June-July 2024 | Fostering social entrepreneurship and innovation in the humanitarian sector
Illustrator: Claudia
Since celebrating 3 years of publication, we are proud to announce that the British Red Cross is joining Red Social Innovation as an extended member of the consortium. After first collaborating on the writing of a common report on How Blockchain can possibly improve humanitarian actions, the British Red Cross is joining the French Red Cross and the Spanish Red Cross in the development of the Red Social Innovation resource centre, to better serve the resilience of the people we are working for.
To mark the occasion, we interviewed Celia Scruby, Head of Fundraising Innovation and Tanya Mathew, Head of Humanitarian Innovation, to share with us their vision of innovation at the British Red Cross. We also interviewed David Berners, Director Product Strategy and Investor Relations at Yunus Social Business, and Maxime Vieille, Global Director of the Response Innovation Lab.
We were also present at the Social Entrepreneurship meet-up in Vienna, hosted by the Austrian Red Cross in partnership with the French Red Cross and the IFRC, to learn more about How to foster resilience via social entrepreneurship.
HUMANITARIAN AND FUNDRAISING INNOVATION
Tanya Mathew and Celia Scruby: “We often refer to RSI during the discovery phase of a project, to see how other National Societies have solved similar challenges”
The role of the innovation department of the British Red Cross is to help the National Society define itself for the future so it can continue to create a deep and long-term impact for people in crisis - now and for generations to come. We interviewed Celia Scruby, Head of Fundraising Innovation, and Tanya Mathew, Head of Humanitarian Innovation to tell us more about the role of the BRC to develop, test and launch ambitious products, services or ventures that solve fundraising or humanitarian challenges.
How can Red Social Innovation be useful to the British Red Cross and, more globally, to the social innovation actors?
Red Social Innovation is a great way of showcasing the innovation projects we deliver – the work is presented in a modern, high quality, engaging aesthetic which speaks to the level of consideration that goes into the work itself.
Publishing our solutions and experiments on Red Social Innovation raises the profile of our work amongst the Red Cross innovation community. Sharing articles on projects we’ve launched on the platform is also a great promotional tool for prospective donors and internal stakeholders that we want to engage more deeply with our work and involve in future projects.
We also value Red Social Innovation for the benefit of being a knowledge sharing database between National Societies. We often refer to the platform during the ‘discovery phase’ of a project, to see how other National Societies have solved similar challenges and, to get inspired about the range of possible solutions to play for.
Red Social Innovation also connects us to the bigger picture of why we do what we do. Having a wealth of innovative solutions, from across the global Red Cross Red Crescent Movement - in one place - builds a sense of collective impact. The Red Social Innovation platform, and its community, helps us understand that our work, no matter how small, is part of something bigger - a global movement of positive change.
What do you think are the biggest challenges the British Red Cross has or will have to face and where innovation will be crucial?
Keeping up with the rate of change and technology is a huge challenge and this is where I believe innovation is crucial: assessing the constant changes in our social and physical environment; deciding how to respond most effectively and humanely to support people in crisis and using new technology, new systems or new ways of thinking to do so. Investing in foresight capabilities, to anticipate the future is essential for National Societies in order to continue to deliver against its service areas and to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
Want to know more about concrete innovations from the British Red Cross? Read the full interview here.
SOCIAL BUSINESS
Yunus Social Business: The power of business to end poverty
Building on a strong expertise of social business and innovation, Yunus Social Business harnesses the power of business to fight against poverty and the climate crisis. Convinced that tackling global issues should be addressed from two angles, the social and the business one, David Berners, Director Product Strategy and Investor Relations, tells us about how the spirit of Prof. Yunus shaped the organisation to grow and support social businesses to solve global pressing problems.
What is the approach of Yunus Social Business to fostering social businesses?
At Yunus Social Business, we have two different approaches :
From the bottom up: Yunus Funds grows social businesses that provide employment, education, healthcare and clean environment to millions of people in East Africa, Latin America & India. We turn donations into investments in social businesses, which we reinvest over and over again, multiplying the impact each time. Our long-term, patient loans and hands-on growth support are delivered by our teams of local professionals, partnering with social businesses to help them flourish.
