UNICEF Innovation

“Encouraging girls to take up science in school is not just about fairness. It is also about building a smarter, more inclusive and innovative world,” according to Modern Diplomacy, in this article highlighting 2 projects addressing gender inequalities in STEM education throughout Europe. Read here, 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dFi62svK Through the Game Changers Coalition, UNICEF and partners are equipping girls with the skills they need to be the leaders and designers of a safe and equitable digital future. Find out more in the comments. 👇 Video Games Europe, Entertainment Software Association #GVGC 

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.”  One of my favourite African proverbs, which perfectly encapsulates the vision from the UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub’s flagship event, ‘Accelerating WASH Innovations to Scale Impact’ in UN City, Copenhagen these past few days. From ready to use therapeutic food to long-life insecticide nets, the world knows how to scale innovation. But those global solutions needed huge demand and global resources. To scale rapidly, such as we did with COVID-19 vaccines, the drive needed is even greater.  In light of a global water and sanitation crisis, climate change, and international funding constraints, we need to cultivate the same monumental energy. This starts with powerful collaboration, connections and common language created between WASH innovators and experts across private, public and development sectors. My key highlights from the event: 💡 Wide-ranging conversations between technical, financial and business experts were exciting to hear and be a part of, because collaboration is key to accelerating innovation scaling. We’re increasingly aware that no one organization or group can scale innovation in isolation and increasingly trying to understand how we can do this better together. 💡 A real desire to be more effective, more efficient and smarter at scaling innovation. The recognition that we need evidence-driven innovation and structured pathways to accelerate scale might sound dry, but I’m excited that so many organizations and people are looking to see how we can scale impact better and faster. Going forward, this is a great launching pad for UNICEF’s Sustainable #WASHInnovation Hub and the sector to focus on collaborating on the short-terms steps – distilling the lessons that so many organizations to provide a clear vision on how we think rapid scaling can work and then demonstrating it with exciting innovative approaches with huge potential to change children’s lives. A big thanks to everyone who attended and contributed energy, questions and ideas, both in person and online, to the UNICEF volunteers that gave up their time to enable this event, the UNICEF WASH network and Office of Innovation and the UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub team, who have worked tirelessly over the past few months to bring this to fruition Watch this space! #Innovation #WASH

📢 Have a WASH innovation ready for accelerated scale? 📢  The UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub, part of UNICEF Innovation, is seeking proven WASH innovations with the potential for impact at scale.  Apply if you have a solution:    💧 Strengthening supportive environments for small and medium enterprises in the WASH-sector.  💧 Enhancing climate-sensitive data and integration into WASH programming.     Learn more and apply 👉 unicef.link/WASHsolutions  Deadline to apply is 30 April, 2025. 📅    Questions? Join our informational webinars:    🗓️ Dates: 1 and 3 April, 2025  ⏰ Time: 08:30-09:15 CET / 16:00-16:45 CET  👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/dVexjtkP   Share this with someone in your network who fits the criteria. 💡

Clean water and sanitation are fundamental for children's health, education, and well-being, yet climate change, conflict, and poverty threaten these rights. To meet these challenges, innovation is needed more than ever. Bearing this in mind, the UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub, part of UNICEF Innovation, held a 2-day event, ‘Accelerating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Innovations to Scale Impact’ at UN City in Copenhagen, convening global leaders and innovators to discuss: 💧 Pathways to accelerate the scaling of proven water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) innovations, with a focus on climate-resilient and nature-based solutions.       💧 Strategies for maximizing private sector potential through small and medium enterprises, scaling product innovation, and unlocking financing mechanisms.   💧 Innovative approaches to blended finance and Artificial Intelligence for climate-resilient WASH.       “Climate change is intensifying the water crisis. Through our partnership with UNICEF, we are investing in innovative approaches that build resilience and ensure long-term access to clean water and sanitation. This event showcases the potential of these solutions to transform lives and create a more sustainable future for children around the world," says Karin Poulsen, Director of Green Diplomacy and Climate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. A huge thanks to key partner Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, speakers, facilitators, and participants for their invaluable contributions. Together, we are working to catalyze the scale of WASH innovations that can transform access for the world’s most vulnerable children. #WASHInnovation 

