SAN FRANCISCO — Ask about the leaders in innovation for international development, and you are likely to hear about the United Nations Children’s Fund, in part because it launched its innovation unit ahead of most of its peers.
Launched in 2006, the Innovation Unit has since evolved into the Office of Global Innovation at UNICEF. When Cynthia McCaffrey became director of the office in April 2016, her job was to make sure that all the work being done to leverage technology ultimately led to better outcomes for children. In an interview with Devex as part of the Meet the Innovation Leads series, McCaffrey spoke about her efforts to mainstream this innovation work at UNICEF.
“How do we use emerging innovations and technologies to really bring impact for kids and not just innovate for the sake of innovating?” McCaffrey told Devex.