Through innovation, UNFPA disrupts inequalities to ensure rights and choices for all, with no one left behind. We take down barriers to women and girls in obtaining services and exercising their right to sexual and reproductive health. Innovation accelerates progress on UNFPA's three transformative goals: zero unmet need for family planning, zero preventable maternal deaths and zero gender-based violence.
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Sexual & reproductive health
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Human rights & gender equality
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Population matters
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Who we are
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At the UNFPA ESARO, Innovation means creating and scaling up solutions with the potential to transform the lives of women, youth and adolescents. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize innovation as critical to accelerating progress towards global development aspirations. We must embrace innovation to deliver on our three transformative results to end preventable maternal death, end unmet need for family planning, and end violence gender-based violence and all harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and child marriage.
At the regional level, UNFPA ESARO is leading key innovation interventions across the Humanitarian Development peace nexus. We design and implement human centred projects and programmes working with the community as a key partner.
See below ESARO’s exciting innovation projects and programs:
Hacklabs
Young people worldwide are increasingly leading social innovation efforts to address current political, social, and economic challenges. Aligned with the latest UNFPA Strategic Plan and the Nairobi Declaration, UNFPA ESARO has embraced innovation and digitalization as drivers to achieve its Transformative Results (TRs). Introduced in 2021, the HackLab initiative aims to accelerate the TRs by fostering youth and women-led innovations across the ESA region. HackLab identifies and supports young innovators through training, technical expertise, funding, investor relations and market access etc., while also nurturing the local innovation ecosystems. This approach enhances SRHR solutions, builds community resilience, and contributes to the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recognizing innovation as pivotal for social and economic progress, the HackLabs serve as a test bed for diverse approaches that address local challenges, aiming for lasting impact and systemic change. Over 3 years, the HackLabs have identified over 400 innovation solutions in its pipeline, invested over $200,000 in seed and scale funding, supporting over 13 solutions to investment readiness and training over 50 innovation leaders/champions. The project has reached over 2 million people with information on respective innovation approaches to addressing the TRs. Some of our successful HackLabs include Climate Change, FGM, Early and Unintended Pregnancies and Mental Health HackLabs (photos HERE).
Drones
Our regional Drones Programme aims to design and develop a drones ecosystem that facilitates mainstreaming medical drones in the supply chain of commodities including blood and blood products as part of our health delivery response in the region. The programme works with partners to develop a policy and funding environment that facilitates drone based delivery especially in our Humanitarian response. UNFPA ESARO has piloted drones based delivery in Madagascar and Botswana working closely with the Governments of the respective countries. These projects are accelerating delivery of critical and essential drugs to prevent maternal deaths and allowing us to reach further faster and better. Our aim is to scale across the region especially the Island States which suffer the effects of climate change.
Innovation Summit
UNFPA has positioned itself as a thought leader in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights generating knowledge products and facilitating policy dialogue to advance the TRs. UNFPA ESARO initiated the biennial Africa SRHR Innovation Summit as a policy and thought leadership platform to explore multistakeholder partnership to advance innovation in reproductive health programming across the region. UNFPA ESARO organized the 1st Summit from 18 - 20 October 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya, focussed on harmful practices innovation in Africa. The Summit, in collaboration with the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and the Spotlight Initiative, brought together 236 participants from 27 countries, including policymakers, young innovators, FGM experts, enterprise coaches, donors, investors, and digital communicators. Read more about it HERE.
ENGINE
ENGINE platform is designed to be a one-stop-shop of innovation ecosystem support services for innovation growth. ENGINE will bring together external partners to provide independent solutions to innovators in one place, leveraging on UNFPA’s networks and convening power. Innovators will be able to access end to end support services from the idea phase to growth and scale for their innovation solution contributing to achieve UNFPA’s TR. The aim of the platform is to connect SRH innovators to the necessary support services to contribute to building a sustainable innovation ecosystem and increase per capita the number of SRH innovation solutions emerging from young people in ESA. ENGINE will host funders, marketers, business coaches, mentors and other enterprise support organizations/partners all aiming to contribute towards innovation growth in the region.
Innovation Fair Awards
Embracing change and harnessing innovation are pivotal in UNFPA’s pursuit of an inclusive future. The UNFPA Innovation Fair and Awards provide a vibrant virtual space to celebrate UNFPA Staff and COs in their relentless drive, agility, and innovative spirit to innovate for inclusivity and equity. This annual award is decentralised from the Global Awards. See below the two 2024 innovation fair award winners from the ESA region:
Innovation and Digital Transformation Strategy
UNFPA is leading the development of the East and Southern Africa Digitalization Strategy. The strategy provides a blueprint for digital transformation and digitalization of UNFPA's efforts to achieve our three transformative results - ending maternal death, ending unmet need for family planning, and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices. See the strategy HERE.
Telling the stories of innovation
Our Solutions
Swipe through to read more about ESARO's work throughout the years
Our toolkits and publications
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Publications
12 January 2024
Addressing harmful practices through social innovation: A UNFPA innovation guide for "you" and startups
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Video
24 January 2018
UNFPA Innovation Accelerator: Solutions for young people, by young people
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ENGINE is a virtual community (one-stop-shop) of innovators and innovation enablers converging to develop innovative ideas into viable social enterprise solutions. ENGINE connects innovators to funders, coaches, markets and impact communicators around the world and combines the power of technology and expertise of enablers to provide end-to-end technical and financial support to innovators.
ENGINE is a self-help platform that combines tools, including toolkits, guidelines, training resources, real-time interaction with enterprise coaches & mentors, connection with donors and investors, peer engagement, hubs and coaches databases, live pitch sessions, events and innovation solution marketplace.
Do you have an idea for solving a social problem? Start building with ENGINE.
Are you seeking support such as technical assistance, financial investment, market access, or connections to nearby innovation hubs for your solution? Sign up to ENGINE.
Are you an ecosystem enabler (donor, investor, coach, trainer, communicator etc.) looking for opportunities to support innovation startup growth)? Start with ENGINE.
Partners
