We helped develop a series of innovation workshops for UNDP’s country offices in the Asia Pacific region.

As part of a consortium led by Finland-based Snowcone and Haystack, Dash Marshall provided research and innovation advisory services to help UNDP in their quest to rethink the composition and mandate of country offices. This work reflects UNDP’s desire to get ahead of larger changes within the international development field, where new actors are putting pressure on established organizations like the UN to pursue new approaches to development.

Dash Marshall conducted field research at UN Headquarters in NYC to help the team understand the structural and organizational factors at play, helped design a multi-day innovation workshop in Bangkok, and contributed original writing for the team’s final deliverable.

About that deliverable. Rather than deliver a report at the end of the engagement, which we all know few people actually read, our consortium created a print-on-demand newspaper that was given to all attendees at the conclusion of the workshop. It served as a summary of the discussions; a pointer to further resources; and a tangible reminder that opportunities for reinvention are not limited to grand gestures, but can be found in every aspect of one’s practice.