PLEASANTON, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 12, 2013) - Spigit, the global leader in enterprise innovation software, today announced that it will be working with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), its partners, and its beneficiaries to solve some of the most pressing challenges in refugee protection and assistance worldwide.
For the past 60 years UNHCR has been the leading agency providing refugees and others of concern with protection and humanitarian assistance. UNHCR Innovation is a multi-year initiative looking for more efficient, effective and creative solutions to challenges faced by refugees across the world, with the goal of enhancing refugee's protection, empowerment, self-sufficiency and dignity.
UNHCR Ideas, an initiative lead by UNHCR Innovation, will be powered by the SpigitEngage platform. The first phase is a six-week challenge that launches today, which asks the UNHCR community -- including staff members, partners and academic institutions -- how access to information and services provided by UNHCR and its partners can be improved for refugees living in urban areas. UNHCR employees and members of partner organizations will then evaluate the top ten ideas and help participants clarify and strengthen their proposals. The winning idea will be piloted in 2014.
"We are excited to launch UNHCR Ideas to better foster collaboration and harvest creativity within UNHCR to help the over 35 million people of concern to our organization around the world today," said Olivier Delarue, UNHCR Innovation Lead.
"Over the last six decades -- and in the face of ongoing emergencies and the rapidly changing world, we have continually adapted and innovated to better enable tens of millions of people restart their lives. Now, using UNHCR Ideas, powered by Spigit, we have the online innovation management platform that truly unites all of UNHCR stakeholders across the globe to address these challenges."
Spigit's leading platform will underpin and host specific challenges for UNHCR, activate crowds and enable purposeful social innovation that drives engagement and change. This grassroots approach will identify, validate and implement refugee-centered solutions, bringing together a global community of experts with common goals and experiences.
"Innovation is about adapting to the context. It is often used in the private sector but, with a few exceptions, neglected in humanitarian work. We are honored to help UNHCR tap into the ideas and experiences of its broad ecosystem to solve some of the world's most life-challenging problems," said Shail Khiyara, CMO and Chief Customer Officer at Spigit.
"Humanitarian innovation can transform lives and Spigit's platform fosters a collaborative environment to bring challenges and solutions to light from UNHCR staff on the ground in countries around the world."
Spigit is the innovation engine that drives growth, helping organizations unleash the creativity of its employees, partners and customers. Leveraging crowdsourcing, game mechanics and big data analytics, Spigit works with the world's leading brands to spark ideas on a scale otherwise impossible, accelerating the rate of innovation.
For further information on the UNHCR Ideas, please visit UNHCR Innovation Facebook page here and follow UNHCR Innovation on Twitter here.
About Spigit Spigit is the global leader in Enterprise Innovation Management, helping organizations unleash the creativity of employees, customers and partners to find transformative ideas that drive growth. Leveraging crowdsourcing, game mechanics and big data analytics, Spigit's platform is helping the world's leading brands invent disruptive products, generate new revenue streams, build an innovation culture, reduce costs and significantly improve employee and customer engagement. Highly respected companies in the Retail, Healthcare, Financial, Technology, Government, Insurance, Utilities and Pharmaceutical industries use Spigit. Headquartered in San Francisco's Bay Area, Spigit is the innovation engine that drives growth and a key player in the social enterprise market. Spigit was recognized in the 2012 Inc. 500|5000 as the #1 fastest growing private software company in the California and the 4th fastest growing company in the software sector in the United States. For more information, visit www.Spigit.com or follow us on Twitter @Spigit.
About UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.
UNHCR Ideas is powered by UNHCR Innovation -- a multi-year inter department initiative, established in 2012 by UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner, looking for more efficient, effective and creative solutions to challenges that refugees are faced with across UNHCR operations worldwide. In line with UNHCR's mandate, the ultimate goal of UNHCR Innovation is refugee protection, self-reliance, empowerment, dignity and education. To fulfill its mandate, UNHCR Innovation engages staff members to re-thinks the way UNHCR works; the way it involves refugees in the design of the programs and the way it looks at good practices in the humanitarian and private sector world.