...and from the top down: Yunus Corporate guides multinationals (such as Reckitt, Danone, Veolia, McCain and MAN) to help them transform their purpose. Harnessing our years of experience with social businesses and corporations, we connect the two. With our method, corporations can apply their core competencies to some of the greatest human challenges through working with Social Businesses.
What is your vision of “Social business”? Is it a common understanding?
A social business is a company that is 100% dedicated to solving a social and/or an environmental issue. Financial benefits are reinvested towards the cause and decisions are always taken to maximise impact, rather than financial profitability.
In the strictest sense, social businesses are created with the sole purpose to generate social and environmental impact, using business as a means to this end. In a larger sense, a social enterprise is a company primarily focused on addressing a social and/or environmental issue, without necessarily directing all its profits to this cause.
Hence, It is all about the intentionality of the (social) business and the use of proceeds.
Want to know more about how they adapt their action to meet the specific needs of each territory? Read the full interview here.
CRISIS RESPONSE
Maxime Vieille “Bridging the gap between the for-profit and humanitarian sector”
At a time when agencies are being asked to do more with less and having to contend with the acceleration of disruptions caused by climate change, innovative solutions are needed in the aid sector. The Response Innovation Lab (RIL), for that matter, operates response-level platforms that strengthen connections in the ecosystem, raises the visibility of local and non-traditional actors and supports innovation projects. Max Vieille, its Global Director, explains why the humanitarian sector is the sector that would most require innovative thinking.
What specific challenges or issues in the humanitarian sector do you believe require innovative solutions, and how does the Response Innovation Lab address them?
There is widespread demand for innovative solutions throughout the aid sector. However, I think that it is the system itself that requires innovative thinking the most. This is particularly true in light of the localization agenda and the need to rethink not just what the system is meant to deliver but also how it can do so more justly, effectively and sustainably (though I believe that humanitarian programming cannot and possibly should not be sustainable as it is meant to address extreme needs). While redesigning the whole system is likely a fool’s errand, I think that we can fundamentally alter how its components work through innovative partnerships, approaches and technologies. For instance, I think that pooled procurement holds great promise to generate significant efficiencies, cut down on bureaucracy and help local organizations take more prominent response roles. Our work as Response Innovation Lab is all about getting key response stakeholders to share and adopt each other’s most promising solutions through building up more effective, accessible and transparent humanitarian innovation ecosystems.
Do you have any examples where the Response Innovation Lab transfers skills from the for-profit world to the humanitarian sector to increase its effectiveness?
RIL has been applying innovation methodologies originating in the business world from the earliest stages of our iteration. We benefited greatly from the inputs of Dan McClure of Thoughtworks who helped us incorporate the concepts of systems analysis, human-centred design and “lean” models of management.
As we implemented our model, we also came to realise that we needed to pivot from the traditional humanitarian method of looking at challenges through a needs- or rights-based lens and become more focused on understanding true “demand” from the humanitarian system. In some of our earliest interventions, we were disappointed to see that the innovations we had identified for challenges selected by technical experts were not being piloted or adopted. The lesson for us was that need itself is not enough and that we must focus on problems that not only have a negative impact on affected populations but that are also prioritised by implementers and funders who are willing to invest in new solutions. We have since been using more and more of a market lens to our approach, looking at the humanitarian system as the “demand-side” and the innovation providers as the “supply”, with our role to broker partnerships between the two.
Today, we are looking to create more dialogue between the for-profit world and humanitarian actors, particularly around the issue of sustainable, market-driven solutions. Last year, RIL inherited the leadership of the Smart Communities Coalition from Mastercard and USAID and we are looking to use this East African platform to explore how to bring new technologies and services to highly vulnerable populations through hybrid approaches that leverage resources from all sides to reduce costs and improve access.
