Games for Diversity and Inclusion graduated

Promoting workplace diversity and inclusiveness through games

Airbel worked closely with colleagues in the Asia Region to prototype approaches to increasing diversity and inclusivity in our workplaces through mechanisms with wide appeal, that can be easily integrated into workplace routines.
Filter by status
Design
Test
Scale

Games for Diversity and Inclusion graduated following this stage

education

EdTech Global Landscape Analysis

The research identified six EdTech innovation trends that represent patterns of approach we observed across many individual global projects. Accompanying each innovation trend are 2-3 case studies that illustrate how...

Find out more

economic-wellbeing

Local Manufacturing of Medical Supplies in Northwest Syria

Northwest Syria

Open source designs, local manufacturing, and business support can enable a localized supply chain of critical medical equipment while also supporting the market and providing income to families in economic...

Find out more

empowerment

Service Delivery for Mobile Populations

Jordan

As people displaced by the Syria crisis begin returning to their homes, new approaches will be needed to deal with the unprecedented scale of returns.

Find out more

empowerment

Urban Housing

Jordan

Rapid urbanization in many parts of the world has led to a great deal of challenges ensuring the availability of adequate housing. In the Middle East, this is coupled by...

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Design Research phase

No projects currently, try another filter

innovative-finance

Crisis Risk Finance

Global

IRC’s work on crisis risk finance seeks to develop a blueprint for how organizations can reorient more of their resources and processes to be better prepared for, and how the...

Find out more

innovative-finance

Defining and driving innovative finance

Global humanitarian budgets are not keeping pace with our clients’ needs and aspirations. Airbel is designing and testing new approaches to raising finance, and impactful new ways to use funds...

Find out more

innovative-finance

Financing Refugee Crisis Response

Together with the Centre for Global Disaster Protection, Airbel is working to assess the potential to use risk-based financing approaches to respond to refugee influxes.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Generate Solutions phase

education

Humanitarian EdTech Innovation Toolkit

The toolkit is developed for organizations in the humanitarian sector seeking to improve the education access and quality for crisis-affected communities via technology-enhanced solutions.

Find out more

empowerment

Information Flows

Jordan

Displaced people live in challenging circumstances where accurate information can become difficult to obtain. Strengthening information flows can aid in decision-making and make their circumstances easier to manage.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Generate Solutions phase

empowerment

Placement Algorithm

United States

Airbel is piloting and scaling an innovative machine learning algorithm developed by the Stanford University Immigration Policy Lab that matches refugees in areas where they are likely to thrive when...

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Generate Solutions phase

economic-wellbeing

Trade Accelerator

Focused support for Jordanian businesses to foster rapid growth and help them tap into the European market and hire refugees to do so.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Generate Solutions phase

health

Virtual Baby

This portable game would let children earn points for raising a happy baby, teaching them about sexual health and nutrition.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Generate Solutions phase

No projects currently, try another filter

empowerment

Ask Laila

A hotline, SMS, and web-based service to help resettled refugees get quick answers from a trusted local source - in their own language.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Prototype phase

education

Audio-Class System

Colombia

The Colombian education system is struggling to support an unprecedented influx of students in the midst of a global pandemic. To respond to the crisis, the IRC created an innovative...

Find out more

health

Dela

Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo

Dela aims to be an open-source mobile application that connects community health workers and their supervisors with a consistent channel of communication, to improve the quality of services delivered through...

Find out more

empowerment

Games for Diversity and Inclusion

Airbel worked closely with colleagues in the Asia Region to prototype approaches to increasing diversity and inclusivity in our workplaces through mechanisms with wide appeal, that can be easily integrated...

Find out more

This project graduated following the Prototype phase

health

Medicine Bank

Jordan

People with low income in Jordan often struggle to access the medicine they need. This solution is aimed at making supply chains more efficient to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals....

Find out more

health

InforMH

Jordan

Leveraging people’s existing practices to bridge the information and stigma gaps that prevent people from seeking mental health and psychosocial support.

Find out more

health

Sprout

Niger

Over 16 million children under the age of 3 are afflicted by severe acute malnutrition. To pinpoint the most impactful prevention methods, Sprout is experimenting with 3 distinct approaches.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Prototype phase

education

Spark

Tanzania

Spark creates alternative learning spaces outside of refugee camp schools to practice play-based learning and social-emotional skills with primary school children.

