A guided space where people and organizations come together to design, test, and launch solutions that make a difference.
Co-Innovation StartsWith You
Develop innovative nutrition solutions through NFI's facilitated Co-Innovation Partnerships
NFI is where ideas turn into inclusive action. We bring together partners from government, NGOs, businesses, and communities to work step-by-step on real challenges.
Using an engaging digital co-innovation platform called Innovators Team, NFI facilitates co-innovation partnerships to address critical challenges that limit the nutrition impacts of social protection.
Beyond individual processes, our platform establishes long-standing multi-stakeholder innovation communities, enabling long-term co-creation and exploration on important topics.
The NFI Co-Innovation Journey
NFI facilitates co-innovation partnerships that enable governments, development partners, and local organizations to explore innovation topics at the nexus of nutrition and social protection. Each partnership follows a structured 6-phase co-innovation journey, yielding practical innovation insights at each step.
Define your co-innovation challenge
Organizations, governments, or development partners seeking to advance nutrition innovation in their social protection system work collaboratively with the NFI team to develop a detailed Challenge Brief, which clearly identifies the problem statement or innovation topic, key objectives, desired output(s), and the types of stakeholders that need to be engaged.
OUTPUT: Challenge Brief
Discover and explore diverse evidence
During this phase, the NFI supports the host organization and their core partners to explore and consolidate the range of existing evidence surrounding the co-innovation challenge they have identified.
This exploration is supported through NFI’s platform features, such as knowledge sharing webinars and interactive open public dialogues, which yield actionable, practical insights to inform the co-innovation process. Over the course of these activites, NFI supports the host partner to identify and on-board diverse stakeholders who will participate in the co-innovation process.
OUTPUTS: Webinar(s); Open Public Dialogues; Co-Innovation Partnerships Formed
Charting out a roadmap for the co-innovation process
After engaging with the diverse sources of evidence surrounding the host organization’s innovation topic, the partners’ co-innovation process is ready to begin. The NFI team facilitates a visioning workshop for all partners involved in the co-innovation process, identifying the approach and encouraging alignment on key goals. The workshop results in the development of a Collective Action Agreement, which will be a guidebook for the co-innovation process.
During this phase, the host organization and their partners gain access to a dedicated innovation space on the Innovators Team, a purpose-built digital co-innovation platform that serves as a hub for NFI’s co-innovation partnerships.
OUTPUT: Collective Action Agreement
Work together to co-create innovative solutions
After mobilizing the co-innovation partners, the NFI team facilitates a structured virtual design sprint, in which partners work together to synthesize learnings, ideate potential solutions, and generate prototypes/drafts that can be taken forward for further testing.
Each activity in the sprint is facilitated on our custom digital co-innovation platform, enabling real-time problem-solving, rigorous collaboration, and continuous dialogue amongst partners and the host organization throughout the process.
OUTPUT: Low-fidelity innovation prototype(s) or drafts
Rigorously test your innovative solution
The NFI platform embraces a rigorous human-centered design (HCD) approach, which enables co-innovation partners to strengthen the quality of their proposed solutions through real-world testing with local communities.
Co-innovation partners will work cooperatively to develop a testing plan for their proposed solution(s), including key testing domains and metrics of success. The NFI team then supports the roll-out of a small scale local test of the solution, spearheaded by local youth champions.
These local tests provide an opportunity for partners to get live feedback on their proposed solution, and to better understand strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.
OUTPUTS: Testing Plan; Testing Report
Make a plan for concrete action
At the final stage of the structured co-innovation process, the host organization and their partners reflect on the testing feedback, refine their solution, and co-create final outputs with the support of the NFI team. Stemming from a final virtual workshop, the co-innovation partners ratify an Action Plan, providing a roadmap for implementing their innovative solution in a real-world context.
Once the Action Plan is complete, NFI provides continued support for implementation through routine maintenance calls with the host organization.
All co-innovation partners will have the opportunity to follow the progress of their solution and continue collaborating through NFI’s custom-built co-innovation platform.
OUTPUTS: Finalized Solution(s); Action Plan; Support Calls; Continued Virtual Collaboration
Joining a Co-Innovation Partnership: Your Step-By-Step Guide
1. Sign Up
When you click Sign Up , on the upper right corner of your screen, you’ll be directed to a signup form on innovators.team (where the platform is hosted).
4. Browse Challenges
From your group, go to the Challenges tab or use the Challenges menu on the left sidebar to view all available challenges.
2. Create Your Account
After registering, you’ll land on your profile page. Complete your profile by adding a profile photo and a cover photo.
5. Request to Join a Challenge
Choose a challenge you’re interested in and click Request to Join. A Moderator will review your request.
7. Begin Your Challenge Journey
Inside the challenge, you’ll be guided through the phases by your Moderator. Complete tasks, upload research, vote on ideas, test prototypes, and prepare pilots together with your team.
3. Join the GAIN-NFI Group
You’ll automatically be added to the GAIN-NFI group. Here you’ll see all announcements and platform-wide communication.
6. Get Approved & Join the Challenge Group
Once accepted, you’ll be added to the specific Challenge Group. This is where all challenge-related communication, updates, and teamwork happen.
Co-Innovation Partnerships
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the platform works in your web browser. Just log in at innovators.team.
You can access the platform from a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. A bigger screen is best for tasks like uploads or viewing research tables.
A completed profile helps teammates and moderators know who you are. It also gives you access to groups and challenges.
No. The process guides you. Everyone’s perspective is valuable.
Every challenge has 8 guided phases — from defining the problem to preparing a pilot. Each phase includes simple tasks, tools, and learning materials to guide you.
Each challenge phase has a dashboard with a progress bar, clear instructions, and links to upcoming activities (like Zoom sessions). Moderators also post reminders and updates in your Challenge Group.
Platform-wide updates → GAIN-NFI Group
Challenge-specific updates → Your Challenge Group
Direct communication → Comments, mentions, and messages inside the platform
Zoom and other live sessions are shared in your Challenge Dashboard and posted as announcements in your Challenge Group.
For technical help → use the Support link in the sidebar
For challenge-related questions → message your Challenge Moderator in the group
For community guidelines → check the GAIN-NFI Group Announcements