Applications are now open for the fully online 2026 UNHCR Innovation Fellowship
Closing Date: 2 March 2026
Applications are now open for the fully online 2026 UNHCR Innovation Fellowship
Fellowship Overview
The UNHCR Innovation Fellowship is now accepting applications. The UNHCR Innovation Fellowship is the annual innovation learning programme for UNHCR’s workforce and members of select partner organizations.
The Innovation Fellowship focuses on building the innovation skills and competencies of participants, and supports them to engage with colleagues, partners, and refugees to bring innovative approaches into their operations or divisions.
Over the course of the journey, Innovation Fellows learn and practice innovation methods and tools, embedding these new approaches into their everyday work. They focus on problem solving, ideation, and experimentation to develop innovative solutions to real-life challenges in the field or at headquarters. Fellows are UNHCR’s ambassadors for innovation and lasting positive change both within and outside the organization.
The Fellowship is delivered fully online, with hands-on assignments stemming from practical challenges and opportunities for innovating in UNHCR. Although the programme involves plenty of workshops and opportunities for Fellows to interact, UNHCR unfortunately does not have any in-person modalities at present.
What kind of challenges do Fellows explore?
Participants in the Fellowship apply the skills they’re learning to real challenges they’ve encountered in the course of their work, progressing through different stages of innovation to address their chosen challenge. From 2023–4, Fellows explored innovative solutions in areas ranging from protection and shelter to food security and cultural heritage.
Their projects included:
- Addressing negative narratives about refugees in Ireland by creating a refugee-led creative storytelling network and platform.
- Systematizing ways to include refugees in UNHCR Panama’s strategy planning processes, to ensure their perspectives inform approaches.
- Exploring sustainable and community-driven ways to deliver more durable and ecofriendly shelter solutions in Chad.
Join the Fellowship!
Are you dedicated to finding new ways of solving tough challenges facing displaced communities and humanitarian actors? Eager to learn more about how innovation can help?
This is the opportunity for you! UNHCR is currently accepting applications for the 2026 Innovation Fellowship.
The application is designed to be both fun and reflective. Applicants are asked to submit a combination of video and written responses to specific prompts and questions. There are no right or wrong answers! UNHCR is interested in understanding individual motivation, self-reflection, and a willingness to try new things.
Applications will be reviewed by members of the UNHCR Innovation team. Each application will be read by at least two to three reviewers, depending on the total number of applications received.
Find out more about eligibility, the application process, and the Fellowship itself in a dedicated information session:
Who can apply
The Fellowship is open to UNHCR colleagues (whether you’re based at Headquarters or in Operations, in any region and at any level) and to members of partner organizations. This includes:
- All UN agencies
- NGOs and partner organizations of UN agencies
It is designed for anyone who wants to explore new ways of making progress in their work. You do not need to be an “innovator” by title or have prior experience with innovation methods. What matters most is your curiosity, openness to learning, and commitment to experimenting with new approaches within your current role. Please note that your manager needs to give their formal agreement for your participation in the learning journey.
Importantly, applicants do not need to apply with a fully formed idea, innovation project or solution. Fellows bring a challenge or area of curiosity and develop their projects throughout the Fellowship.
Click Here To Apply
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