Find out more

This project became inactive following the Prototype phase

No projects currently, try another filter

empowerment

IRC Connect

United States

In partnership with Twilio.org, Airbel is developing an SMS-based system to streamline communication between caseworkers and newly-settled refugees as they adapt to their new lives in the United States.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

education

Coach Erevu

Tanzania

Coach Erevu is a virtual teacher coaching program designed to empower teachers to learn and practice social-emotional learning activities that they can use in their classrooms.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

health

Low-Literacy Malnutrition Tools

South Sudan

In hard-to-reach areas local community health workers are key to treating malnourished children. Commonly used tools for diagnosing and treating malnutrition have been adapted to meet the needs of workers...

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

economic-wellbeing

Impacts of anticipatory cash to small-holder farmers and livestock owners in Northeast Nigeria

Find out more

health

Micronutrient Condiment

Kenya

Two billion people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies worldwide. One third of them are children. We aim to introduce an affordable product inspired by existing porridge preparation practices for sale...

Find out more

education

PlayMatters

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda

PlayMatters is an IRC-led consortium funded by the LEGO Foundation that cultivates holistic learning and wellbeing outcomes for refugee and host-community children aged 3-12+ in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda through...

Find out more

education

Pop-Up Class Tanzania

Tanzania

Pop-Up Class Tanzania is an after-school digital learning program where children learn on personalized game-based learning software called onecourse and Kitkit School.

Find out more

education

Pop-Up Learning Tanzania

Tanzania

With more students out of school around the world due to COVID-19 than ever before, we need solutions that ensure the hardest-to-reach children receive quality education. The IRC is delivering...

Find out more

innovative-finance

Resettlement Revolving Fund

In this new model for refugee resettlement finance, a self-sustaining fund provides countries with finance for refugee resettlement, and is replenished as refugees fuel economic growth.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

economic-wellbeing

Seed Security Solution Package

Syria, South Sudan, Pakistan, Niger

This package of three solutions leverages contests, prizes, field experiments, and peer-learning to identify and multiply high-yielding and climate-adapted seed varieties, increase seed quality and availability, and ultimately enhance the...

Find out more

education

Tunakujenga

Tanzania

Tunakujenga is a family learning program designed to empower caregivers to engage in nurturing and playful parenting to support their children’s social and emotional development.

Find out more

This project graduated following the Pilot phase

No projects currently, try another filter

education

EmpaTeach

Tanzania

EmpaTeach is a project that aims to reduce corporal punishment in low resource settings by helping teachers learn positive discipline methods, change destructive thought patterns, and plan ahead for positive...

Find out more

This project graduated following the Rigorous Evaluation phase

safety

Real Man Challenge

Liberia, Uganda, Peru

The Real Man Challenge is a mobile messaging campaign that engages men with an aspirational and positive masculine identity to prevent intimate partner violence. It sends WhatsApp messages to men...

Find out more

education

Pop-Up Learning Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Pop-Up Learning is a tablet-based computer-assisted learning program, aimed to mobilize quickly and efficiently on the onset of crisis.

Find out more
No projects currently, try another filter

safety

Becoming One

Uganda

Becoming One is a counseling program designed to bring couples closer and prevent intimate partner violence. The program is delivered in partnership with local faith leaders, who guide couples through...

Find out more

health

ComPAS: Combined Protocol for Acute Malnutrition Study

South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Mali, Chad

The current malnutrition treatment is inaccessible for 4 out of 5 acutely malnourished children globally. A new combined approach is simpler, less expensive, & offers more comprehensive treatment, with the...

Find out more

other

Dioptra

Dioptra simplifies the process of conducting cost analyses, helping humanitarian and development actors make use of limited resources in a transparent and effective way.

Find out more

economic-wellbeing

Match

Jordan

Working to counter the high rates of unemployment that follow mass displacement, the Match project in Jordan is testing a set of new innovations for placing vulnerable populations and refugees...

Find out more

education

Ahlan Simsim

In this historic effort, IRC and Sesame Workshop have partnered to help children whose lives have been uprooted by the war in Syria to build brighter futures.

