Why Innovate?

Innovation As A Solution
Innovation is vital to the state of the world’s children. Challenges have never been larger, or coming faster – urbanization, climate change, lack of employment opportunities, broken education systems, increased disparities, and digital divides.
Drawing upon leading principles for innovation and development, the Duke-UNICEF Innovation Accelerator cultivates ecosystems that foster and support promising innovations that address the most pressing challenges faced by children around the world.
Duke-UNICEF Design Principles
UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships, and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives. For us, innovation is about taking emerging approaches and tools, and testing how they can be applied across contexts. If successful, we scale them to positively impact children and young people around the world. For the purpose of this Accelerator, Duke and UNICEF have adapted the Principles for Digital Development, as developed by UNICEF and others. Eligible social enterprises must adhere to these principles to qualify.
Our Focus Areas
Menstrual Health and Hygiene:
In the Accelerator’s first cohort, we focused on supporting innovative solutions to a specific Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) issue that has an enormous impact on the lives of adolescent girls: menstrual health and hygiene (MHH).
Sanitation and Hygiene:
In the Accelerator’s second cohort, we focus on supporting innovative solutions to sanitation and hygiene issues broadly, which have an enormous impact on the lives of children everywhere.
Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene:
In the Accelerator’s third cohort, we are focusing on supporting innovative solutions that will accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation for all (including hygiene and menstrual hygiene), paying special attention to the needs of youth, girls, and women in vulnerable situations, as well as climate resiliency and future-proofing as it relates to WASH.