Innovating in Crises - Rising to the Challenge

The seminar took place on 5 March 2026 at Shamba Events in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by Innovation Norway with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi and ThinkPlace Kenya. It convened humanitarian innovators, funders, social enterprises, and private-sector partners to work on ways to scale solutions in crisis settings. Attendees were invited to develop ideas for live humanitarian challenges and learn about innovation, partnerships, and systems thinking.

The programme included opening remarks from Humanitarian Innovation Programme head Therese Uppstrøm Pankratov and Norway’s Ambassador to Kenya Siv Catherine Moe; a keynote by Bernard Chiira of Assistive Technologies for Disability Trust; two panels on early-stage financing in refugee contexts and attracting investment in fragile markets; and project spotlights from ADRA/Response Innovation Lab, IOM, UNICEF, Save the Children, and WFP/Omia. A facilitated ideation session ran from 14:00 to 16:00, followed by closing remarks from Emilie Skogvang and Ragnhild Nauste. Named panelists included representatives of Save the Children, Inkomoko, Refugee Investment Facility, KI4BLI, Impact Fund DK, AECF, UNICEF, WFP Kenya, and Safaricom. Contact: Ragnhild Nauste, Innovation Norway (ragnhild.nauste@innovasjonnorge.no). The page links to the Humanitarian Innovation Programme.