How the SDGs Change the Role of Humanitarian Innovation
Nov 20, 2023
In 2015, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals were released. They embodied a key strategy of ecosystem innovators, setting ambitious targets that will drive system level change. In the years since their release, the 17 "SDG's" have provided a focus for ambitious change in poverty, justice, health, climate and more.
The SDG's set a higher bar for change in the aid sector. Simply improving the way that current operations are performed won't reach these ambitious targets. It's a theme that was expanded on in a forward looking OCHA report, Leaving No One Behind, Humanitarian Effectiveness in the Age of Sustainable Development Goals.
This higher bar requires a different approach to innovation. A new mobile app or performance improvement won't be enough. Ecosystem innovations are needed, the kind of transformational change that alters how the systems of aid work.
Inspired by the SDG's, this 2015 article on the UNHCR Innovation blog looked forward ... thinking about what this bolder approach to innovation could look like.
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