AIILSG has consciously developed an innovations approach and its related initiatives are anchored at its ICEQUI-T. The genesis of this “Innovations Approach” lies in the fact that the deep rooted societal issues will not be sufficiently & completely addressed by run-of-the-mill efforts and approaches. They require innovative ways of addressal. “Designing Customized Innovations” has been developed as a scientific body of knowledge by AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T. It is heartening to mention that this innovations approach has resulted in AIILSG being felicitated with two global awards: The RISK Award 2015 (a joint initiative of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Munich Re Foundation, Germany & Global Risk Forum, Davos) & Stars in Global Health 2017 by Grand Challenges Canada by Government
of Canada.
The AIILSG aligns its innovations with the global priorities (such as the SDGs) and leverages its national & international linkages to enable wider upscaling & replication. A crucial focus for developing innovations is on disadvantaged populations. AIILSG considers this as its social accountability to improve the life of the disadvantaged in India and the world. The space constraint allows few illustrations as below:
- Addressing the issues of the hitherto neglected populations
- Addressing hitherto neglected issues
- “The Constructive Movement Mode”- Building on learning from Mahatma Gandhi
- On research front, a key innovation is considering the disadvantaged community as ‘co-researchers’ & enabling this by designing research tools usable by the community.
The science of innovations development at AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T follows three inter-related stages: 1) Research, 2) Piloting through field actions & 3) Knowledge management. These 3 stages are anchored respectively at the following three institutional entities of AIILSG established at ICEQUI-T: 1) research committee, 2) dedicated thematic Centers & 3) the learnings & publications node.
It is important to note that AIILSG doesn’t put forth innovations as theoretical propositions but develops them within its own ‘social innovations lab’ i.e. ICEQUI-T, pilots them through field actions, & through the learnings & publications node captures the learnings emerging through the process & then packages it as knowledge products. These knowledge products are designed in a way that they should be easily decipherable by all stakeholders. Usually the main stakeholder the primary stakeholder- the disadvantaged community- dis missed from this consideration. AIILSG ensures that the knowledge products are customized for dissemination and use by the disadvantaged populations too. In sync with its spirit of innovations, the AIILSG has kept two performance parameters for its International Center of EQUI-T: 1) Number of social innovations developed, 2) Number of disadvantaged populations reached.
An important feature of the AIILSG’s innovations are their global relevance. AIILSG’s ICEQUI-T works with all types of disadvantaged populations: Urban Disadvantaged (slum dwellers, street children, etc.), Forest Dweller Tribes, Nomadic Tribes & Rural Disadvantaged. This makes AIILSG a unique organisation working in all domains of deprivation. Also AIILSG pilots its innovations in diverse socio-economic & agro-ecological conditions. The innovations piloted through these enhance their relevance to all kinds of similar situations in the world- especially in the developing countries.Through the above efforts, AIILSG is making humble contributions towards attainment of the SDGs.