Advancing Innovation and Collaboration: Highlights from Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks 2025 

Every year, Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) brings together global leaders, innovators, and practitioners to foster collaboration, share knowledge, and strengthen the humanitarian sector. This year, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), through its Humanitarian Innovation Program, Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian Grand Challenge, and Play Learn Thrive, hosted key sessions alongside partners to explore the future of humanitarian innovation. 

 

 

Measuring Impact in Humanitarian Innovation: New vs. Better 

Unlike conventional humanitarian programs, innovation is an iterative process—full of pivots, learning, and evolution. To truly assess the effectiveness of innovation, impact measurement must be adaptive, flexible, and timed appropriately. 

During this session, we explored: 

 

• Comparing innovations to existing solutions— Evaluating the impact of an innovation requires assessing whether it offers meaningful improvements over existing solutions. 

• Defining what we measure—Innovation impact extends beyond initial pilots; it is essential to track how solutions scale, integrate into systems, and are adopted by communities. 

• Using data smartly—By integrating into existing monitoring systems and using available data sources, humanitarian teams can reduce duplication of efforts while ensuring robust and meaningful insights. 

• Timing impact measurement—Measuring impact requires careful timing to capture meaningful results. Assessing too early may overlook long-term benefits while waiting too long can miss critical learnings. 

A huge thank you to our expert speakers: 

• Therese Marie Uppstrøm Pankratov, Innovation Norway 

• Tormod Cappelen Endresen, Ambassador of Norway to the UN in Geneva 

• Caroline Masboungi, UNICEF Innovation 

• Ayla AlKharrat, The MENTOR Initiative 

• Raissa Azzalini, Oxfam Global Humanitarian Team 

• Valeria Izzi, Elrha 

• Alana Changoor, Grand Challenges Canada 

This rich discussion reinforced the need for long-term thinking when measuring innovation’s impact—success often unfolds well after initial implementation. 

 

 

The Missing Link: Connecting Community-Led Innovation Initiatives with National and Global Ecosystems 

Too often, local innovators face challenges accessing funding, support, and global networks—despite being closest to the challenges they seek to solve. In this session, we explored how community-led innovation can better integrate into national and global social innovation ecosystems. 

Presenters offered powerful insights on scaling innovations, emphasizing the essential role of local communities in driving sustainable change. 

• Rob Whitelaw (Elrha): Rob shared key community perspectives on scaling innovations, emphasizing that for community innovators, scaling means “increasing the capacity and capability of the community and existing infrastructure.” He cited a community innovator who said, “The first thing we think about is our family—ensuring our children have a better future. Scaling our innovations means a better life for everyone.” 

• Zainah Alsamman (Creating Hope in Conflict): Zainah underscored the need for inclusive innovation. She noted that community-led innovators often struggle to access funding and support, with women-led teams facing additional barriers. To address these challenges, CHIC engages local innovators as experts, champions women-led innovation, and showcases early successes to large donors and potential investors, helping to inspire further investment. 

• Max Vieille (Response Innovation Lab): Max discussed the challenges of feasibility, sustainability, and scalability in the current system, stressing the importance of building robust local innovation ecosystems. He argued that investing in local innovation systems can bridge trust, contextual knowledge, and intermediary gaps, ultimately catalyzing bottom-up and top-down scaling. He called on donors to develop specific funding dedicated to strengthening these innovation systems, ensuring that no critical link in humanitarian innovation is overlooked. 

Thank you to our panellists:
🎤 Nishant Das – Somali Resilience Program (SomReP)
🎤 Kullein Ankunda – Response Innovation Lab, U-LEARN
🎤 Maylourth Luneta – Centre for Disaster Preparedness, Philippines
🎤 Therese Marie Uppstrøm Pankratov – Innovation Norway 

Key takeaway: To create sustainable change, local innovators must be at the centre of decision-making and resource allocation. 

 

 

Clean Energy Access for Crisis-Affected Communities: Learning from Best Practices and Scaling through Public-Private Collaboration 

With 90% of displaced communities lacking electricity and 80% relying on solid fuels for cooking, access to clean energy in humanitarian settings remains a critical challenge. Our session explored how blended finance, carbon credits, and public-private collaboration can drive progress. 

Among other important initiatives, two innovations, supported by Creating Hope in Conflict, a humanitarian innovation portfolio of Grand Challenges Canada, have been showcased during the session: 

• David Mozersky from Energy Peace Partners introduced Peace Renewable Energy Credits (P-RECs), an innovative financing tool unlocking private investment in renewable energy projects. To date, P-RECs have generated over $1.3 million, funding projects in the DRC, South Sudan, Chad, Somalia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. 

• Alou Keita from Africa GreenTec, a social enterprise offering sustainable energy solutions to empower communities in Mali, presented the Solartainer—a clean and reliable energy source. This initiative is tackling energy poverty in rural Mali, where only 21% of people have access to electricity. 

Key takeaways: 

• Peace RECs (P-RECs) are emerging as a powerful tool, providing sustainable funding streams for energy projects in fragile settings. 

• Public-private partnerships are essential for reducing reliance on humanitarian aid and fostering long-term energy access. 

• Private sector and local government involvement can create contextually relevant solutions for displaced and host communities. 

• Challenges remain, including scaling technical solutions, securing the right financing mix, and expanding the pool of investors willing to engage in this sector. 

A huge thank you to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Global Platform for Action (GPA), Innovation Norway, Grand Challenges Canada, Response Innovation Lab, NORCAP – part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and UNICEF Innovation for co-organizing this critical conversation. 

 

 

Supporting Caregiver and Educator Capacity: Building Resilient Support Systems for Children in Emergencies 

Despite growing recognition of Early Childhood Development in Emergencies (ECDiE), caregivers and educators remain under-supported. This session explored how investing in these critical support networks can improve children’s outcomes in crisis settings. 

• Emma Caddy (Tiny Totos) emphasized the vital role of caregivers—especially in rural areas—and the need for proper training to ensure child protection. 

• Patricia Young (Moving Minds Alliance) called for a multisectoral approach that places children at the centre of emergency responses. 

• Friedrich Affolter (UNICEF Global Education Cluster) highlighted low-cost and localized innovation models as key to success. 

• Michelle Cruickshank (Grand Challenges Canada) introduced Play Learn Thrive, a new portfolio seeking play-based solutions for children in crisis settings across Kenya, Uganda, Lebanon, and Jordan. 

This session was moderated by Charlotte Stemmer from Plan International and Michelle Cruickshank from Grand Challenges Canada.  

HNPW 2025 reaffirmed that innovation is not just about new technologies—it’s about rethinking systems, strengthening local capacity, and forging cross-sector collaborations. 

In addition to engaging discussions, we showcased groundbreaking medical innovations from Surgibox and Pragmatic Innovation in the exhibition area, demonstrating how innovation can directly improve humanitarian response efforts.  

 

 

 

From measuring impact and scaling community-led solutions to expanding clean energy access and supporting caregivers in crises, the discussions at HNPW 2025 underscored the power of humanitarian innovation in transforming lives.