Innovation Capacity Building to Embed and Advance Social Innovation in Public Health Institutions

Social Innovation in Health Initiative

client

TDR, Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Disease, co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank and World Health Organization in partnership with: University of Malawi, Makerere University, the University of the Philippines, Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Medicas (CIDEIM) and the University of Cape Town.

Location

Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Uganda

Languages

English

Years

2014 – 2020

Learn More

www.socialinnovationinhealth.org

Overview

In 2014, social innovation was not a well-recognised concept within global health. In order to illustrate its potential, evidence was needed as well as pioneering organizations who could embed the research within their institutions. Not only was Chembe’s Dr Lindi van Niekerk a co-founder of the Social Innovation in Health Initiative, the Chembe team provided a range of strategy, research, marketing and innovation capacity building technical expertise to support this international network of partners and universities.

Services

As the initiative has evolved, different services were provided:

Research:

  • Research protocol design – a multi-country case research protocol was developed to support two university research teams to identify and investigate 25 social innovation models in health, building the first evidence base for this work in low-and-middle income countries.

 

  • Case study research and publications – case study research management was provided to research teams to conduct field work, analyze data and write up case research reports. In addition, a WHO publication on Social Innovation in Health was written and compiled.

Innovation capacity building:

  • Initiative strategy development – supporting TDR, technical and strategic guidance was given to grow the initiative from a 3-partner network to a 7-partner network. This strategy included the development of the university based research hubs in Malawi, Uganda, the Philippines and Colombia.
 
  • Social innovation training and coaching – in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Cape Town, a short course training was developed for university research hub leaders and project managers. The training aimed to equip them with social innovation theory and application, as well as providing practical guidance on how to establish and grow their country-based hubs.
 
  • Workshop development and facilitation – Events played a key role to advance the agenda on social innovation and mobilize new partner participation. Support was provided to design workshops in France and Malawi, and facilitation services were provided for a Malawi-based workshop.

Marketing:

  • Website design and development:  Chembe managed, updated and maintained the SIHI website. In addition, new sections on the website have also been added consisting of resources for new innovators and partners.
  • Mini-documentary films:More than 30 short micro-documentary case films were produced on different social innovations in 12 countries. All projects were filmed on location, interviews conducted, and final production oversight given.
  • Animation videos: Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, animated videos that creatively include the voices of country actors.
  • Report design – A 44-page overview report was created that documents the work of SIHI Malawi and showcases its achievements between 2017 – 2019. The report also featured selected social innovations in health across Malawi. A print and online version of the report was created.
  • Other marketing collateral – Additional marketing materials were also created, these consisted of case posters, flyers, bookmarks, infographics, social media graphics and updates to existing reports.

Project Gallery

View our complete film library here.

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(Selected products done in collaboration with Because Stories, the University of Cape Town, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

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Website designed by Chembe Collaborative.

Copyright © 2024 – Chembe Collaborative. All rights reserved.

Website designed by Chembe Collaborative.

Copyright © 2024 – Chembe Collaborative. All rights reserved.

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Dr Lindi van Niekerk is a South African medical doctor with expertise in primary care, health systems, and social innovation. In her global health work, Lindi draws on her technical knowledge as a clinician, her qualitative research experience gained in several low-and middle-income countries, her strategic project implementation capacity, and her creative ability as a filmmaker and storyteller.

 

Since 2008, Lindi has been on a journey to catalyze acceptance and create opportunities for social innovation within health systems. While working as a medical doctor, she established the first public hospital-based end of life care project, and as Inclusive Health Innovation Lead at the University of Cape Town’s Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, she established the first innovation lab in the main public tertiary hospital in Cape Town (Groote Schuur Hospital). Lindi co-founded the Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI) in partnership with the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), hosted at the World Health Organization. As part of this initiative, she led a multi-partner research study on social innovation models across 17 countries and provided strategic guidance to the establishment of four social innovation research hubs at universities in Malawi, Uganda, the Philippines, and Colombia. In her own doctoral research, she has focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the factors involved in institutionalizing social innovations as part of the health system in Malawi.

 

Since establishing Chembe Collaborative in 2016, she has worked as an independent consultant with clients ranging from universities, multilateral agencies, private companies, and non-governmental organizations. Lindi has a deep sensitivity to the cultural realities of low-and middle-income countries and the health system challenges faced by both people seeking care and providers/policymakers delivering care in these settings.

 

Lindi holds a PhD in Global Health and an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an MBChB from the University of Pretoria. 

Alasdair is a commercial editor, animator and film director. While working with Chembe, he has produced motion graphics for clients such as TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi.

 

Recently, Alasdair completed his second feature film edit – a period love story set in Zanzibar in Swahili. His first feature film edit for “Saloum”, which premiered in the Midnight Madness Category of the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021.

 

When he isn’t editing foreign language films, he loves working in the documentary field. Having filmed ice swimming world records in Siberia and Alaska, Environmental Marine conservation documentaries all over South and East Africa and edited many humanitarian and wildlife programmes across Africa and Asia. Alasdair is passionate about telling people’s stories.

 

With his love of film and culture, Alasdair was a founding member of the Cape Town leg of the International Short Film Festival in 2010 and was its festival director for 6 years before retiring the festival in 2020. The festival was designed as a network building event through its many host cities on every continent.

Claudi likes understanding and combining seemingly opposite fields, approaches and environments. For her, creativity and analytics are not opposites, but one actually enhances one another. This has driven her to pursue an education in graphic design at Central Saint Martins in London, followed by a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University in Cape Town as well as, holding her Masters in Development Economics from the University of Amsterdam.


As a child of Africa, at the heart of her identity is a passion for social change, which has led her to work on projects relating to financial inclusion, labor fairness and reducing patient waiting times in a pediatric hospital in South Africa. In contrast, Claudi has also worked in more commercial settings, from start-ups to technology consulting for big corporations.


Claudi uses her unique background to help her find commonality and patterns when things seem unconnected. She believes that stronger ideas are formed when we combine disciplines, borrow knowledge from one area and customize it to suit the problem at hand.

Dr Lindi van Niekerk is a South African medical doctor with expertise in primary care, health systems, and social innovation. In her global health work, Lindi draws on her technical knowledge as a clinician, her qualitative research experience gained in several low-and middle-income countries, her strategic project implementation capacity, and her creative ability as a filmmaker and storyteller.

 

Since 2008, Lindi has been on a journey to catalyze acceptance and create opportunities for social innovation within health systems. While working as a medical doctor, she established the first public hospital-based end of life care project, and as Inclusive Health Innovation Lead at the University of Cape Town’s Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, she established the first innovation lab in the main public tertiary hospital in Cape Town (Groote Schuur Hospital). Lindi co-founded the Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI) in partnership with the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), hosted at the World Health Organization. As part of this initiative, she led a multi-partner research study on social innovation models across 17 countries and provided strategic guidance to the establishment of four social innovation research hubs at universities in Malawi, Uganda, the Philippines, and Colombia. In her own doctoral research, she has focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the factors involved in institutionalizing social innovations as part of the health system in Malawi.

Since establishing Chembe Collaborative in 2016, she has worked as an independent consultant with clients ranging from universities, multilateral agencies, private companies, and non-governmental organizations. Lindi has a deep sensitivity to the cultural realities of low-and middle-income countries and the health system challenges faced by both people seeking care and providers/policymakers delivering care in these settings.

 Lindi holds a PhD in Global Health and an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an MBChB from the University of Pretoria.