UNICEF COMPASS | Enhancing UNICEF innovators' capabilities for greater impact on children

At UNICEF, innovation is about discovering, iterating and scaling potentially transformative solutions to improve outcomes for every child, everywhere.

Innovation is one of the key drivers for change to accelerate UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. To achieve this ambitious goal, UNICEF Country Offices need to strategically source and invest in those solutions and approaches with the potential to yield the highest return for children, youth and their communities.

With a network of innovators in over 190 countries, COMPASS was designed as a resource to support UNICEF leaders in their innovation journey. It equips key staff members and teams to navigate an ever-evolving technology landscape with a strategic approach to their creative process. COMPASS empowers UNICEF innovators with essential skills to create more effective innovation strategies and foster progressive work cultures focused on maximizing positive outcomes for children.

Launched in 2023, COMPASS provides UNICEF teams with tools to design and implement tailored innovation strategies that meet country-specific needs, helping optimize the impact of their programs through informed and localized decision-making. Using methodologies that include strategic mapping, planning and assessment, COMPASS enables scalable solutions that align closely with UNICEF’s global strategic priorities and programmatic objectives. This initiative supports a culture of continuous innovation, focusing on governance, funding, local capacity-building and organizational culture. It also enables regular assessment of each initiative's scalability and feasibility, ensuring that they meet UNICEF’s program goals while adapting to local challenges.

In 2024, the COMPASS approach expanded to multiple UNICEF offices, where cohorts of innovators were trained to integrate these methodologies into their regional projects, allowing for resource optimization and enhanced effectiveness. At dot., we played a pivotal role as designers of the methodology and materials for UNICEF’s COMPASS initiative, shaping its strategic approach into innovation. Our team crafted materials that were not only user-friendly, but also deeply aligned with UNICEF’s goals for impactful and scalable solutions. By dynamically leading the pilot implementation, we ensured an engaging and effective rollout, working closely with UNICEF innovators to adapt the methodologies to diverse local contexts. Our hands-on approach in this initial phase helped optimize the toolkit for broader use, reinforcing COMPASS’s mission to foster sustainable, adaptable innovation within UNICEF programs. Driving a culture of continuous innovation, COMPASS provides a dynamic framework to support UNICEF in creating real-world solutions tailored to diverse and local contexts.