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From Grassroots to Global: HBNCRIIA awards celebrate global grassroots innovations |
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"The Honey Bee Network has been scouting innovations from grassroots around the world for over three decades. We had earlier collaborated with IFAD to organise two one-off competitions for recognising grassroots innovators globally in 70 countries and later in Asian-pacific region. This is the first time that the Network decided to take initiative through GIAN to recognise innovations from and for grassroots globally supported by SRISTI, UNDP accelerator Lab network in 115 countries, and many other HBN collaborators. This marks an important landmark in the journey of the Network in spreading the culture of recognizing, respecting and rewarding inclusive innovations for the creative individuals and communities worldwide. Grassroots innovations, frugal as they are, play an even more important role today than ever before. With increasing income disparity among rich and the poor, inclusive development has become an urgent necessity. HBNCRIIA awards may help in bridging the gap globally.
The HBNCRIIA awards thus symbolise several aspects of emerging inclusive global vision of the Network:
A) The recognition of innovations for and from grassroots globally by GIAN as part of HBN is a continuing effort to respect, recognise and reward creativ- ity at grassroots to expand the global pool of solutions to meet sustainable development goals ( SDGs).
B) Having given birth to grassroots innovation movement around 35 years ago, it is only natural that HBN recog- nises global creativity and innovations for and from grassroots through HBN and sister institutions of GIAN such SRISTI, Palle Srujana, Ama akha Pakha, Pedes, etc., besides new actors and platforms; 3qs
C) Cross-pollination of frugal innova-
tions from one country to another is pursued through Innov Acc lab network of UNDP in 113 countries & other volunteers of HBN, other multilateral platforms and private sector to ensure the expansion of global knowledge public goods
D) It is not necessary that grassroots innovations are always diffused as such at artefactual or material level, but the heuristics underlying them, or analogical implications or gestalt or the ecosystem around them can also be replicated.
E) one should not make scale the enemy of sustainability. Niche specific innova- tions play an extremely important role in enriching the diversified ecosystems. While some innovations for say, the cleaning the drinking water, ought to diffuse widely but then there are spe- cific models of filters which may have location specific adaptations.
F) Blending universal kernels of solu- tions with decentralised local material/ resource based solutions will help diffuse the frugal and flexible solutions much more widely than centrally designed and centrally diffused solution, the dominant model of global economy.
g) DIY (do-it-yourself) solutions have a special place in any scheme for making our world more inclusive and assimi- lative of the ideas and aspirations of common people. How would this vision be accomplished not just in India but also globally? GLOBAL GIAN may provide one such platform. It is an idea that I wish to amplify here:
Challenge ahead:
There are several challenges that grass- roots innovators face in scaling their innovations globally. Some of these are:
a) lack of understanding about good manufacturing practices, b) lack of capital, technological and design sup-
port, packaging and communication handicaps, c) supply chain manage- ment and other logistical issues even if they learn to manage the scale up the production or a service;
d) ability to use on line services such as designing and maintaining websites, product e-catalogues, up- loading their offerings on e-comm sites; e) managing communications with distant customers and interme- diaries, avoiding fakes and frauds etc., f) ensuring quality control, batch by batch consistency, after sale service (if needed), preparing learning material for customers to maintain the equipment and other utilities; g) accounting and keeping personal and firm accounts separate so that actual cost of different ac- tivities can be worked out and real gains or losses can be assessed and h) managing numerous other inter-group, inter- organizational, compliance and other IP and reg- ulatory issues.
These are only some the chal- lenges mentioned here, there are many more which arise because of policy and institutional changes form time to time at national and international level.
There are intermediaries who help in export or import of goods/services but dealing with them in a fair and just manner requires considerable knowledge, skills and competence. Likewise, within the community, misunderstandings may arise when producers don’t realise the cost of each stage in the value chain with the associated risks. They also do not have much idea about fair trade practices. Misunderstandings can also arise when within the commu- nity, some people grow faster and farther, and others are left behind or supplies of some are rejected due to poor quality while others sustain and gain normally. These issues have to be resolved internally, but guidelines by which such conflict can be anticipated and resolved can equip communities better in dealing with these tensions.
