Announcing Scale x Design Accelerator’s Cohort 2!

It’s been a crazy month here at SxD! Cohort 2 is fully in the swing of things. We have just finished up our first Core Lab – Mindsets & Methods for Innovation (previously Human Centered Design) and are on to our second Core Lab – Designing for Scale.

We will be picking up on the frequency of our posts here on the blog to keep everyone up to date on all of the new teams, events, plus updates on all of your Cohort 1 favorites!

Without further ado, Scale x Design presents Cohort 2:

Fee-based SMS of Weather Forecast and Agricultural Advisory – Vietnam

Making Treasure from Trash – Ghana

Financial Product for Digital Purchase of Agri-input by Poor Farmers – Bangladesh

Farmer Field & Business School – Mali

Community-led Safe Water Supply System for Urban Resilience – Bangladesh

Vijana Juu/Up with Youth – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Circles of Change – Egypt

Security Unit Global Training Initiative – USA/Global

Teaching Resource Laboratories – India

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab – West Bank/Gaza

The Cooperative Fund – Georgia

VSLA for Community Resilience – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Additionally, we are ecstatic to welcome Habitat for Humanity International, World Wildlife Fund, and Population Services International (PSI) to SxD! They have dedicated teams to participate side-by-side with our internal CARE teams. Look for a separate post on these partnerships in the coming weeks.

 

This Land is Not for Sale: Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure in Tanzania

In East Africa it is more common to see land marked as “not for sale,” rather than “for sale.” People put up these signs because it’s the main way for them to safeguard their property without formal land rights. If landowners don’t have proof of their property rights, they could fall victim to bad land transfers or even land grabbing.

The CARE team in Tanzania is working to make it easier for families to claim their land rights with our Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) solution. MAST is an open source application used on smartphones to help individuals claim their land rights. The technology is inexpensive and 3 times faster than traditional GPS methods!

The CARE Scale by Design Accelerator and Challenge aims to showcase innovative programs like MAST. We spoke with team members Jane Mgone and Thabit Masoud about what it’s been like to participate in the Accelerator so far. How is it helping them tackle the biggest barriers to scaling the innovation?

“It’s really helping us to think through what it would look like to scale and how to design for scale,” Jane said.

While the Accelerator has pointed a spotlight on land issues in Tanzania, unfortunately, the funding for this small pilot in 3 villages has ended for CARE. Another organization is picking up the pilot but will only be reaching about 40 more villages, which remains just a scratch on the surface. How do we keep this promising innovation from the metaphorical graveyard of abandoned pilots?

Whitney Adams, Senior Advisor for Design and Innovation, reflects that this isn’t an uncommon story. “Unfortunately, organizations like CARE are constrained by available donor funding and sometimes promising innovations simply don’t have their next donor or path to scale lined up. The project has to end and staff move on to the next job. We hope the Accelerator will help teams think about the big picture from the beginning. How do we scale outside this one project? What would a realistic business model look like at scale?”

Instead of relying on donors or the public sector to pay for scale, the team is considering a business model to make MAST self-sustaining. Can the service be sold directly to landowners? Our current estimate puts the cost around $30 per plot. But what if we could get it down to $10 per plot? Would we have a customer and a sustainable innovation then?

Jane and Thabit have been sharing concepts and ideas learned throughout the Accelerator with their colleagues. What is the key thing they want you to know about what they’ve learned? “We really need to think outside the box, aside from doing traditional work.” Jane wants to know, “How can we have a greater impact? How can we do something that the people really want and need, something that can spread like wildfire throughout the world?”

CARE Scale X Design Challenge and Accelerator Finalists Announced

15 finalists have been selected from 73 applications to participate in the first ever CARE Scale X Design Challenge and Accelerator! The Accelerator Program will start in May with the first lab, Human-Centered Design. Stay tuned for more blog posts along the way so you can follow the finalists’ journey, including Meet the Teams posts.

  • Broadening Gender: Why Masculinities Matter?- Sri Lanka
    • Vindhya  Fernando, Hashitha Abeywardana, Zainab Ibrahim, Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala
  • CHAT! Contraception- Cambodia
    • Julia Battle, Tanya Barnfield, Jenny Conrad, Maly Man, Chenda Net, Supraja Suresh
  • Community Score Card©- Malawi/USA
    • Carolyn Grant, Thumbiko Msiska, Kriss Chinkhota
  • Core To Care: Get the Land Right- Tanzania
    • Jane Mgone, Mustapha Issa, Thabi Masoud, Shelina Mallozzi, Paul Daniels
  • Decent Work and Empowerment of Paid Domestic Workers- Ecuador
    • Catalina Vargas, Fernando Unda, Miriam Moya
  • A Different Cup of Tea- Sri Lanka
    • Lahari de Alwis, Ananda Alahakoon, Faizal A. Cader,  Dayal Perera, Roshan Prashantha, Kalani Ranasinghe
  • Chomoka (Digital VSLA)- Tanzania
    • Christian Pennotti, Mwinbe Fikirini, Ken Banks, Mark Malhotra, Karen Vandergaag
  • Journeys of Transformation: Connected Couples- Rwanda/CI/USA
    • Lauren Hendricks, Doris Bartel, Sidonie Uwimpuhwe, Bena Musembi, Janvier Kubwimana
  • Krishi Utsho Agricultural Input Microfranchise (AIM) Network – Bangladesh/USA
    • Maruf Azam, Sabrina Sahrin, Scott Merrill, Nurul Siddiquee
  • Power of People- Scaling up GED Training- Ethiopia/Uganda/USA
    • Theresa Hwang, Walter Fordham, Esther Watts, Rose Amulen, Kassie McIlvaine
  • Promoting Women Entrepreneurship Through an Inclusive Gendered Dairy Value Chain- India
    • R.Devaprakash, Balaji .R, Kumar. C, Shashank Bibhu
  • Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for Health Inequities- Bangladesh/UK/USA
    • Jahangir Hossain, Rina Rani Paul, Svetlana Ancker, Mariela Rodriguez
  • Social Impact Incubator (SII)- Burundi/Norway
    • Jimmy Mategeko, Louise Nzosaba, Josee Ntabahungu, Bosco Ntirivamunda, Rose Marie Nkumbiri, Laurent Uwumuremyi , Sebastien Fornerod
  • Transforming health by providing Team Based Goals and Incentives (TBGI) to Community Health Workers in Bihar- India
    • Indrajit Choudhary, Amitava Banerjee, Sunil Mohanty, Mohammed Aftab Alam, Amarjeet Prabhakar
  • Young Men Initiative (YMI)- Balkans/Norway/Austria/USA/UK/ Germany – Luxemburg
    • John Crownover, Sasa Petkovic, Besnik Leka, Marina Starcevic Cviko, Zvjezdana Batkovic, Hilde Roren, Judit Kontseková, Amanda Moll, Paul-André Wilton, Thomas Knoll

Thank you to all who applied and shared their ideas.