Innovation can be a real challenge for nongovernmental organizations because of funding constraints and restrictions.
“I think it’s actually really hard for NGOs to innovate,” Ann Mei Chang, executive director of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s U.S. Global Development Lab, said at the Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco Wednesday. “And I think one of the biggest problems is folks like USAID.”
But USAID has recognized that major funders and old systems are part of the problem and the agency is working to address the issue by providing flexible funding models, she added.