The Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI) is a network of passionate individuals and institutions combining their skills and resources in support of key activities to promote social innovation in health. We are neither a formal partnership nor a funding body.
We share a common goal to advance social innovation in achieving Sustainable Development Goals and improving lives of communities in low- and middle-income countries. Our mission is to unlock the capacity residing within the actors of the health system to advance social innovation. We do this through south-south-north collaboration in three areas:
RESEARCH
We conduct research on community-based models and develop tools / mechanisms to advance research.
COUNTRY CAPACITY
We strengthen the capacity for social innovation and research in social innovation amongst universities and health system actors in LMICs.
ADVOCACY
Engage with global, national and local strategic influencers to embed social innovation as an approach in the health agenda and foster a collaborative movement.
The network was launched in 2014 through joint efforts of the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town, the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and TDR, the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases.
In 2017, the SIHI network expanded to include additional partners from low- and middle-income countries: University of Malawi College of Medicine in Malawi; Makerere University School of Public Health in Uganda; University of Philippines Manila College of Medicine; Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health initiative in China; and Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Medicas (CIDEIM) in Colombia in collaboration with ICESI University and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
In 2020, more implementing partners from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean joined the network: Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria; Universitas Gadjah Mada Center for Tropical Medicine in Indonesia; University of Ghana School of Public Health; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras hosted by Unidad de Investigación Científica Facultad de Ciencias Médicas (FCM UNAH) in Honduras; and University of Rwanda. In 2021, the DERBI Foundation based in Bangalore, India and a consortium in Sweden made up of the Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet, and Make a Difference (MAD) also became part of the SIHI network as implementing partners.
In addition, SIHI is collaborating with several organizations such as Fondation Mérieux, Ahimsa Fund, the WHO Department of Service Delivery and Safety, WHO AFRO, and the United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health. Several organizations such as Africalics, Globelics, PAHO, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the WARN-TB Secretariat in Benin, the WHO Innovation Hub, UNAIDS, UNDP, and UNICEF work together with SIHI to build global capacity on social innovation in health.
The SIHI Network is able to do its work with support from the TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Disease, co-sponsored by UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank and WHO. TDR also receives additional funds from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to support SIHI.
SIHI MILESTONES
After the SIHI Launch in 2014, we have accomplished the following milestones:
2015
First innovation call:
Africa, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean
Case study field visit:
15 countries
Convening:
‘Capacity strengthening for the advancement of social innovation in healthcare deliver’y, Cape Town, South Africa, 2 – 3 November 2015
Convening:
‘Evidence-based social innovation consultation: re-imagining healthcare delivery in the global south’, Annecy France, 2- 4 December 2015
World Health Organization, Call for Global Action in Social Innovation
2016
Release of 23 case studies & 19 films
Convening :
‘Funding agencies join forces to advance social innovation in health’, November 2016, Annecy, France
Expanding low- and middle-income partners:
Consortium of emerging hubs established: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Malawi, University of the Philippines, Makerere University & CIDEIM
2017
Release of WHO, TDR publication:
Case Studies and Lesson Learned from Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Convening:
Emerging hub social innovation training workshop, 5 – 7 April 2017, London, UK
3 Country social innovation calls:
Malawi, Uganda, the Philippines
11 case studies produced
2018
Country social innovation call:
Malawi
Convening:
SIHI Emerging Hub Strategy Workshop & SIHI Network Meeting, Blantyre, Malawi
Convening:
Co-creating a Research Guidance for Social Innovation, May 2018, Blantyre, Malawi
Release of WHO, TDR-SIHI Crowdsourcing in Health and Health Research:
A Practical Guide
New partners join SIHI:
SESH, Ahimsa Fund, Fondation Mérieux, WHO Service Delivery and Safety
2019
Release of Journal of Infectious Diseases of Poverty’s series:
Social innovation to transform health care delivery
Country social innovation call:
Malawi
Andean Region (SIHI Latin America and the Caribbean)
Convening:
TDR – Supported SIHI Hub Proposal Development Workshop
Geneva, Switzerland
12-14 February 2019
Convening:
SIHI Partners Workshop
Kampala, Uganda
8 – 10 October 2019
New partners join SIHI:
SIDA, UNAIDS, WHO Afro
2020
Convening:
SIHI Virtual Network Meeting
SIHI Partners Workshop
New partners join SIHI:
Africalics, Globelics, Make a Difference, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, UNDP, UNICEF, United Nations University, Universitas Gadjah Mada, University of Ghana, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras and University of Rwanda.
Country social innovation calls:
Ghana (University), Nigeria (State), Rwanda, Philippines,
Uganda (University)
2021
New partners join SIHI:
DERBI Foundation
Sweden consortium: Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet, MAD
Country social innovation calls:
India, Indonesia, Ghana, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, Malaysia, Nigeria, Uganda
Open webinars on the Social Innovation Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and social innovations in Asia
2022
Country social innovation calls:
Uganda, Philippines, Indonesia (Youth ideathon), China (Go Youth! Global Open Call)
SIHI Fellow Program and SIHI-SESH Summer Social Innovation Training workshops
WHO Calls for Global Collaboration on Social Innovation in Health
