At IDIN, we’re all about learning, especially when it’s hands-on. Here we’ve compiled some of our favorite resources, many of which are used at our trainings and summits around the world.
Resource Library
IDIN Targeting Checklist
- How-to
This checklist was designed to help IDIN partners assess their targeting and outreach strategies.
For more information on the assessment, see the IDIN blog: On target: How do you get the right people in the door?
Guide to Starting an IDIN Local Chapter
- How-to
This is an all-inclusive guide on how to start an IDIN local chapter in your country.
Handbook for Biomass Cookstove Research, Design, and Development
- How-to
This handbook presents insights and methodologies from recent biomass cookstove R&D programs at multiple institutions to achieve higher performance, lower cost, and improved usability. This handbook will help cookstove designers and enterprises to integrate the latest R&D innovations into their products and support further innovation.
This handbook was written by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology D-Lab, led by Dan Sweeney, with research and editorial support from Megha Hegde, Kendra Leith and Amy Smith, in partnership with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. This was inspired by their work with small- and medium-scale cookstove and fuel manufacturers, including at the International Development Design Summit for Cookstoves in East Africa in 2017. Participants used design thinking and cookstove R&D to develop creative solutions to challenging problems in household and commercial cooking in the region.
The Metrics Café
- How-to
Funders need impact metrics. Grantees do, too. So who decides what gets measured?
Because funders’ and grantees’ measurement needs clash, they wind up with reporting systems that serve neither. This framework can help reconcile their needs, turning a tangle of metrics into genuine learning.
We explore four models:
- Prix Fixe: All grantees report on same set of metrics.
- A La Carte: Grantees choose from a menu of standard metrics.
- Made-to-Order: Funder and grantee work together to come up with a set of metrics.
- Bring your Own Lunch: Grantees come with their own metrics.
The framework presents pros, cons, implications and recommendations for each model. Drawing on cases from Root Capital, Development Innovation Ventures at USAID, Mercy Corps’ Social Venture Fund, and the Autodesk Foundation, this framework can help funders decide what model is right for them.
IDIN Chapter Funding Application
- How-to
This document explains how to apply for funding to support activites organized by an IDIN local chapter.
IDIN Chapter Activity Ideas
- How-to
This document gives IDIN local chapters ideas for organizing and hosting different events on local innovation and design.
IDIN Maker Space Ideas
- How-to
This document provides guidance on how to start a maker or innovation space.
IDIN Innovation Center Tips to Engage Community Members
- How-to
This document gives Innovation Centers in the IDIN Network ideas on how to engage local community members in their activities and trainings.
Ghanaian Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Research
This undergraduate thesis presents the results of 28 in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and local innovators in four cities across Ghana. The thesis explores the motivations and backgrounds of these entrepreneurs, the factors that have led them to create their own businesses, and structural enablers and barriers to local innovation in the Ghanaian context. This research builds on fieldwork conducted by the co-authors through the IDIN Summer Research Fellowship.
Mapping of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Conakry, Guinea
- Research
This report outlines the research of IDIN Summer Research Fellow Meghan McCormick, who spend her summer in Conakry, Guinea working to identify and map the city's entrepreneurial ecosystem. The report shares the methods she used to do so, key insights from her research with a variety of local stakeholders, and reflections on the city's innovation ecosystem. The directory of ecosystem players that emerged from her work can be found here.