At SXSW, Narine, UNICEF and the Global Video Game Coalition, showed how girls and women are key players in building a safer and more inclusive digital future. Learn more about how we’re achieving this vision 👉🏾 https://uni.cf/49ETsgX   As a video gamer, mentor and social entrepreneur, young Narine is creating an enabling environment for innovation in rural Armenia.   She is one of the +155,000 adolescent girls who have taken part in the #GameChangersCoalition pilot, an initiative set to reach 3 million girls with the skills-building opportunities to go from playing, to learning, to earning in the tech and video gaming sectors and beyond. Entertainment Software Association, Video Games Europe, #GVGC

🔍The search is on for... 🔍 Fem tech solutions from start-ups in emerging economies using cutting edge tech including AI and blockchain.  The UNICEF Venture Fund, led by UNICEF Innovation, is offering funding and mentoring support- inviting applications by 08 May 2025.  Women founded or led startups and young founders are encouraged to apply. Find out more here and apply now 👉🏾 unicef.link/FemTechCall 

Decades ago, the ready-to-use-therapeutic food (RUTF) revolutionised the approach to addressing acute malnutrition. In recent months, UNICEF Somalia has gone a step further to radically improve the logistics of getting this vital resource to children in hard-to-reach communities. By using Last Mile Supply Monitoring, UNICEF colleagues are not only improving health outcomes for children, they're also strengthening health systems, working efficiently with improved data. “This new digital monitoring system is a game changer for Somalia, and a first for UNICEF in the world. It is enabling the team in Somalia to track lifesaving supplies of therapeutic food from the warehouse to the patient," says Thokozani Sibanda Murape. Watch the video to find out more. Shout out to our colleagues in UNICEF Supply and UNICEF Africa making innovation impact for children.

💧 Quiz time! 💧     We’re using innovative satellite mapping to find water in aquifers for families living in some of the driest areas in the world. But what exactly is an aquifer? 🤔     Find out more about the UNICEF-supported innovation dramatically improving drilling accuracy and efficiency 👉🏿 https://unicef.link/MWML #Aquifer #Groundwater #WaterQuiz #WASH #WaterFacts 

⚡ FUNDING CALL FOR FEM TECH SOLUTIONS - GLOBAL LAUNCH ⚡ The first global call for applications for fem tech solutions by the UNICEF Venture Fund was launched at an event co-hosted by Team Finland India in New Delhi and UNICEF India.  Start-ups in emerging economies using cutting edge technology to develop solutions that improve the health, wellness and socio-economic participation of women and girls are encouraged to apply for equity free funding here https://lnkd.in/dStwHRyS before the 08 May 2025. Investing in localized fem tech solutions could deliver results on a global scale. Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is a founding partner of the UNICEF Venture Fund which for 10 years has designed portfolios of initiatives around breakthrough technologies in developing economies. Find out more 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/du5CEfqa    UNICEF India Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland   #DigiTech #EmergingTech #OpenSource #FemTech #GirlsHealth #WomensHealth #GenderSensitive #FrontierTech #TechStartups #IWD2025

📣 EQUITY-FREE FUNDING FOR FEM TECH START-UPS 📣     The UNICEF Venture Fund is breaking new ground with its first annual call for applications in its fem tech initiative (2025-2030).       Start-ups in emerging economies using cutting edge technology to develop solutions that improve the health, wellness and socio-economic participation of women and girls are encouraged to apply here https://lnkd.in/dStwHRyS before the 08 May 2025.    Investing in localized fem tech solutions in developing economies could deliver results on a global scale. Through the initiative, the Fund will identify and support cutting edge solutions that can improve outcomes for millions of girls and women around the world.    We are not alone in this ambition. Support from Ethereum Foundation, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, GSR Foundation, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Temasek Foundation, will help unlock the untapped transformative potential of fem tech for women and girls - when they thrive, we all thrive.     #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2025 #IWD #StartUps #DigiTech #EmergingTech #OpenSource #FemTech #GirlsHealth #WomensHealth #GenderSensitive