Smart Communities Coalition merges with Response Innovation Lab

We are very excited to announce that the Smart Communities Coalition and Response Innovation Lab have decided to join forces and merge. The Coalition will join our network to become RIL’s private sector convening arm.

The Smart Communities Coalition (SCC), co-founded by Mastercard and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), acts as the bridge connecting humanitarian organizations and private sector companies, from startups to large corporations, in order to improve the delivery of services. Active in Uganda and Kenya, the SCC seeks to mobilize collaboration by 1) networking and matchmaking, 2) financing, and 3) generating new models to enhance lives and livelihoods in refugee settings. We seek to enable innovative, sustainable approaches, creating hope and economic opportunity for the forcibly displaced and the communities that host them. SCC stakeholders are organized according to their core strengths to address three fundamental pillars – energy, connectivity, and digital tools.

Given the synergies between the SCC and RIL’s approach to brokering partnerships between humanitarian actors and innovators across various sectors, the value of the integration is clear. We are really excited about this new phase of the SCC under RIL leadership that will allows us to streamline efforts, avoid duplication of activities, build off the strong achievements of both initiatives and leverage the convening value of the SCC, its partnership network, and thought leadership.