At IDIN, we’re all about learning, especially when it’s hands-on. Here we’ve compiled some of our favorite resources, many of which are used at our trainings and summits around the world.
Resource Library
Tips for Writing a Grant
- How-to
This document provides guidance on writing a grant for a project. It is tailored to IDIN Network members applying for a microgrant, but its lessons are also applicable to other grants.
IDIN Mentorship Toolkit
- How-to
This toolkit is designed for IDIN mentors and their mentees to build productive and meaningful relationships during the microgrant process. It includes tips for mentoring as well as individual tools and progress trackers.
IDIN Targeting Checklist
- How-to
This checklist was designed to help IDIN partners assess their targeting and outreach strategies.
For more information on the assessment, see the IDIN blog: On target: How do you get the right people in the door?
Guide to Starting an IDIN Local Chapter
- How-to
This is an all-inclusive guide on how to start an IDIN local chapter in your country.
Handbook for Biomass Cookstove Research, Design, and Development
- How-to
This handbook presents insights and methodologies from recent biomass cookstove R&D programs at multiple institutions to achieve higher performance, lower cost, and improved usability. This handbook will help cookstove designers and enterprises to integrate the latest R&D innovations into their products and support further innovation.
This handbook was written by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology D-Lab, led by Dan Sweeney, with research and editorial support from Megha Hegde, Kendra Leith and Amy Smith, in partnership with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. This was inspired by their work with small- and medium-scale cookstove and fuel manufacturers, including at the International Development Design Summit for Cookstoves in East Africa in 2017. Participants used design thinking and cookstove R&D to develop creative solutions to challenging problems in household and commercial cooking in the region.
The Metrics Café
- How-to
Funders need impact metrics. Grantees do, too. So who decides what gets measured?
Because funders’ and grantees’ measurement needs clash, they wind up with reporting systems that serve neither. This framework can help reconcile their needs, turning a tangle of metrics into genuine learning.
We explore four models:
- Prix Fixe: All grantees report on same set of metrics.
- A La Carte: Grantees choose from a menu of standard metrics.
- Made-to-Order: Funder and grantee work together to come up with a set of metrics.
- Bring your Own Lunch: Grantees come with their own metrics.
The framework presents pros, cons, implications and recommendations for each model. Drawing on cases from Root Capital, Development Innovation Ventures at USAID, Mercy Corps’ Social Venture Fund, and the Autodesk Foundation, this framework can help funders decide what model is right for them.
IDIN Chapter Funding Application
- How-to
This document explains how to apply for funding to support activites organized by an IDIN local chapter.
IDIN Chapter Activity Ideas
- How-to
This document gives IDIN local chapters ideas for organizing and hosting different events on local innovation and design.
Watching the Smoke Rise Up: Thermal Efficiency, Pollutant Emissions and Global Warming Impact of Three Biomass Cookstoves in Ghana
- Research
In Ghana, about 73% of households rely on solid fuels for cooking. Over 13,000 annual deaths are attributed to exposure to indoor air pollution from inefficient combustion. In this study, assessment of thermal efficiency, emissions, and total global warming impact of three cookstoves commonly used in Ghana was completed using the International Workshop Agreement (IWA) Water Boiling Test (WBT) protocol. Statistical averages of three replicate tests for each cookstove were computed. Thermal efficiency results were: wood-burning cookstove: 12.2 ± 5.00% (Tier 0); coalpot charcoal stove: 23.3 ± 0.73% (Tier 1–2); and Gyapa charcoal cookstove: 30.00 ± 4.63% (Tier 2–3). The wood-burning cookstove emitted more CO, CO2, and PM2.5 than the coalpot charcoal stove and Gyapa charcoal cookstove. The emission factor (EF) for PM2.5 and the emission rate for the wood-burning cookstove were over four times higher than the coalpot charcoal stove and Gyapa charcoal cookstove. To complete the WBT, the study results showed that, by using the Gyapa charcoal cookstove instead of the wood-burning cookstove, the global warming impact could be potentially reduced by approximately 75% and using the Gyapa charcoal cookstove instead of the coalpot charcoal cookstove by 50%. We conclude that there is the need for awareness, policy, and incentives to enable end-users to switch to, and adopt, Gyapa charcoal cookstoves for increased efficiency and reduced emissions/global warming impact.
From Innovators' Perspective: Processes of Grassroots Innovation in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
- Research
This Masters thesis seeks to understand the innovation processes of grassroots innovators in two states in Southern India. Through interviews and case study research, the thesis sheds light on how each innovator has developed his innovation from idea to product, as well as on the enabling conditions that are needed in order to support processes of local innovation in Southern India.