Resource Library

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.

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.

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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.

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Creative Capacity Building in Uganda: Qualitative case research into the impact of CCB on individuals and communities

  • Research

This collection of case studies illustrates the range of outcomes that D-Lab's Creative Capacity Building trainings have had in communities across Uganda. The cases illustrate an evolution in the ways that CCB alumni apply the design process after the training is over: a progression from designing for income, to designing for resilience, to designing for development.

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Assembly Traders as Supply Chain Integrators for Smallholder Farmers

  • Research

This report summarizes the research of 2016 IDIN Summer Research Fellows Kate Collins and Bar Pereg, who conducted research on the role of assembly traders in the value chains for smallholder maize production in Uganda.  This report identifies three key barriers that currently prevent smallscale agregators from playing a more beneficial role in the supply chain and also identifies several promising and innovative local initiatives that are piloting solutions to the key challenges identified. 

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Mobility App and Citizens: Views from Jakarta

  • Research

This report shares the research of IDIN Summer Research Fellow Ying Gao, who conducted research on innovations in informal urban transportation in Jakarta, Indonesia. She investigated how the introduction of a novel ride-hailing app for informal transit services was impacting various stakeholders in the system, while also mapping out these stakeholders, their relationships to one another, and their roles within the complex system of urban transportation provision. 

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Local Innovation: what it is and why it matters for developing economies

  • Research

This paper shares findings and insights from across IDIN's research program. The paper introduces and clarifies the concept of local innovation and shares two key pathways through which local innovation contributes to local development in the contexts that were included in the research.

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Lean Research Framework

  • Research

The Lean Research Framework is a guide to principles for human-centered field research developed by researchers at MIT D-Lab, the Feinstein International Center, and the Fletcher School for International Diplomacy at Tufts University. 

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Learning to Adapt: A Case Study of a Climate Change Pilot Project in Shaanxi, China

  • Research

This report and case study presents the research of IDIN 2016 Summer Research Fellow Jessica Gordon, who researched an innovative poverty alleviation and climate adaptation pilot project in a village in rural western China.  The case study finds that the project was effective in influencing the local development plan for the area to take into consideration climate change adaptation and mitigation and to link these issues to poverty reduction, making this the first county in China to develop a climate resilient local development plan.

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Planning for Scarcity: Innovations in Water Management and Irrigation and the Future of the Jordan River Valley

  • Research

This report presents the research of IDIN Summer Research Fellow Sera Tolgay, who investigated how small-scale farmers in the Jordan River Valley are adapting and innovating in light of challenge of severe water scarcity in this region. She focused in particular on the adoption of water-saving technologies and how these were impacting the farmers and their livelihoods. 

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Understanding Local Innovation in a Business Ecosystem in Gurue, Mozambique

  • Research

This report was produced by IDIN 2016 Summer Research Fellow Katrine Tjoelsen, who traveled to Gurue, Mozambique to understand the dynamics of local innovation among smallholders farmers in this rural community. This report presents a summary of findings from 30 interviews with smallholder farmers as well as insights from a much larger survey administered in collaboration with TechnoServe, the local project partner for this research.

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