UNICEF Innovation

Engaging communities through early-warning systems: Spotlight on Libya’s Mozn.    ⚠️ When every second counts, information saves lives. Early warning systems (EWS) are vital tools for adapting to climate change — especially when they’re accessible, inclusive, and linked to response plans. Yet many communities and children still lack access to them. Innovative, locally driven solutions are changing that.  Through the UNICEF Spark accelerator, the youth-led astronomy foundation Mozn in Libya built an EWS open-source platform now connecting nearly 1 million people through social media — and expanding nationwide. 📱 Learn more about how innovation is helping communities stay safe and be prepared 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dzG9fthd UNICEF Libya

No one size fits all. Not when it comes to humanitarian response. Every community is unique, and so are the challenges they face.      That’s where UNICEF’s Kits that Fit comes in. This award-winning initiative listens to communities in critical need and adapts life-saving supplies accordingly. 📦      Speaking at #Aidex2025, Shalini Subbiah highlighted the value of the initiative in improving humanitarian response by capturing direct feedback from communities at scale using digitial platforms.    Since its launch in 2023, over 1 million people across 10+ countries have  benefited from Kits that Fit.     Find out more 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dYa5FyuW     Humanitarian Innovation Programme, Humanitarian Logistics Association, UNICEF Supply   

How can every child experience the magic of reading – no matter their background? 📘     At this year’s Helsinki Book Fair, the UNICEF Global Learning Innovation Hub hosted leading figures from Finland’s education and creative sectors to explore exactly that.     In a panel on Unlocking the Joy of Learning, we discussed how Accessible Digital Textbooks —  now used in 11 countries —  are opening up a world of information and knowledge for students, while equipping teachers with the tools to create more inclusive classrooms. 💙  A heartfelt thank-you to Anna Helminen of Sanoma Pro, Fredrik Rahka of Moomin Characters, and Virva Rantanen of Valteri for joining us to champion the power of inclusive learning.     UNICEF Finland 

What if every community could know when disaster was coming — and had the tools, data, and systems in place to act before it hit?  UNICEF supported climate initiatives are turning this possibility into a reality, including:   🟢 EQUINOCT in India: an AI-powered flood detection and early warning system that strengthens climate preparedness and response with support from youth volunteers. 🟢 Similie in Timor Leste: an – end-to-end early warning system collecting community-level data through a network of low-cost internet of things sensors.  🟢 Zed Labs in Trinidad and Tobago: a blockchain-based climate action platform that rewards local climate-positive actions with community currencies to fund local initiatives.   Learn more about why we’re backing locally sourced climate breakthroughs 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dsCgCN-S   

“Smart femtech companies are embedding their products into established healthcare, tech and consumer systems that already have credibility and reach,” writes Theresa Neil in Forbes. She highlights 4 partnership pathways helping startups scale faster and demonstrate clinical value: https://lnkd.in/dmWeGUtJ Femtech solutions have the potential to radically improve health, wellbeing and socioeconomic outcomes for girls and women in emerging economies. With support from Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sida and Temasek Foundation, our 5-year Femtech initiative will identify and support such bold solutions. 🌍 Find out more 👉🏾https://lnkd.in/ddy4jQ-7 

🎮 Designing Games that Help Children Thrive Digital games can do more than entertain — they can help children feel control, freedom, achievement, balance, and connection. 💡 That’s why RITEC (Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children) — developed by UNICEF, the LEGO Group, The LEGO Foundation, and partners — helps game developers put children’s well-being at the heart of design. At this week’s For Devs Conference in Stockholm, UNICEF’s Mariam Tabatadze and Lulu Li joined Petter Karlsson (Toca Boca), Aksel E. (Mojang Studios), and Pussel Widegren (Hazelight Studios) to explore how to redesign the gaming industry. Many thanks to them for sharing their reflections.  “The RITEC Toolbox is an amazing resource and a great conversation starter in game development,” — Aksel Englund, Mojang Studios. 🎯 Based on research with 700+ children in 18 countries, the RITEC Toolbox offers practical tools for safer, more inclusive play. 🌍 Through UNICEF’s Game Changers Coalition, we’re empowering girls with digital skills to become the next generation of game creators. Explore the Toolbox 👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dsCZhjDc   UNICEF Innocenti, UNICEF Sweden, Micron Foundation, Video Games Europe, Entertainment Software Association, Bitget, #GVGC #ForDevs2025 

