Breaking new ground in the quest for innovative solutions

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is breaking new ground in its quest to improve the situation of people who have fled their homes. One of the major challenges facing these individuals is the near impossibility of playing an economically active role in their host communities. Most of them want to establish a livelihood and make a contribution to the host countries, many of which are also in a difficult economic situation. That is why GIZ invites you to submit effective, innovative solutions that benefit migrants and refugees as well as the host communities. The best ideas will be further developed and should ideally result in solutions that can be realised on a wider scale. 

First of all, though, start-ups, innovators, NGOs, scientific institutes, public facilities, companies and individuals are called on to submit their proposals. The ideas must have been tested in practice and found to be effective. They could be new products and services, an innovative business model, an IT project or other creative solutions. An international jury will then select the best three entries. From 14 to 18 January 2019 the proposals will be adapted to the situation on the ground and fine-tuned in an innovation lab in Rwanda, our pilot country, in conjunction with refugees and representatives of the host community. Over a test phase of several months, the best solutions will be tried out in practice and consistently enhanced and upgraded. 

Our website solutions.giz.de offers examples of projects and all the information you will need to enter the competition.