Innovation Projects run by UN Entities

FunDoo is an ally for youth. It provides a range of information, from career development and mental health to climate change, gender-based violence, vaccine uptake, and much more, and prepares young people to seize opportunities and confront challenges. The platform enables young people to face a rapidly changing world, make informed decisions, become responsible citizens, and achieve their full potential. With a growing community of 1 million users enrolled globally, FunDoo has over 180 available tasks, with simple, actionable prompts for youth.

Agrokomek is a one-stop shop for practical knowledge – from localized market information on animal feed, veterinary pharmacies and clinics to climate-smart practices and a farmer-to-farmer forum. The app, Agrokomek, is based on FAO’s Digital Services Portfolio (DSP), which provides digital advisory services to rural communities, tailored to local contexts and needs, with easy access to useful data, informationand statistics that support more efficient, resilient and inclusive agrifood systems. Developing rural digital inclusion on the ground, it is part of a wider Organizational effort aiming at promoting the shift towards digitalization and modernization in agriculture, through an efficient use of digital tools for major improvements in the food and agriculture sector in the field.

UNFPA has launched a chatbot in India called ‘Just Ask!’ – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) digital engagement platform for adolescents and young adults, aimed to help them learn about their sexual and reproductive health and rights The chatbot provides a secure, personalized and non-judgemental space for adolescents and young adults in India (15-29 years) to explore information, become aware of their rights, debunk myths, and seek services on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The tool helps users to make informed decisions by forking over facts created and vetted solely by UNFPA, and aims to generate interest in topics often misunderstood or steeped in shame such as puberty, menstruation, sexual and gender identity, safe sex and contraception, among others. The platform has been developed in line with UNFPA’s guide on safe and ethical use of technology, keeping user data privacy at the core of its design.

The virtual reality documentary “Dreaming of Lebanon” provides an immersive experience into the lives of young Lebanese people and their hopes for the future. The documentary utilizes cutting-edge 360-degree filming technology that enable viewers to engage in an interactive interview with three young Lebanese from various walks of life and different places of the country to explore their realities.

A tool that helps users better understand the health challenges faced by adolescents locally and globally.

The UN is increasingly turning to immersive storytelling to brief decision makers in New York on international affairs. In December 2022, UN DPPA invited diplomats to try out Virtual Reality (VR) on the work of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia. This documentary captures their impressions and comments following their first-time encounter with VR.

Maternal mortality and morbidity rates remain high in Cote d’Ivoire. It is estimated that more than six women out of a thousand are dying while delivering birth, while 0.7% of the women of childbearing age have fistula in the country (MICS, 2016). While the strengthening of the health system is taking place, women in the country, especially in the rural area, stay vulnerable to the high risk of maternal death and morbidity. From behavioral perspectives, the barriers that leads to the three delays–(1) deciding to seek care; (2) identifying and reaching a medical facility; (3) receiving adequate and appropriate treatment may include the following (Cichowitz et al., 2018): Factors related to the first delay: social norms (community prefers to deliver at home), limited transportation and health care services at night, and negative experience in hospitals in the past (lack of trust). Factors related to the second delay of reaching a medical facility: a lack of available transportation, long travel times, and perception of high medical costs (walking 36.5%, car 34.6%, bus 13.5%, and motorcycle 13.5% in case of a study in Tanzania). In this context, this rapid prototyping initiative seeks to develop a new low-cost, safe transportation for women to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity in rural areas, by tackling the barriers that often lead to delay of emergency obstetric care (EmOC). It also aims to collect and utilize the GPS data/information of the bike ambulances to enable regional hospitals and the government to make better decisions in providing care, utilize hospital ambulances efficiently, and enhance communication between the care-seeker and care-provider.

“Pathways Colombia” is an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience about the peace process in Colombia. As Colombia commemorates the 5th anniversary of the signing of the 2016 Final Peace Agreement which brought an end to more than five decades of conflict between the former FARC-EP, the film focuses on the challenges and opportunities of peace consolidation in Colombia, including reintegration, security, and reconciliation efforts. “Pathways Colombia” comprises three episodes that will give you an impression of how it is like to be on the ground in Colombia and introduce you to the personal story of former combatants as well as local communities and victims of the conflict. Through their voices, the VR experience illustrates achievements and obstacles in the reintegration and reconciliation process, while at the same time bringing to light persisting security challenges and resilience of all those committed to achieving sustainable peace in the country.

