Higher Education Solutions Network – Bi-Annual Report (FY 2015)

IDIN's primary goal is to create and build a network of changemakers who can design, develop, and disseminate innovations that address key development challenges. IDIN's methodology supports the mission of the USAID Global Development Lab to accelerate the transformation of the development enterprise by opening development to people everywhere with good ideas. The network includes individuals from all walks of life, many of whom had previously been excluded from opportunities to tackle development challenges. IDIN's 11 Consortium partners in seven countries provide an ecosystem of resources for innovators, including workshop space, tools, academic advising, mentorship, and funding. This investment in local partners aligns with USAID's Forward initiative to promote sustainable development through high-impact partnerships and local solutions. In the first six months of FY 2015, IDIN trained 686 people in collaborative design through international design summits, village-level trainings, and innovation centers. The global network of International Development Design Summit (IDDS) alumni now numbers 468 members in 52 countries, and it is poised for expansion with three upcoming summits in the second half of the year. At present, IDIN counts 86 active innovations in its pipeline, reaching 125,000 end users. The IDIN Scale-Ups fellowship has helped Zasaka, a venture that connects Zambian farmers with technologies to improve yields and reduce losses, to expand its customer base to 2,600 Zambian farmers. In their most recent pilot, they saw a 75% increase in maize production and a doubling of farmer income. IDIN also engages students throughout its programming, supporting 12 classes, 27 field practica, and 15 researchers in the first half of FY 2015. Additionally, it is supporting 116 students from developing countries through scholarships and stipends for technology and venture development. These students, in turn, produce many new innovations and help to advance many of IDIN's existing innovations. IDIN has witnessed a growing demand from people and organizations that want to teach collaborative design. IDIN is responding to this demand by developing and sharing more curricular resources and equipping more people with the tools and training to scale its approach. IDIN formalized its partnership with Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and welcomed it into the Consortium. This strategic relationship will allow IDIN to expand its approach of collaborative design and co-creation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. IDIN has also made a tremendous effort to identify the needs of its innovators and to adapt its programs to support them. The launch of a formal mentorship program for microgrant recipients, the introduction of a student-project matching initiative, and increased efforts to partner strategically with other actors in the innovation space have proved fruitful. More IDIN projects have progressed along the pipeline and attracted external recognition and funding. IDIN's activities in the first six months of Year 3 aimed to achieve its three objectives: (1) Co-create effective solutions, (2) Build local capacity for innovation and design, and (3) Generate knowledge and spread the approach. IDIN's collaborative design model nurtures the earliest stages of innovation, and then provides additional support to high-potential innovations as they are piloted and scaled. IDIN sources new projects through design summits, trainings, innovation centers, and courses that expose participants to a collaborative design approach. IDIN's approach has been successful in generating solutions to development challenges and spreading the approach of collaborative design.