Call for local social innovators to be key actors in global and local development efforts | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

During a three-day meeting in Berlin, more than 20 participants from over 15 countries, among them, government representatives, civil society, the private sector, academia and development practitioners, explored, how mobile technologies, can enhance basic service delivery, foster information access and create opportunities for improving livelihoods.

Participants agreed that mobile innovations must be directly linked to overall development efforts undertaken by governments and development partners, and need to be effectively scaled up in the long term to have real impact on the ground. They also called for greater collaboration between innovators and policymakers, noting that innovative solutions must transcend the technology arena, and that policymakers need to be kept abreast of local innovation efforts that could help advance national development agendas.

Raul Zambrano, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Senior Policy Advisor for e-Governance and Access to Information, called the event “a significant opportunity for stakeholders to connect, discuss, and begin to work together towards common goals.”

The participants identified some of the core issues that the network should address: building an innovation and development ecosystem at the local level, building a multi-stakeholder international community, tackling development priorities with innovative solutions, and better linking innovations to development efforts at the policy and programme levels.

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