Gender lens investing has the power to close the critical financing gap for women and girls.   Women and girls represent half of the world’s population (or 4.1 billion) and half of its potential, yet they have been historically underrepresented in innovation and research. Recent data paints a stark picture of what it means to be a twenty-first century woman and girl and highlights the urgent need for investment in solutions.   Join UNICEF UK and SAGANA for a dynamic workshop, exploring how capital and UNICEF's Venture Fund drive innovative, FemTech solutions.    Hear from leading voices including Raya Papp, Founding Partner at Sagana; Milena Bacalja Perianes, Senior Consulting Director at Sagana; Patty Alleman, Catalytic Partnerships lead, and Hanna Burkhardt, Head of Venture Fund, both from UNICEF Innovation.    📆 Thursday 6 November 2025 12:30 - 14:45 The Conduit Club, London.   👉 Join us if you have an interest in gender lens investing, FemTech innovations, or women’s health investments - please RSVP to UUKEvents@unicef.org.uk as soon as possible, as places are limited.   ⬇️Pictured is Tagreed Hussein, a 12-year-old displaced girl, from Sana’a. She’s so excited to be back at school and learning again. Tagreed said: “I felt bored at home and I wanted to go to school. I only want to study and I don't want anything else, because learning is the most beautiful thing in life for me.”

It was a privilege to host Lucia Elmi, Director of Emergency Programmes for  UNICEF, this week and to hear of unrelenting efforts to deploy innovative solutions in:   🔵 Gaza, where our Kits That Fit initiative ensures menstrual hygiene and newborn health kits reflect the real needs and dignity of women and girls — co-designed with communities themselves.   🔵 Sudan, where we’re piloting forecasting tools for nutrition severity using multilayered source data.    🔵 Ukraine, where digital platforms are enabling families to register remotely for humanitarian cash assistance — a lifeline when physical access is impossible.     In emergencies, innovation isn’t just clever tech- it's the tenacity and ingenuity to deliver aid with speed, efficiency, dignity and care. Powered by data, empathy and catalytic partnerships, these initiatives help bring hope to children and their communities.      Together with our partners, we’re delivering innovative humanitarian action, find out more👉🏽 https://lnkd.in/dBSKhZ_s       UNICEF Sweden, UNICEF Ukraine, UNICEF Sudan – اليونيسف في السودان, Swedish Red Cross, Karolinska Institutet, Rädda Barnen - Save the Children Sweden, Sida, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Läkarmissionen / LM International

At #AfricaSkillsWeek, Thomas Davin, Global Director of UNICEF Office of Innovation, joined an incredible group of thinkers, builders, and changemakers in discussing “Innovating for the Transformation of Education on the Continent 3.0”, hosted by the African Union Commission and masterfully moderated by Chigozie Emmanuel Okonkwo.    📚 250 million children are out of school and nearly a third are in Sub-Saharan Africa.     🎒 32 million children with a disability are currently deprived of education.     🧒🏾 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries can’t read a simple story for meaning- that’s 90% in Sub-Saharan Africa.    🌡️ Nearly 1 billion children face extreme climate risks that threaten their right to learn.    These sobering truths highlight that education in crisis contexts is not just a learning issue, it’s a generational emergency.    Amidst these challenges lies extraordinary opportunity. Advances in technology, innovation, and collective creativity can help us reimagine what learning looks like and make it inclusive, relevant, and resilient.    At UNICEF Innovation, we’re proud to work alongside African governments, the African Union and their Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Gaspard Banyankimbona and Director Saidou Madougou, partners, and the private sector to turn this vision into reality. The morning sessions underlined a range of directions which could underpin true traction for us all, jointly, to leverage true progress in learning outcomes for all learners, including: For digital education to be the game changer it can be, we must connect all schools to internet. Through our partnership with International Telecommunication Union around the Giga initiative, we hope to turbocharge further progress on this across all countries on the continent that may need it. Digital Education as a clear comprehensive national strategy, anticipating the “Total cost of business” – ie from connectivity to devices, to teachers training, to edtech costs.  The power of -and to- the educators. Millions of teachers are already championing lifelong efforts to impact knowledge to their students, in and out of schools. We now have extremely powerful tools to empower them to be at the heart of the change we seek to leverage. Giving children and youth the tools to become change leaders and entrepreneurs, and have the skills to define their own future. From Project Alpha in Ethiopia using innovative finance and renewable energy to sustain health, water, and education systems, to the Africa Drone and Data Academy, FunDoo, and the UNICEF Game Changers Coalition, we are seeing how young people across Africa are driving digital, green, and creative transformation. Huge thanks to panelists Mazoughou Goépogui, Therese K Keita, Natnael Argaw Wondimu, and Apiwe Hotele for their powerful reflections, and to the African Union for convening this critical dialogue on the future of education and skills in Africa.