This short documentary is under the Social Plastics for Economic Development project led by Response Innovation Lab, together with Engineers without Borders Norway, World Vision Somalia, and the Somali Resilience Programme (host of Somali Response Innovation Lab), with funding support from Innovation Norway.

The closeout and learning event was designed as a learning, dialogue, and exhibition platform to synthesize evidence from the FIRM pilots and the broader financing ecosystem review, while shaping practical scale-up pathways for innovative financing in Somalia The event aimed to strengthen multi-stakeholder alignment around innovative financing, highlight Somali-led solutions, inform future programming, and generate actionable learning products and policy recommendations.

On Tuesday, 5 May 2026, the Response Innovation Lab (RIL) hosted a special edition of its Thoughtcast series in Amman, focusing on analysing challenges within the agricultural sector as an entry point for developing practical, context-driven solutions. The session brought together stakeholders from across the agricultural ecosystem for a more targeted and focused discussion.

This report sheds light on the issue of electronic waste in the city of Aleppo, Syria, with a focus on the current situation and its environmental and social impacts. It attempts to estimate e-waste quantities and examine existing collection and treatment practices. It should be noted that detailed, city-level data—particularly for Aleppo—are scarce or unavailable, although indicative estimates exist, such as an average of approximately 4.6 kg of electronic devices available per capita in the market.

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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.

At this year’s #HNPW, we hosted a session on March 5 reflecting on a decade of humanitarian innovation, bringing together perspectives from practitioners, innovators, and ecosystem actors across different regions.

#PostRILx25 brings highlights and resources from the discussions, speakers, and partners. Today’s piece is brought to you by Disya Marianty, Pujiono Centre - Co-Coordinator of the Indonesia Localisation Lab, under the Indonesia Development-Humanitarian Alliance (ID-HA) , an interim secretariat of the Indonesian Humanitarian Coordination Platform (IHCP) .

An inspiring story of Navjot and The Washing Machine Project, and his messages to the next-gen innovators and the broader humanitarian innovation ecosystem.

Watch the recording of the IGNITE Food Systems Challenge Demo Day to hear from the innovators: an opportunity for you to take away the lessons learned from our community innovators and gain insights on Somalia’s food systems!

Response Innovation Lab hosted a session on “The Missing Link: Connecting Community-Led Innovation Initiatives with National and Global Social Innovation Ecosystems in Humanitarian Settings“ in Geneva, on March 26.

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

Recognising the challenge brought by food insecurity, the Syria Response Innovation Lab (RIL), in collaboration with Field Ready Middle East, World Vision Syria Response (WVSR), and the Food Security Cluster (FS Cluster), organized two back-to-back workshops—one in Gaziantep, Türkiye, and another in Northwest Syria at the RIL. These workshops provided a platform for frontline responders to voice challenges, exchange insights, and collaboratively design solutions, fostering local ownership.

Watch the impact video telling the story of OGOW Health - supported by RIL - and how it contributes to heath care in Somalia.

How did we conduct the convener for challenge mapping in NW Syria? Read our full Convener Report to know more about how RIL works on the ground.

How do we generate and share evidence? Everything explained in one video!

What are some less-discussed topics covered in RILx24? Have a look at our high-level overview of the key lessons learned.

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. 

Response Innovation Lab has just released two short videos summarizing key 2023 achievements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and East and Central Africa (ECA) regions.

You can watch the MENA recap here and the ECA recap here.