So far globalisation has meant large corporations selling good to common people. We need to reverse globalization by enabling local communities, start-ups and others to market globally. Some of the challenges faced by grassroots innovator will be faced by the science and technological Innovation based frugal innovators also but some will be more complex. Similarly, one can not assume that largest social good can only be achieved through private markets. There are social and environ- mental markets mediated by state, civil society organizations and other learning platforms which can help reach frugal solutions reach the needy.
Several additional functions to be pursued by Global Gian are:
a) Tracking the policy impacts and gaps from the perspectives of technol- ogy based innovative start-ups as well as grassroots innovators to ensure that their voice is heard and responded
b) Lobbying for the relevant changes in polices and institutional design and delivery system for social, inclusive and frugal innovations (SIFI) globally
c) Sharing periodic assessment of various opportunities emerging for the SIFI globally and interpret these for different sectors and domains (various chambers of commerce/industry associ- ation/thinktanks do it for industry but none for SIFI sector.
d) Identifying unmet social needs globally for different disadvantaged groups and put these on the agenda of R&D and Innovation institutions, young students and scientists/technologists and change agents
e) To develop and promote the culture of open learning, sharing and growing together through open knowledge and innovation databases like techpedia.in and techpedia.in/patent.php or gian. org/giannidhi.php, grid.undp.org.in etc., etc. Some of these database ought to be in multi language, multi media format so that three barriers to learning are overcome. Language, literacy and localism are three major barriers to learning at grassroots level. I will like to learn in my mother tongue, even if I am illiterate and not just from local but also exotic ideas and innovations.
f) Various institutions like WTO, WIPO, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCAP,
UNICEF besides numerous multi-lat- eral financing institutions influence dialogue and action on the subject of frugal innovations. Yet, while micro finance has spread globally, there is not a single micro-venture innovation fund (MVIF) promoted by any global financial or developmental institutions yet. If the risk capital is important for biotechnology and Information com- munication technologies, why will it not be useful for small scale grassroots innovators in informal sector? Unless we deny developmental potential of such innovations. Likewise, young students working on frugal solutions for wicked problems will need developmental grants for prototyping as well as for business development.
g) Financing of whole chain of frugal innovations globally will need to organised.
h) even if innovations from one country leads to set up an enterprise in another country with investment from third country, the golden triangle of Gian will have to be operationalised across the countries in different domains.
i) The ideas and problems of women and other special need people have remained under-recognised every where. There is an urgent need for giving voice, visibility and velocity to their outstanding traditional knowledge as well as innovations for developing green products and services globally.
There are many other goals that Global Gian will pursue. It will connect in- dustry and innovators. It will promote decentralised industrializations in the cast of Gandhian philosophy based on innovations from and for grassroots ap- plications. It will engage with students so that they take up the problems faced by MSME, rural communities and providers of basic needs, health and education to local communities. There are so many frugal health diagnostic tools/devices which can help many disadvantaged communities leapfrog or pole-vault from current level to the next generation of most affordable services of high quality. But there are no institutional platforms which will pave the policy and practical path for this to happen. Global GIAN will create platforms for large scale testing, demonstration and diffusion of frugal solutions.
Sustainable agricultural and rural de- velopment interventions need inven- torising under-utilised or unutilised local resources, skills and knowledge systems. Renewable energy needs of aspirational communities will require tremendous support for local and ex- ternal innovations if conservation of remaining forest and tree cover has to be ensured simultaneously arresting the advances of desert.
UNDP Acc Labs have recently launched a global mission to meet the energy deficit of 500 million people in coming few years. The Honey Bee Network is partnering with Acc Lab network through GIAN to map, tap and deploy numerous innovations that already exist and some which still need to be discovered or tested before deploying. Global GIAN can be a partner in such mission and also help in honouring selected inno- vators to scale sustainable solutions and underlying innovative ethic.
About thirty five years ago we saw a dream, and the term grassroots inno- vations or frugal innovation which did not exist in the lexicon of contemporary conversations on development became a common place term, used every day everywhere.
Will Global Gian now emerge as next inclusive platform and take the nest step and operationalise lessons of the Network and try to unleash the potential of innovations from and for grassroots world over?
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 32(1-2) 1-2, 2021 |
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