Our work

Current and past programmes and projects. Links go to the full site.

Current

Oxygen CoLab — The FCDO-funded Oxygen CoLab exists to address the shortage of oxygen provision in low-resource settings. To date, across the portfolio of five grantees, more than 10,000 patients have been treated; and in 2024, for the first time ever, there will be fit-for-purpose oxygen concentrators for low-resource settings in the world.
uBora Bora — uBoraBora was set up to fund implementers working on foundational literacy and numeracy programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside our partners Laterite and with seed funding from BMGF, we are supporting open-minded implementers who are collectively frustrated with the status quo and who want to get under the hood of why and how interventions in this space work (or don’t).
Hanga Sexual & Reproductive Health Program — The Hanga Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH) Program offers technical and business support to startups in Sub-Saharan Africa who are exploring technology-enabled solutions to key issues in SRH. Brink provides money-can’t-buy support to these ventures to test their solutions and business models.
Middle Tier Initiative — A multi-country implementation research fund backing district and sub-district education officials - the overlooked "middle tier" of the system - to make foundational literacy and numeracy reforms stick across South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Namibia and India.
Frontier Tech Hub — The Frontier Tech Hub works with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) staff and global partners to understand the potential for innovative tech in the development context, and then test and scale their ideas. The Hub enables the FCDO to invest in early-stage ideas and radical technology solutions, build capacity to develop, use and govern technology responsibly and support lo.
EdTech Hub — Brink leads innovation as part of the FCDO-funded Global EdTech Hub. Our role is to make room for experimentation and to convert evidence into implementation in Kenya, Malawi, Zanzibar, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. To do this we're pioneering innovative approaches to research, such as the 'sandbox' approach, which allows for the testing of new approaches in a small number of schools to learn what works, before innovations are rolled out more widely.
Vaccine Data CoLab — The Vaccine Data CoLab was created to make transformative strides towards a more equitable future, by strengthening data systems and enabling data-based decision-making to improve immunisation programming at the frontline. The CoLab explored different aspects of the vaccine data system in Uganda, Nigeria and Indonesia, in order to strengthen hyperlocal systems in those countries.

Past

ISC Digital Journeys — Science, technology, and innovation (STI) systems are evolving rapidly, but organisations in low-resource settings, especially in low- and middle-income countries, face significant challenges in adopting digital tools like AI and online platforms, as well as developing the necessary ways of working that underpin them.
Frontier Tech Hub — Across northern Nigeria, climate change is accelerating conflict between nomadic herders and settled farmers. As pastureland shrinks and traditional grazing routes disappear, livelihoods are under threat, and the country’s dairy sector is struggling with poor yields, land disputes, and dry-season feed shortages.
Frontier Tech Hub — Exploring whether drones could be used as a nimble, low-cost and environmentally friendlier complement to traditional locust control, particularly for early-stage outbreaks, hard-to-reach areas and smaller swarms.
Frontier Tech Hub — Motorcycle taxis are a dominant mode of transport in East Africa, yet high fuel costs and emissions burden drivers and the environment. While electric motorcycles offered a solution, adoption was hindered by high upfront costs, battery limitations, and lack of charging infrastructure.
Repair & Reuse CoLab — Kenya’s repair and reuse sector is significant yet undervalued, contributing £1.12 billion GBP (1.5% of Kenya’s GDP). Despite its economic and environmental value, the sector remains underfunded, lacks policy support, and is largely excluded from investment frameworks.
TRANSFORM — Across Africa, the ‘informal’ economy is a critical lifeline, supporting livelihoods for millions. With 280 million facing food insecurity and 600 million lacking electricity, the informal sector is a key source of employment. By 2050, it is estimated that the population will reach 2.5 billion people with young people making up half of this.
ASToN — Challenged assumptions and introduced ‘bureaucratic innovation’ right across the council, leading to smart, citizen-centered services that make paying taxes simpler.
Humanitarian Grand Challenge — Developed a supportive and dynamic community that allows those working in unpredictable and extreme environments to come together and make meaningful connections, identify new opportunities and form sector-chan.
Macmillan CoLab — In just five months we designed and tested a holistic ‘fatigue safety net’ proposition that was then piloted by healthcare staff across an NHS Trust in two hospitals. Along the way we changed.
Well_Lab — Accelerating the flow of evidence from academia to the workplace so frontline workers can access, use, and respond to research and improve their health.
Future of Work in the Informal Economy — Working to understand the current realities and future possibilities for the millions of entrepreneurial Kenyans who hustle to sustain livelihoods across the informal economy.
100x Impact Accelerator — Bringing our ventures and experimentation expertise to our work with the 100x startups in the accelerator on real-world tests for their propositions and scaling pathways.
Mainstreaming innovation methods in government — Co-creating a framework for the adoption of innovation in international development organisations through research, collaboration with the OECD's Development Assistance Committee members and contributing to a working paper on institutionalising new ways of working.
Repair and Reuse CoLab — Making the Invisible Visible: Imagining a Better Future for Kenya's significant repair and reuse economy.
Nesta: Innovation Squared — A horizon scan of emerging methods for supporting and managing innovation, including interviews with 50+ world leading innovators.
The four futures of work: Coping with uncertainty in an age of radical technologies — Designing a series of conversations with the UK's retail sector to activate the RSA's report on the four futures of work and co-create next steps for industry.
Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund — Target portfolio strategy and design, and grantee storytelling in this multi-country FCDO-funded programme that aims to support research and innovation systems strengthening in Africa.
Assistive Tech Impact Fund (ATIF) — Portfolio strategy, fund design and grantee support to enable frontier technology solutions to reach people with disabilities in Africa, and to test business models that are most likely to succeed.
Oxfam America — Working with the senior team at Oxfam America to shape strategy, plan and design their portfolio with the aim to improve how the organisation fights poverty, inequality and injustice across the world.
LearnAdapt — Building capabilities across a UK government Department (DFID) to manage adaptive development programmes better. We drew on approaches from the development and tech sector including adaptive management, agile ways of working and lean start-up and worked to realign incentives across procurement and HR practices.
Elimu-Soko Initiative — Supporting a portfolio of EdTech innovations in Rwanda with Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning on this ‘education marketplace’ for innovations, which was piloted in Rwanda 2022-2023.
LEGO Foundation — Translating evidence, knowledge and emergent insights into practical products and tools to inspire and inform board level decisions and future strategies.
Future Forum 2023 — Creating a learning experience for GIZ teams to learn strategic foresight and develop a future vision to apply to their work across agriculture & food, resources & circularity, energy & mobility.