Monitoring Humanitarian Innovation

Monitoring is critical to humanitarian action. In the context of humanitarian innovation, monitoring is particularly important due to the uncertain nature of the work. This uncertainty means that humanitarian innovators need to keep a constant eye on their process and the wider environment so as to respond or adapt appropriately.

Current monitoring approaches have significant value in the day-to-day of innovation processes, yet they are rarely tailored for innovation contexts. They are therefore often inadequate for monitoring the progress of an innovation process or its likelihood of achieving success.

The aim of this Working Paper is to propose a new framework that can aid innovation managers and teams in the monitoring of their innovation’s progress towards success. This framework is called the ALNAP Innovation Milestones. It draws from the analysis of 15 projects funded by Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), and the HIF-ALNAP research on what factors contribute to successful innovation processes.