Over 10–11 June 2026, the Uganda Response Innovation Lab (U-RIL) and Makerere University Innovation and Incubation Centre (MIIC) delivered two days of specialised training. marking the start of a new collaboration between the two innovation champions in the ecosystem around innovation monitoring, evidence generation, and learning.

On 7 May 2026, the Uganda Response Innovation Lab (U-RIL) organised the Innovative Financing Convener.

Join us in Kampala on May 7 for a national convener discussing Innovative Financing for humanitarian impact. Sign up before April 25, 2026!

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U-Learn, together with Rwanga Foundation, ALNAP, the Humanitarian Library and Shelter Center, co-hosted a webinar on learning, innovation, and evidence uptake in humanitarian contexts. The webinar aimed to share practical approaches to strengthening learning and evidence uptake in humanitarian and refugee responses. Check out the webinar recording and relevant resources!

Our annual review for 2025 is finally here. The year witnessed significant disruptions across the humanitarian sector, yet our global network continued to explore—through relentless effort and commitment—how to do more with less.

On November 27th, the Uganda Response Innovation Lab (U-RIL), in collaboration with Start Network, hosted a workshop focused on the future of research and innovation in humanitarian response across Uganda and its neighboring countries. This report brings you the insights and knowledge generated from the workshop.

On November 27th, the Uganda RIL & Start Network brought together diverse actors from five countries for a dialogue on the future of humanitarian research & innovation. Using Elrha's Futures Toolkit, participants mapped pathways to resilience and relevance amidst uncertainty.

Call for Ugandan- and Refugee-Led Tech & AI Innovations! Applications are open for the Uganda 2025 RIL Innovation Support Cohort, a 5-day bootcamp designed to strengthen the capacity of innovators working in humanitarian response. Check out our requirements and apply now!

The highlights of Response Innovation Lab’s 2024, across the globe.

Inspired by the term “Ddokolo,” a slang word symbolizing resilience and cultural identity from Northern Uganda, the enterprise has grown under the stewardship of Ms. Winfred Nanungi. Today, Ddokolo is a guiding light of hope, blending innovation, community development, and social impact into its core operations.

A story showcasing how U-RIL partners with social innovators in the community to drive positive changes.

Nestled within the challenging terrain of the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Uganda, a beacon of hope is meticulously emerging through the collaboration of Gulu University, the Response Innovation Lab (RIL), and Save the Children. This unfolding narrative, generously backed by Innovation Norway under the Local Innovations for Nutrition Solutions (LINS) project, unfolds against the backdrop of two critical issues plaguing refugee-hosting communities—malnutrition and limited access to diverse, nutritious foods.

In the heart of Uganda, a transformative story unfolds—Prum Ventures, a beacon of innovation and compassion, is rewriting the narrative of community well-being. This is the inspiring chronicle of Walter Dunga and Prudence Mucunguzi, visionary entrepreneurs on a mission to combat micronutrient deficiencies and reshape the health landscape of the region.

Under the support function, the Uganda Response Innovation Lab (U-RIL) supports innovators and implementers to maximise their ability to deliver successful innovations in a specific humanitarian context. One of these support avenues is seed funding to test prototypes or conduct pilots. The seed funding is open to entities registered in Uganda (Uganda-led or refugee-led) and with an existing proof of concept.

The Local Innovation Nutrition Solutions (LINS) project aimed to create viable business models to enable the sustainable demand of local nutritious foods in refugee-hosting communities in Uganda. The goal of LINS was to address underlying determinants of malnutrition in refugee children living in Kyaka II and Rhino refugee settlements through the analysis and testing of appropriate small-scale solutions and practices, developed through a human-centered design process. The process aimed to ensure high standards of quality and safety in complementary foods for improved nutrition and associated sustainable business and marketing models. 

On Friday, 29 September 2023, Uganda's Response Innovation Lab (U-RIL), in partnership with Startup Uganda, hosted an event to disseminate the findings of the Landscape Analysis of the Uganda Innovation Ecosystem and to launch SMILE, an interactive ecosystem map.

The purpose of the research is to provide an in-depth overview of how the Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs) in Uganda are set up, what they offer, to whom, and how. It particularly looks at the state and opportunity of collaboration among stakeholders in the ecosystem, especially among the ESOs, but also with the public sector. Click on the image below to access the report.

In Uganda, refugee-led organizations (RLOs) are developing innovative solutions to everyday problems found throughout their settlements and host communities. In this blog post we shine a spotlight on 13 RLOs creating, testing, and providing new solutions for refugees and others.

Financial inclusion efforts and savings groups are common interventions in humanitarian and development programming. Individually or combined they help promote savings, increase access to credit and ultimately, build self-reliance. With more commercial and mainstream financial services moving online, there are also efforts to do the same at the community level. With this in mind, Ugandan company Akaboxi developed a way to help digitise village savings and loan associations (VSLAs) and link them to banks and other finance institutions. Akaboxi hoped their innovation would not only help people save but also help them build a base from which they could access commercial financial services in the future.