Welcome to the September 2017 edition of the DIY Update. Read on to find out about a new tool to help families out of poverty, a new language launch for the DIY Toolkit, plus more news and views on international development.

Profiling the development mutants

As part of our series looking at innovators tackling development challenges in unexpected ways, this update looks at the Poverty Stoplight programme which has been developed by NGO Fundacion Paraguaya to help families make sense and navigate their way out of poverty.

Development news and blogs

1. We’re pleased to announce the launch of the DIY Toolkit in Arabic. In partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation, we've translated both the full website and PDF download - meaning the toolkit is now available in nine languages.
2. Innovative technologies and methods of programme design and delivery have been enthusiastically adopted by the international development sector in their efforts to eliminate poverty. But what role can innovation play in reducing global inequalities?
3. We announce the winners of our $300,000 prize for Innovative Agricultural Solutions in Nepal, which was run in partnership with USAID and sought data tools to create actionable, timely, and context-specific info for smallholder farmers.
4. Looking for a quick way to help articulate and improve what you are trying to accomplish with your work? Explore the Evidence Planning module in DIY Learn, our online learning programme in innovation created in partnership with the Open University.
5. The powerful sense of possibility that hackathons offer is their great strength; but it may also be their weakness. How can we guard against the pitfalls? We discuss in this blog on hackathons as a tool in international development.
6. We talk to Module Innovations, who recently won seed funding from Nesta's Longitude Prize for the development of a new rapid, credit card-sized UTI test for women.

What’s inspiring us

Here we share a selection of thought-provoking content on innovation and development from around the world that has come across our radar recently:

• As we learn more about how to reduce poverty, will tackling inequality be the next big innovation challenge for the development sector? This opinion piece from Ipsos Mori’s Jonathan Glennie considers the arguments.
• Learn more about how Indian startup Haqdarshak is using big data and innovative digital facilitation to help citizens navigate government funding schemes.
• In May, the World Bank launched the first explicit ‘SDG bond’. Read more about recent innovations in ethical financing for development on this UNDP blog.
• African business Twiga Foods is using mobile technologies and local food supply chains to deliver higher prices for producers and lower costs for consumers. Find out how in this Medium article.

Connect with us

For updates on the DIY Toolkit, innovation and development, follow us on Twitter @DIYToolkit. More resources on Nesta’s work can be found on our website, Twitter and Facebook.

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