I-CoDI seeks to help close the digital innovation divide by providing a safe co-design space for ITU Members and other stakeholders to develop innovative strategies that accelerate digital transformation and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. I-CoDI is now developing a network of ITU regional offices (MENA, Africa and Asia Pacific Region) and partners that use I-CoDI’s co-design toolkit and its approach to bring ITU resources, ITU expertise and stakeholders together and co-create solutions to challenges that Member States in the region have better, faster and in a cost-efficient manner. ITU’s International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI) provides a model for co-designing with a set of processes aiming to build synergies between stakeholders, increase speed, productivity, innovation and deliver outcomes with tangible impact in the region. It encompasses a set of tools and methodologies each catered to target and resolve common and frequent challenges for meaningful connectivity in the regions.

In Mali and The Gambia, an interdisciplinary consortium is implementing an agrophotovoltaics (APV) project. “APV-MaGa”, is based on an integrated triple land use system that allows for the production of food, electricity and water through rainwater harvesting. In dry, hot and sunny climatic regions like Mali and the Gambia, crops are expected to respond with higher yields as the partial shade of the PV panels protects them from excessive sun, heat and severe weather events hence, increasing climate change resilience. An intelligent systems based on smart sensors, microcontrollers respectively Internet of Things will be designed to monitor and collect real time data for water demand and water allocation for irrigation systems. Furthermore, web-access will be devloped in order to provide information on agricultural products and organized payment for various services offer to the community. The project is funded by BMBF Germany.

Launched in April 2020 in response to COVID-19, the UNODC “Lockdown Learners” series is a series of free-of-cost, activity-based interactive and continuous engagements with students and educators in India on themes pertaining to the pandemic and its impact on the SDGs (especially SDG 16), peace and the rule of law. The series is conducted in support of UNODC's global programme, the Education for Justice Initiative (E4J). The series includes sensitisation of students on issues such as cybercrime, misinformation, gender-based violence, discrimination, and corruption, among others. The Lockdown Learners series also provides a platform for students to receive mentorship and knowledge support to use their skills and ideas to address some of these problems. Since April 2020, over 350 interactive sessions have been conducted directly with over 10,000 students and educators, across 15 states/Union territories in India. Educational resources developed under E4J have been shared with over 19,000 students in the schools, besides across 636 Government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). Besides top schools and institutions from metropolitan cities, the series has proactively focused on reaching economically disadvantaged students and educators from low income groups and rural areas, with limited internet access. In what is being widely hailed as a “Good Practice” by educators in India, UNODC has conducted multiple sessions through Whatsapp and audio-recordings with students and educators from rural areas, enabling the participation of economically disadvantaged youth. The idea has also been to simplify the content in terms of language, and provide a safe, informal and dialogue-focused space for students to participate in open conversations, especially on themes that directly affect them in many cases. Parents and educators are reporting behavior changes, greater engagement and renewed commitment to society among students who are participating. Many students who have participated in the sessions are proactively thinking of social issues, emerging risks, SDGs and post COVID-19 roadmap. For instance, a growing number of students are teaching others to bridge digital divides, and spearheading “behavior-change” dialogues with their peers, parents and siblings. Educators have emphasized that students are more curious to know about SDGs and peace-related themes, and use their skills and talents to come up with solutions. This is evident in the wide range of creative and innovative products that students have created and shared with UNODC: these include songs, interactive videos, games, blogs, websites etc. Some are even designing social initiatives and network-building, especially on gender issues, cybercrime, peacebuilding, misinformation and discrimination.

360° video on the work of the UN in Iraq, filmed by DPPA's Pauline Gourlet and Daanish Masood in Baghdad, Mosul, Erbil and a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Salamyiah, Iraq.

“Sudan Now”, a 360-degree Virtual Reality video allows you to experience life in Sudan and the activities of the UN's new Special Political Mission, UNITAMS, in an immersive manner. Together with UNITAMS staff, you will travel virtually to Khartoum and Darfur, meet with representatives of the Transitional Government of Sudan, civil society activists, internally displaced persons, and young Sudanese people.

Our focus is to enable countries to kickstart their digital transformation journey by adopting, deploying, and scaling digital government services. Through the digital building blocks approach, governments can easily create or modify their digital platforms, services, and applications by also simplifying cost, time, and resource requirements. Our approach starts with research and development to inform design specifications based on best practices of generic reusable digital components, or building blocks. Next, the collaboration will move towards creating a model digital government services platform, which will demonstrate elements of reuse across services and sectors (i.e., use cases). The design specifications and the resulting government platform model will be available as “digital public goods” for use by the global community, with a focus on procurement and implementation in a low-resource context. Read more about our approach at http://govstack.global

In Moldova, a project seeking to improve patients’ adherence to tuberculosis treatment protocol found that patients whose treatment was observed remotely via video were twice as likely to take their medication (87 percent) compared to patients who were legally required to make daily in-person visits to the clinic (43 percent) – the latter presenting barriers being a costly and time-consuming process. One key success factor was the “social” connection between patients and observers, which is correlated with higher adherence.