beneficiaries” they serve. Novel ways to bring people together, create safe spaces, ground conversations in authenticity and humility and recognizing our collective strengths are very much needed. If innovation can seed such platforms to engage, share, and possibly even collaborate, then its makes sense to me.
These are by no means prescriptive but have served me for direction setting. What has worked for you? I would love to know...
Also, as you can see, I am learning on the go. Join me?