IOM INNOVATION PRINCIPLES
Embedding innovation in a systemic approach allows the Organization and its partners to harness the potential of innovation not just as a quick fix, but as a core driver of long-term impact.
To confront the complex challenges faced by migrants and communities globally, IOM emphasizes the importance of fostering connections internally among its staff and externally with various partners to drive innovation and create value for its stakeholders. Collaborating with entities such as the UN system, private sector companies, and research institutes allows IOM to capitalize on external processes, technologies, innovations, and expertise of others, while harnessing its own strengths and assets. By integrating innovation into all aspects of its work, IOM ensures that staff consider it in programme design, policy intervention, and internal management processes, adding value to the organization's activities and meeting the evolving needs of its partners and beneficiaries.
Involves a deep understanding of the underlying systems and dynamics of the problems IOM seeks to address, enabling solutions to tackle root causes rather than surface-level symptoms. The aim is to design innovations that address systemic issues by creating interconnected programmatic ecosystems, where individual products and services are connected to form robust and scalable systems. .Advancing this vision for innovation calls for an organizational culture that embraces new ideas and the processes, resources, and systems to bring them to fruition. Innovation is considered by all IOM staff, including in programme design, policy intervention and internal management processes.
IOM’s innovative interventions include proactive measures, such as those on emerging issues that are informed by its global field presence and expertise in migration governance. IOM looks and thinks ahead by anticipating the needs and challenges faced by migrants in the future and developing resilient policy and program responses. IOM’s innovation benefits from impactful systems change and lasting and dynamic partnerships with the future-looking momentum that seeks to advance IOM’s innovation ecosystem forward. By keeping an open-minded attitude toward new methods, technologies and approaches, IOM endeavours to adopt solutions developed for the future today.
IOM’s innovation initiatives prioritize the well-being of beneficiaries, engaging them throughout the project lifecycle and ensuring transparency and accountability in decision-making processes. Continuous monitoring and evaluation are essential to identify and mitigate potential harm, fostering trust, sustainability, and ethical integrity in IOM's efforts to address migration challenges and support vulnerable populations.. Gender sensitivity and diversity inclusion form the cornerstone of IOM's innovation approach, as the organization continues to seek opportunities to harness and amplify the potential of migrants as a driving force behind innovation. The "Do no harm" principle in innovation projects embodies an ethical commitment to necessitate thorough risk assessment, beneficiary-centric approaches, and the safeguarding of human rights and environmental sustainability, as well as ensuring accountability to affected populations.
Innovation: UN 2.0 and the Quintet of Change
IOM joins the global community in advancing the UN Vision 2.0 which encapsulates the Secretary-General's vision of a UN family rejuvenated by a forward-thinking culture and empowered by cutting-edge skills for the twenty-first century.
IOM and the broader UN system jointly embrace a transformative vision – a vision where innovation, data, digital, foresight and behavioural science skills and culture converge. A dynamic combination called the “Quintet of Change”. The Quintet of Change represents a joint commitment to forging a path forward that is responsive, forward-looking, and resilient.
Innovation in IOM
For decades, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has championed innovative solutions, leveraging cutting-edge technology, data, partnerships, policies and programmes to enhance the safety and well-being of migrants worldwide. Through partnerships and forward-thinking programmes, IOM pioneers ground-breaking approaches to address the complex challenges of migration, enriching the lives of migrants and communities.
Turkey: Resilience Innovation Facility in Gaziantep
Winners of the 2023 Innovation Awards @ IOM
The 2023 Awards were awarded at the IOM Global Chiefs of Missions Meeting (GCOMM) in Istanbul on 25 October 2023. The winners of the 2023 Awards spanned six categories, showcasing pioneering solutions for the Organization, its beneficiaries and partners.
