Investing in Social Innovation and Technology in Tanzania

Investing in Social Innovation and Technology in Tanzania • CUSTOMISING APPROACHES TO ENABLE INNOVATIONS
Marietta and
Justina enjoying
water services
at one of the
R3W prepaid
water kiosks in
Karatu, a CRS
project.
ENG. EPHRAIM TONYA, R3W PROJECT MANAGER, CRS TANZANIA
and innovation models was of equal importance to
the success of the innovations it invested in. HDIF
grantees are coached towards adoption or market
viability of their innovation through adaptations of
components, or in some cases the entire model, to
improve its development impact performance. It is
important to note that a culture of openness and
willingness to share learnings amongst the grantees
and partners was not adopted overnight. HDIF has
had to lead by example and demonstrate how
lessons could to be viewed as a valued contribution
to the ecosystem. Now grantees are increasingly
open about sharing lessons learned with HDIF, other
grantees, and the wider ecosystem, participating in
the annual Innovation Week, contributing to HDIF’s
knowledge products, and using other opportunities
to disseminate their learnings.
A learning-based grant funding model supports
grantees that identify and communicate challenges,
and allows room for collaboration between grantees
where there is openness and a willingness to share
failure. The programme has created tailored tools and
processes to manage and monitor progress among
grantees and across the portfolio. HDIF collects
feedback from grantees and DFID on the types of
data and information required to inform decisionmaking
and adapts these with the intention of
striking a balance between risk management and
the value of learning and adaptation.
Grantees who are prepared and positioned to identify
challenges and make significant and sometimes
radical changes to their thinking and the model are
better placed to succeed. The organisations best
prepared and positioned to do this have identified
and corrected their misunderstanding of the market
and adapted their partnerships accordingly.
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