Innovation for Change
I4C Global Strategy
Innovation for Change was codesigned from 2016 onwards by civil society in seven regions across 143 global majority countries to explore how civil society could innovate to defend and strengthen our fundamental civic rights. These are rights that protect the spaces for people to express their views, to engage with each other, and come together to advocate for positive changes in their communities and societies.
Since 2016 we have engaged with over 30,000 community members by creating local, national, regional and global spaces for collective action to solve civic rights issues using innovation, technology and human-centered methodologies.
This new Global Strategy sets the network’s collective direction for the next 2 years to the end of 2025. We publish this at a time when the challenges faced in our regions by our network of NGOs, activists, community organizations, technologists, lawyers and social movements have grown in number and severity, from increasing attacks of various kinds to existential sustainability challenges.
As we look ahead and consider the potential impacts on our civic rights, including from authoritarianism, Artificial Intelligence and the multiple impacts of the climate crisis, this living strategy will enable our network to be agile in responding to these and other drivers of change in our dynamic contexts.
In navigating uncertainty, through our work to date we have seen the positive impacts of bringing diverse actors together to innovate, test and scale ways to strengthen collective action. As a result our members believe that by powering social innovation our civil society-led ecosystem is needed now and into the future.
In order that we may contribute to the creation of cohesive, peaceful and equitable societies our Global Strategy to 2025 focuses on three global priorities:
I4C Global Strategy
Global Priorities
Imagining positive civil society futures and new ways to strengthen civic space that may emerge unexpectedly from major environmental, technological, economic, political and cultural system changes.
- The network supports social innovation through funding solutions, innovation challenges, labs, and hackathons. Successful examples include the I4C Africa Hub’s Social Innovation Challenge and the development of platforms like Communidas and MENA Tabadol.
- Global research agenda on technology’s impact, socio-economic contributions, digital rights, disinformation, geopolitical power shifts, and alternative funding models.
- The I4C Center for Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights researching surveillance and censorship in the digital technology and AI landscape.
- Co-designing solutions with diverse stakeholders, including social movements, grassroot networks, CSOs, activists, technologists, researchers, campaigners, journalists, academics, the private sector, and governments.
Strengthening the capacity and resilience of civil society to create change opportunities, by being a learning and exchange network that nurtures social innovation, secures and diversifies resources, and provides protection and support to the next generation of activists.
- The I4C Civic Tech for Good Network leverages technology to address challenges faced by civil society, providing open source and white-label solutions, such as apps for digital security, emergency aid, chatbot builders, and sharing economy platforms.
- Capacity strengthening efforts include annual events like the Global Inter Regional Retreat, the Civic Innovation Fair, and Innovation Festivals, along with training programs, resources, and digital transformation toolkits.
Building trust in civil society through advocacy and positive narrative campaigns and by strengthening our inclusion of grassroots organizations, and social movements through movement and alliance building.
- Strengthening grassroots inclusion through initiatives like capacity-building programs, seed funding, regional co-creation meetings, and collaborative programmatic pilots.
- Leading innovative campaigns addressing strategic civic space advocacy issues.
- Producing locally co-created interactive knowledge resources.
I4C Global Strategy
Our Theory of Change
Innovation for Change envisions societies in which civil society-led, social innovation contributes to the creation of cohesive, peaceful and equitable societies.
I4C Global Strategy
How we work?
I4C takes an evidence-driven approach, informed by the I4C Research Network.
I4C Global Strategy
How we co create locally-led global change?
Innovation for Change envisions societies in which civil society-led, social innovation contributes to the creation of cohesive, peaceful and equitable societies.
Learn more about our work
as a Global-South Civil Society-led
Civic innovation network