6 Strategies to Engage Local Communities Around Innovation
Written by Khalid Hashi, Founder of OGOW EMR
Let me introduce myself, my name is Khalid Hashi and I am a humanitarian, an innovator, a social entrepreneur and a Somali-Canadian. As with many Somali’s in Canada, I have strong attrition to my country, understand the challenges my family continues to face as the country grows, and make headways towards the SDGs. I also really love my Grandmother, and she becomes a pillar to my story and the development of OGOW EMR, let me explain:
On a visit to see my family in Somalia in 2017, I experienced a lack of resources and connectivity between clinics. My Grandmother, my only living grandparent and the first grand-parent I’ve ever met, had a health issue, and needed health care, so I accompanied her in the process. My Grandmother’s care was never tracked. This challenge could be solved with the right minds and skills. In this moment, OGOW EMR was born.
Our design journey started as far back as 2017 when we first introduced OGOW EMR through a web-portal only. We’ve since introduced mobile solutions available on android and iOS (online and offline), enabling us to access hard-to-reach communities and configured them to accommodate multiple languages, including Somali, English, and very soon Arabic!
“Our ultimate aim is to ensure equitable health opportunities for all, especially those living in rural communities.”
People often ask about our engagement strategies and how we successfully engaged local communities around the design and development of OGOW EMR. I want to share our six-point response to this question in the hope that it aids other social entrepreneurs with their ventures:
The name OGOW EMR is the Somali word for the verb ‘to know.’ This serves as a constant reminder of how it all began and getting to ‘know’ my Grandmother over her medical appointments. We are a social enterprise, which means we recognized a big social problem and are using entrepreneurship principles to create social change. Our ultimate aim is to ensure equitable health opportunities for all, especially those living in rural communities. Since our inception, the team at OGOW EMR has improved the flow and accessibility of data not only to frontline workers but also to caregivers and humanitarian agencies in a context and setting that is highly fractured.
Passionate People
We identified passionate people, sought mentors and built strong teams. Our first hires were local technical and gender experts, and a Somali public health specialist from John Hopkins University who were able to support us further align with larger global health standards and best practices.
We listened and took action
We also started by listening to build with our intended audience and not for them! As part of our co-design journey, we traveled across four representative parts (Banaadir, Jubbaland, Galmudug, Puntland). We worked with over 15,000 people, including mothers, caregivers, academics, practitioners, humanitarian agencies, and policy experts. With the support and frameworks of IDEO and the Gates Foundation, we collected and translated all of the stories and feedback we gained, which allowed us to improve and refine our innovation.
“The gap between access to health and Technology is driving even more expansive, and we have a chance now to build better systems and minimize this divide.”
Strategic Relationships
We built strategic relationships with government, private sector, and humanitarian actors who provided needed access, support, and feedback for improvement and growth along the way. We also conducted several months of market research and consulted with a wide range of stakeholders, including policymakers, humanitarian actors, and development partners, to understand the local ecosystem.
Connecting local with global
We connected and collaborated with our local and international tech ecosystem! This meant speaking and pitching at Somalia’s first-ever Technology and Innovation Summit (iRise), Keynoting at Canada’s Largest Innovation and Technology Summit, and mentoring and judging UNDP Somalia’s COVID-19 Hackathon Challenge.
Sharing lessons learned
We worked with experts in the field to share and communicate the lessons learned and our best practices. We are proud to be supported by and working with the Response Innovation Lab (RIL) to do this, leveraging their matchmaker process and breadth of experience in launching and promoting innovations.
Strong ethics protocols
Lastly, ethics is an important point. We ensured that we had robust protocols in place for ensuring data collected on vulnerable populations was protected.
All of these steps have helped us to be successful in designing with human-centered design methods, and ultimately in supporting scale. As the pandemic has shown, digitalization in healthcare is more important than ever. The gap between access to health and Technology is driving even more expansive, and we have a chance now to build better systems and minimize this divide. It is time to seize the opportunity. OGOW EMR is committed to this, in addition to helping Somalia achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
I look forward to sharing more of our journey and some of our learnings along the way. If you are interested in learning more about OGOW EMR, please do not hesitate to contact me.
To learn more
RIL’s Innovation Marketplace: www.responseinnovationlab.com/innovations-marketplace/ogow-emr
Website: www.ogowemr.com
About Khalid Hashi
Khalid, Founder and CEO of OGOW EMR is a Somali-Canadian and social entrepreneur. OGOW EMR is a social enterprise improving child, adolescent, and maternal health outcomes in Somalia by using innovative community-centric approaches.
OGOW EMR is currently being used by medical workers in Somalia to strengthen healthcare delivery in the country by improving patient access to records, enhancing understanding and adherence to healthcare policies.
Khalid was recently awarded a ‘Top 30 under 30’ in 2020 by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC) to champion equitable healthcare in Somalia and shortlisted as a Semi-Finalist for the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award. His innovation was also selected to be featured at Design Exchange, Canada’s Headquarters for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and was invited to speak at Mogadishu Tech Summit, Somalia’s first-ever Technology, and Innovation Summit.
OGOW EMR’s impact and growth have been acknowledged through awards by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and IDEO - one of the most innovative and award-winning design firms in the world. Additionally, it is partnered with the Response Innovation Lab, a collaboration between World Vision, Save the Children, Oxfam, and Civic, to support the integration of OGOW EMR in humanitarian settings.
