The fight against hunger is one of the greatest global challenges of our time. For Welthungerhilfe, this challenge is not only practical, but also cultural: How can truly new and effective solutions be developed—and how can innovation be embedded within the organisation in a way that creates lasting impact?
With the goal of Zero Hunger by 2030, the ambition was to activate innovation not just selectively, but to build it as a core organisational capability—across departments, countries, and functions.
CHALLENGE
Enabling innovation – and triggering cultural change
The central questions were:
- Wie kann die Welthungerhilfe innovative Ansätze im Kampf gegen den Hunger entwickeln, die über bestehende Programme hinausgehen?
- Welche Methoden und Arbeitsweisen müssen dafür erlernt und angewendet werden?
- Und wie kann Innovation gleichzeitig zum Treiber eines breiteren kulturellen Wandels innerhalb der Organisation werden?
The objective was to develop new strategies, new forms of collaboration, and concrete solutions—while laying the foundation for a more innovative organisational culture.
APPROACH
Innovation as a shared learning process
As a partner to the former CEO and the newly established innovation team, STURM und DRANG designed and facilitated an Innovation Camp in Delhi.
Through an internal ideas competition, we recruited innovative minds from across the organisation. Together, they learned new innovation methods and applied them directly to real, pre-defined core challenges.
A key element of the approach was the combination of:
- interdisciplinary, international workshop teams
- a parallel internal sounding board, connected as a digital community
- genuine intrinsic motivation through a selective application process
While some applicants participated on-site in the Innovation Camp, others became part of the sounding board—providing feedback, evaluating ideas, and actively developing them further. Thanks to time zone differences, the sounding board worked almost “overnight”, enabling teams to continue their work the next day with high-quality, well-reflected input.
IMPLEMENTATION
Global collaboration, real challenges, iterative development
Participants from different countries and functions worked in mixed teams on clearly defined core problem areas. Ideas were developed iteratively and continuously tested to ensure that they were:
- relevant across different cultural contexts
- scalable and suitable for global rollout
- capable of creating both operational and cultural impact
The final concepts were then translated into prototypes together with external partners and prepared for implementation.
RESULTS
From workshops to real-world impact
The Innovation Camp led to tangible, implementation-ready outcomes:
- 12 concrete implementation plans for innovative approaches in the fight against hunger
- Three ideas implemented directly
- Two of these ideas were awarded by the UN World Food Programme and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
The resulting solutions received funding and are now successfully in use across multiple countries.
EXAMPLE
Child Growth Monitor (CGM)
One of the key innovations is the Child Growth Monitor (CGM)— a monitoring and dialogue tool developed by Welthungerhilfe.
The CGM enables the regular tracking of children’s growth and facilitates joint reflection with parents and communities, allowing malnutrition to be identified early and addressed in a targeted way.
While the CGM is based on WHO growth standards, it was conceptualised, tested, and rolled out by Welthungerhilfe as a distinct approach and tool—combining technical precision with participatory, culturally sensitive work on the ground.
That, with the support of STURM und DRANG, we developed two ideas with real potential to make a difference in the fight against hunger—one more technical, the other more cultural—surprised and inspired me.
The Innovation Factory addresses both: innovation and cultural transformation.
Kernerkenntnisse
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Innovation as organisational culture
The greatest progress in the fight against hunger did not come from external solutions, but from collective learning within the organisation. Innovation became a shared process across departments, countries, and hierarchies.
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Cultural changes through practise
The Innovation Camp was not a training format, but a real working environment. Methods were not taught theoretically, but applied immediately to concrete challenges—making innovation competence tangible and transferable to everyday work.
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Innovative organisations rely on collaboration
The combination of international workshop teams and a digital, time-shifted sounding board enabled a new quality of collaboration. Ideas could be iterated, reflected, and sharpened continuously—across continents and around the clock.
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Think systems & people design
The strongest outcomes combined technical precision with cultural sensitivity. The Child Growth Monitor is not just a tool—it is a dialogue instrument that connects families, communities, and organisations.