As an unparalleled worldwide initiative, being part of UNDP’s Accelerator Labs network is extremely exciting. Having the opportunity to play a role in reshaping the relatively static world of International Development and breaking the mold with locally grown innovations is quite fulfilling, to say the least. As in the case with all new approaches, this comes with a significant level of uncertainty.

The ambiguity within a country office Accelerator Lab is multilayered and manifests itself on various levels, especially at the initial stages of setting up the Lab operations. Since our mandate comes with such responsibilities and huge potential, ambiguity can be very pervasive. There is a myriad of unknown “unknowns”; within the team, within UNDP, and even at the broader local context. To be able to cope effectively, we found several approaches to be particularly useful:

·       Documentation: We started off by documenting all the steps we took. After compiling all our notes, we realized that we had unintentionally created a well-defined process, a comprehensive reservoir of tools, and a support system that we can tap into when facing uncertainties that emerge in the future.

·       Roles and responsibilities: Defining the roles and responsibilities of solution mappers, explores and experimenters has been an ongoing challenge. The roles are new to us and to UNDP, adding to the level of uncertainty. As a result, we often found ourselves undertaking tasks together as a group, which was inefficient. On the other end of the spectrum, we also tried to have clearly defined roles with minimal to no overlap. Albeit increasing our efficiency, it led our work to become disjointed and siloed. Subsequently, we adopted a matrix structure, whereby we divided many tasks based on skills and preference, while also jointly working on specific tasks that would benefit greatly from our collective input.

·       Tailored messaging: We realized early on that the AccLab “local language” we were using was creating confusion to both our internal and external audiences, especially non-English speakers. We worked on simplifying some of the terms we use by creating an Arabic glossary to better convey and contextualize the meaning. Furthermore, we are using this glossary to unify all the promotional material being used by AccLabs across the Arab region.

·       Embracing Ambiguity: Perhaps it is the most important element needed to succeed in light of the uncertainty we face. Embracing ambiguity is a key value in the innovation field. In fact, it can be thought of as an entire mindset that is a pre-requisite to success in such an endeavor.

Even though that this journey is going to have its ups and downs, it will most definitely offer us the battleground needed to gather enough skills to manage the systematic change we aspire to achieve. We enthusiastically look forward to exploring the ambiguity and uncertainty that this multidimensional undertaking holds.