Governance & Funding
The design, funding and operation of IDIA is overseen by the member agencies of the IDIA Executive Committee (IEC), who represent the architects of our Ecosystem model.
Together, the IEC members use a comprehensive, co-created framework to provide collective governance across the IDIA ecosystem, and ensure its strategy, structure and activities are optimized to deliver against its influencing priorities and goals.
Importantly, the IEC does not define or dictate the strategic direction of IDIA, as this is iteratively and adaptively determined in response to our Community priorities and global and country innovation demand signals.
The IEC does, however, provide oversight to inform the continual growth and curation of the IDIA Ecosystem, as well as the approval of our biennial workplans and budgets.
Funding
IDIA has continued to adapt its funding model over the years to ensure continuity and effectiveness of the platform.
From 2015-2016, IDIA was supported by an initial grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to support the IDIA Secretariat at Results for Development (R4D) to scope, facilitate and test the concept of a collaboration platform in development innovation.
Building on the value and potential that IDIA quickly demonstrated in its founding phase, a handful of our members then shared the costs for our third year, before rolling out a fairer, more sustainable funding model that distributes the costs of our activities equitably across the membership. This model, which has remained in place for the majority of our existence, has enabled our platform to stay resilient in the face of major global and institutional shocks – such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the dissolution of USAID – that may have otherwise jeopardized funding.
In addition to the core funding that supports the general operational management of IDIA, most member agencies of the IEC contribute additional financial and non-financial resources to advance activities that are strategically relevant to their own missions and priorities.
For example, the Gates Foundation, Sida, DFAT Australia and Rockefeller Foundation have all provided additional support to deliver different iterations of the IDIA Managing Innovation for Impact Training Programme in various locations since 2018. Similarly, Grand Challenges Canada and the Global Financing Facility at the World Bank Group were both instrumental in supporting the testing and adoption of the IDIA Mountain Model for Public Sector Scaling in Kenya and Tanzania respectively.