Wishing to read more about examples of tools created by the Response Innovation Lab that have scaled humanitarian innovation and the impact of aid projects? Read the full interview here.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
How to foster resilience via social entrepreneurship within Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies
The REDpreneur team by Austrian Red Cross together with the French Red Cross and IFRC hosted the international Red Cross Red Crescent gathering on Social entrepreneurship & Innovation on June 5th – June 7th 2024, in Vienna, Austria.
On this occasion, a report has been released on How to foster resilience via social entrepreneurship giving us inspiration from different countries and National Societies. Let’s discover what could be the role of the RCRC Movement with Annette Msabeni, Organisational Transformation Lead at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
National Society Development, as an enabler of local action, purposefully contributes to helping the National Society achieve and maintain an accountable and sustainable organisation that delivers – through volunteers and staff – relevant local services to address needs, reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience in the community, in full respect of the Fundamental Principles. National Society Financial sustainability was identified by the membership as one of the key areas of National Society Development work, which stands out in need of collective investment for improvement. Specific NSD initiatives related to providing support for strengthening the four pillars of NS financial sustainability, including the Resource Mobilisation pillar (RM), are examples of NSD work fostering localisation. Initiatives related to Income-Generating Activities (IGA), specifically related to Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise within the RM pillar, are game changers, both:
• at the National Society level, as they help reduce the organisation’s dependency on external funding and partners
• and at the community level, as they drive social impact and empowerment, allowing the beneficiaries and volunteers to make their own decisions and to become actors of their own resilience
IGA for National Societies might include Social Enterprises focused on “traditional” domestic services such as voluntary blood donation, workplace (commercial) first aid, pre-hospital care, such as ambulance services, community-based primary health care, hospitals, clinics, sale of first-aid kits, sale of affordable second-hand clothes and formal and informal education, including for groups with special needs. IGA might also include entirely new and innovative service and product lines to obtain long-term unearmarked income, which is a very important element of financial sustainability, especially true for branches which, due to their situation, sometimes find it more complicated to develop other sources of income. Running a Social Enterprise requires a specific mindset and skillset. To be successful, a Social Enterprise needs to leverage expertise and know-how that is often available in commercial or business sectors and adapt it to its social goals, giving the membership the opportunity to look outside our sector for inspiration, dare to try innovative approaches and generate lessons to be shared widely. Initiatives, like REDpreneur and the 21 Program, to highlight as examples, are important and timely solutions which aim at developing the business skills, connections and networks needed to set up and manage Social Enterprise. This is a critical and urgent need within a large number of National Societies. There is also a growing and important need of entrepreneurs from National Societies and Communities to continue and expand the conversation started globally through the Resource Mobilisation Community of Practice (RMC). This is a strategic service developed by the IFRC Secretariat, providing National Societies with a flexible space to connect and collaborate via an agile and efficient way of working within the membership, contributing to the collective investment for improvement on National Society’s Financial Sustainability. Recognising all the above, the IFRC Secretariat reconfirms its commitment to providing leadership and delivering on the coordination and connections among key initiatives across the 4 pillars of National Society Financial Sustainability and, ultimately NSD.
As usual, find below the latest solutions published on Red Social Innovation coming from Brazil, Ghana, Spain and Austria.
The platform Jovens Gênios, focused on elementary education, utilises artificial intelligence algorithms to personalise learning and gamification to make it more captivating. It operates in Brazil, revolutionising the educational process in its communities.
The Mothers’ Clubs approach is a holistic approach that promotes women’s empowerment and resilience. It permits women to access health or credit funds, raises awareness among communities and promotes collective Income-generating activities.
REDuction is a web-based tool that provides a measurement of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the actions of National Societies at the local level. It aims at enhancing understanding of organisational footprints and identify areas for emission reduction actions.
The Skybird Programme, led by the Austrian Red Cross aims at contributing to improved living conditions in East Africa through increased innovation, strengthened capacities and partnerships of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) movement.
Read our latest solutions here.
Would you like to get in touch to start a collaboration, share a message or submit a solution on Red Social Innovation?
Please contact:
Camille Loiseau | camille.loiseau@croix-rouge.fr
Ana Penalver Blanco | apblanco@cruzroja.es
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