Decentralised Development Lab (DDLab)

The Decentralised Development Lab started in the beginning of 2021 with a Call for Challenges that was spread across the German federal states and partner countries of German development cooperation. 

• The DDLab team received more than 25 challenges that were handed in from federal states, research institutions, NGOs or governmental institutions from partner countries.
• Innovation experts and the DDLab team selected four challenges.  
• Interested ministries in the German federal states were identified to support the selected challenges as well as interested groups or institutions in the partner countries. The challenges addressed the topics sustainable e-mobility, inclusive digitalisation, female entrepreneurship and mangrove friendly aquaculture.
• Further information on the challenges is available in the brochure  (page 7)

MANGROVE-FRIENDLY AQUACULTURE 

The mangrove-friendly aquaculture team consisted of representatives of a local community on the island of Lembar-Selatan as well as various community projects in Indonesia. The proposed idea aimed on the one hand to convince the villagers of mangrove-friendly aquaculture management through awareness-raising measures and on the other hand to create income opportunities with ecotourism through a protected mangrove forest. In addition, digital tools should be used to better predict ebb and flow in the region, thus preventing disasters, simplifying tourism and improving cultivation. 

BA11Y – INCLUSIVE DIGITIZATION 

"Ba11y" is a cooperation between people from asocial entrepreneur and from the IT sector. Their aim was to create a digital tool that enables people with disabilities to report on digital offers of public services if they are not accessible to certain groups. The focus was on people with visual impairments. In this way, Ba11y intention has been to raise awareness of digital accessibility and enabling government structures to develop public services in a more inclusive way. After the end of DDLab’s  incubator phase, the team received various awards and grants in Indonesia and is now part of the Open Government Partnership in Indonesia.

TRANSISI – SUSTAINABLE E-MOBILITY 

TRANSISI – the team consisted of various Indonesian engineers with many years of work experience in the Netherlands and Indonesia as well as experts in stakeholder management, public financing and sustainability. After an initially very broad idea for a digital financing tool for e-buses in Jakarta, the idea pivoted and the new focus was switched to providing digital services for charging infrastructure operators. The team developed a digital dashboard with associated software in the accelerator phase to enable charging infrastructure operators of getting an overview of the use and costs of their charging stations at all times. This solution has first been piloted with electric cars and can be used independently of the hardware of the charging station. This makes it quickly scalable and is to be used in e-buses in the future with the aim of offering the charging infrastructure itself. The team has already won various awards and funding opportunities in Indonesia and was preparing for market entry.

BECOMING NALA - WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN RURAL AREAS

Becoming Nala was a team of female entrepreneurs from Germany and Rwanda who were working together on a platform for women entrepreneurs in rural and urban Rwanda. The idea has a high scaling potential for other countries in the region. It is a digital platform where female entrepreneurs from rural areas can network with women from the city and exchange ideas on how to overcome various business challenges. They are supported by mentors from all over the world. In addition to networking, the platform was intended tooffer training and financing options. Due to the lack of digital accessibility in rural Rwanda, the platform also was to offer various offline events. The idea was financially supported by various foundations in Germany and Rwanda.

The five-months incubator programme. 

• During this phase of the DDLab, the four selected teams received financial benefits, coaching sessions, technical expertise and the opportunity to test and validate their solutions. All the teams gathered in Berlin for a Midterm workshop to meet stakeholders and have a short design sprint.
• In July 2022 the four teams handed in detailed project proposals which were evaluated by a jury as well as GIZ technical and regional experts and their coaches.
• In August, they had the chance to pitch their ideas to the jury and a broader audience.
• Since two of the teams had the same scorings, it was decided to have two winning teams that will share the financial benefit and access to an acceleration programme.

Between September 2022 and March 2023, the two winning teams (TRANSISI, working on the e-mobility challenge and Becoming Nala working on the female entrepreneurship challenge) received specific support in a seven-month acceleration phase. 

• Coaching and trainings and three in person workshops for idea refinement and business development in Berlin, Jakarta and Kigali
• The teams received each financial support to contract service providers to start the piloting of their solution.
• At the end of the accelerator in March 2023, the two teams came together with GIZ and enpact in Kigali, Rwanda, for the Wrap Up Workshop of the DDLab.
  • Becoming Nala launched their platform to the broader public during an event at GIZ's Digital Transformation Center in Kigali where different Rwandan ministries, GIZ projects and the German embassy were present.
  • TRANSISI had the chance to exchange with a leading start-up from Rwanda's e-mobility sector about strategies to incorporate their businesses in existing governmental investments.
  • The workshop offered the chance for both teams to prepare themselves for the steps after the end of the DDLab.

The DDLab was an innovative format of the BLP and made use of its existing cooperation structures and networks. The creation of learning and practice networks between the German federal states and the partner countries as well as the continuous contact with the supported start-ups have created a wide range of opportunities for the development of early-stage start-ups. The participating German federal states and the partner countries had the opportunity to explore the potential of agile and innovative methods in public administration. In this way, the DDLab created a framework for exchange on current challenges decentralised administrations are facing worldwide. The piloted solutions are highly relevant. Both teams were able to show that they have a good chance of bringing their respective products to the market. Digitalisation, innovation and agility will become increasingly important in development cooperation in the coming years. Innovative and agile competencies have the potential to support the participating institutions from the German federal states and partner countries in order to shape sustainable change in an increasingly volatile world. We are looking forward to support tackling the upcoming challenges in decentralized development cooperation as BLP!