START Innovation lab - TUKLAS

"The TUKLAS Innovation Lab is a 21-month consortium project which aims to seek out promising local solutions and entrepreneurs from vulnerable communities to nurture, test, refine and scale innovative models to improve emergency preparedness in the Philippines and beyond. Tuklas means “discover” in Tagalog - the acronym Tungo sa Kahandaan ng Pilipinas TUKLAS means “Towards Preparedness in the Philippines”. The consortium will host a network of innovation labs to reach out to the most disaster-affected areas of Northern Luzon, urban Manila and Central & Southern Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. The consortium will be led by Plan International, in partnership with Action Against Hunger, CARE, and local CSO partner the Citizens Disaster Response Centre (CDRC). Each partner will set up a Community Innovation lab to host participants during the different stages of the program. These four Community Innovation Labs will be located in (1) Baguio City covering Northern Luzon; (II) Metro Manila to cover urban preparedness in the capital and Central and Southern Luzon; (III) Tacloban City to cover the Visayas; and (IV) Cotabato City covering Mindanao. Northern Luzon Lab - led by the CDRC and covering 15 provinces of Northern Luzon Metro Manila Lab - led by CARE, will cover Metro Manila and the Central and Southern Luzon Visayas Lab - led by Plan International, will cover the provinces in Visayas Mindanao Lab - led by Action Against Hunger, will tap into the members of MERN to reach as many potential innovators as possible. All four labs will draw support from the central management and technical support unit – CCU, which will be administered by Plan International. The Philippines TUKLAS Innovation Lab will support innovators to test and refine their innovations through an iterative approach geared to regularly review, gain community feedback, promote continuous improvement and evaluate for continued viability/promise, through piloting and scaling streams. At the end of the project, The Innovator's Fair and Learning Event will be conducted to highlight to donors, private sector, academia, government and the general public some of the best innovations emerging from the project to encourage replication and scale-up of the innovations, as well as the innovation lab itself. A final evaluation will draw the main lessons learned and the innovations coming out and will be disseminated in-country, as well as in the UK to various relevant stakeholders. Similarly, the lessons from the entire cycle will be maximized to improve consortium member’s organizational processes and practice, especially as it relates to community engagement and improving accountability to disaster-affected communities. "