Find out more
No projects currently, try another filter

Gender, power, and culture are familiar lenses used in the aid sector when thinking about programming. However, we don’t consistently turn those lenses on ourselves. The literature is rife with examples of gender bias in recruitment, workplace sexual harassment, and challenges women face in advancement. What is less obvious is how to counteract these issues, particularly in Asian workplaces, where the literature is silent. In recognition of these challenges, the IRC is conducting workshops, and undertaking efforts to roll out new guidance on areas such as hiring, protection, and HR policies.

The idea

IRC-Asia partnered with Airbel to develop this concept. The Asia Regional Director and Gender Advisor hypothesized that a game or an app could appeal to a broad audience, even to colleagues for whom gender is not a priority. We believed that to be effective, colleagues must be engaged for prolonged periods, without a need for training or facilitation. Game play is a growing area of exploration by social research institutions for shifting attitudes and behaviors, making it an interesting starting place for our work.

The development

The Asia team and Airbel collaborated to prototype different types of group, individual, digital, and analogue activities to better understand their appeal to colleagues in a work setting, as well as how they may be integrated into the workday. As a starting point, the team began looking at games which colleagues were already playing and how sensitive conversations happen in the workplace.

Prototyping results

Five different game prototypes were tested in Afghanistan, Malaysia, Pakistan, and IRC IHUB in Nairobi. The prototypes included a mix of analog and digital games as well as individual and team play games. Tests confirmed that a game-based approach has a strong potential for positively impacting on gender equality and inclusion in a workplace by:

  • Creating opportunities for male and female colleagues to interact informally within the egalitarian and participatory framework of the game;
  • Building women’s confidence to participate in a team and speak out in a group;
  • Encouraging reflection and discussion on and challenging gender-related attitudes, behaviors and social and cultural norms and pushing boundaries;
  • Broadening people’s minds by exposing them to different interpretations, positions and opinions;
  • Strengthening relationships among staff, enabling them to get to know each other better as a human to a human (not only in a dry professional manner), enhancing a team spirit, thereby contributing to a more congenial work environment that would benefit all staff;
  • Fostering inter-cultural understanding and promoting celebration of diversity; and
  • Creating opportunities to exercise a range of skills and qualities, e.g. listening, expressing oneself, decision-making, empathy, reflection, sense of humor, etc.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback and learning from these tests, the concept was further articulated to develop an interactive package that includes two card games accompanied by a manual and on-line and digital activities.

August 2019 | Package of games identified

The Asia team concludes early prototyping and identifies a draft concept, comprised of an app, 2 card games, and a manual. They will use the micro-grant from Airbel to build these out and further test them.

June 2019 | Graduation to in-country prototyping

The Airbel team hands off prototypes, a recruitment plan, and data collection tools to the Asia Region for use in Kenya,, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Prototyping moves forward under the direction of the Asia Region’s new Gender Regional Advisor, who expands prototyping into Malaysia.

January 2019 | Paper Prototyping

Existing “games” (such as Lifeline, Quandary, Spaceteam) and made up games (Know Your Team, What Would You Do?) are prototyped with IRC New York team members. These prototypes range from real-time, interactive narratives (Lifeline) for individuals to group-based question prompts (Know Your Team). The diversity of interactions help us understand the emotions they provoke, ideal group size, the conversations that are triggered by these activities, and how different types of interactions could be incorporated into the workplace. The Airbel team refines the prototypes based on user feedback.

January 2019 | Collaboration kick-off

Airbel and Asia Region work closely to better understand the problem and begin generating ideas - gameplay emerges as one way to enhance workplace inclusivity. Experts are consulted on characteristics of inclusive and diverse teams, such as empathy, active listening, collaboration.

January 2019 | Asia region wins Solution Surge grant

Asia Region was one of two winners of a US$18,000 grant from Solutions Surge - a trial initiative to identify and jump-start bright ideas from field-based colleagues.

June 2018 | Gender inclusivity seen as key

The IRC’s Asia Region leadership flagged gender inclusivity in the workplace as a regional priority. The Asia Region wanted to explore how to amplify the effect of existing gender initiatives by promoting a culture of inclusivity and diversity. Understanding how to start these conversations across diverse workplace cultures and in the face of myriad other work priorities was an open question. 

The Airbel Impact Lab at IRC is a team of researchers, strategists and innovators committed to the accelerated design, rigorous evaluation and cost-effective scaling of the most impactful solutions supporting people affected by crisis.