Open call for Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI)

This open call will identify the effective practices and strategies in training about social innovations in health, and the key competencies of design, implementation, and sustainable delivery of the innovations. The goal is to generate social innovation in health competencies focused on skills (abilities), mindsets (attitudes), and knowledge (facts).

This open call will also have a strong focus on exploring how competency-building practices integrate with complex healthcare ecosystems and diverse training settings. Despite the global expansion of social innovation, there is a notable scarcity of dedicated courses and training modules, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). To bridge the gap and foster innovation, they encourage submissions that involve multiple institutional partners, take place in LMICs, or address adaptations of practices with limited resources.

Purpose

• The purpose of this open call is to identify ways of learning or teaching about social innovation in health. Social innovation is a community-embedded process to improve health and social outcome. This includes frameworks, theories, methods, in teaching.
• They are developing a set of learning competencies on social innovation in health and will invite finalists to participate in subsequent co-creation sessions with the SIHI network. The finalists will also contribute to a UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) -led consensus-building process to synthesize learning competencies for social innovation in health.

Prizes

This open call will provide unique opportunities to further sharpen the social innovations training, demonstrate innovation competencies, and introduce people to SIHI and related social innovation stakeholders. Specifically:

• All submissions that have a mean score of 8.5/10 or greater will receive tailored feedback from individuals on the judging panel and committee
• Selected finalists (number determined by the committee) will have an opportunity to co-create a set of training sessions with regional Social Innovation in Health Initiative Hub, a global event organized by SESH, or other global health stakeholders (e.g., TDR expert on infectious diseases of poverty)
• Selected finalists (number determined by the committee) will be invited into a UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) -led consensus-building process to synthesize learning competencies for social innovation in health
• All people who submit eligible submissions will be invited to a series of social innovation training workshops in late July and early August to build capacity for social innovation monitoring and evaluation, crowdfunding, and related competencies
• All people who submit eligible submissions will receive collated feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of the applications overall, in addition to a report summarizing the process and outcomes of the open call

Submission Categories

• The scoping review has identified several key themes and concepts associated with social innovation in health learning competencies (Mindset, Knowledge, and Skills), including effective collaboration/teamwork, practical learning, ethics, knowledge exchange, community engagement, defining challenges (social problems locally), self-assurance, innovative thinking, feedback, and adaptability.
• The submission of this open call may include the existing themes or focuses but is not limited to these formats and topics. For example, you could start with a case report regarding social innovation training programs/approaches within health-related institutions/organizations and think about the following questions:
  • What is the background of the case?
  • Is it an individual approach or an institutional approach?
  • Why is this case important?
  • What are the competencies it addresses?

Eligibility

• Anyone above 18 years of age is eligible to submit to this open call.
• They are particularly interested in ideas from individuals who have engaged or participated in health-related social innovations as well as those serving as trainees or trainers in health-related social innovation training.
• Submissions in all six languages of the United Nations will be accepted (Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian).

For more information, visit Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health (SESH).