It is undeniable in the human rights world that there is a pressure, including from funders, to seek "the new". It is also undeniable that our societies are undergoing changes we can not ignore. But when is innovation necessary? And how do human rights organizations — founded upon non-negotiable values—feel about it? During 2015-2016, we interviewed 102 people to foster a public debate on how rights-based civil society organizations, including funders, are reacting and adapting to contemporary trends, such as multiplicity and pace of information, non-institutional activism and crisis of representation of the state. Interviewees for the research “Solid Organizations in a Liquid World” included key academics, representatives of NGOs and foundations from several countries.
Innovation is not a panaceaOverall, resistance to innovation was a common theme. Respondents disagreed with the assumption that innovation is always good—or good in and of itself. Perpetually seeking the new can cause organizations to lose focus or remain continually distracted by new programs and projects. As Johanna Mair and Christian Seelos note, innovation is not a “holy grail” despite the fact that many people seem to be using it as a “panacea for all ills.” But, based on the responses we received, we believe that to resist innovation for fear of taking risks can also be a mistake. Innovation is important, but, at the end of the day, it is each organization's choice—not an imperative. It can be a simple or a complex process, that requires humility and ambition. How then, can NGOs use innovation wisely, without pandering to trends and buzzwords?
Innovation depends both on internal and external factors, related to the context in which the organization operates, as well as group factors and organizational factors. In this context, each organization needs to adjust the definition of innovation in order to make it useful to its mission, and be in tune with the modus operandi, values, structure and history of each organization.
