From New York to Uganda

Innovation is often visual, dynamic and emotive—children gathered around a colourful computer kiosk alongside a dusty village road; a wheelchair made of bamboo being tested for the first time in an emergency setting. Yet sometimes innovation is a little more subtle; sitting quietly at a desk, moving contracts forward, attending countless meetings with domain experts and typing up recommendations- these are the less photogenic, but immensely important tasks that the Rapid FTR team has been concentrating on in recent months to move this project forward.

We’ve recently been preparing for a big shift in venue to host the development of RapidFTR—we’re transferring technical direction of the project from UNICEF headquarters in New York to the UNICEF country office in Kampala, Uganda. Here project development can take place more quickly, and much closer to its end users. The Uganda country office is the technical field hub for innovation within UNICEF, with a dynamic team of consultants dedicated to pursuing innovative technology for development. We’re confident that this move will make it easier to incorporate meaningful feedback from RapidFTR users and partners into the development process- and the field will serve as a better staging platform for trial deployments and future roll-outs. This transfer is part of an on-going partnership between UNICEF Headquarters and the field to maximize our comparative strengths for the good of the project.

Having recently returned from Kampala, I’m pleased to report that this transfer of technical direction is progressing smoothly. Our next blog post will be written from there, and will touch on recent developments and next steps, including our refreshed development timeline.

Jorge Just – Rapid FTR Programme Coordinator

Top image: The view from UNICEF Uganda, at dusk