The World Diabetes Foundation commissioned Dalberg Media to conceptualize, plan and facilitate the Youth Innovation Lab and the communications activities at the WHO Global Dialogue on Partnerships for Sustainable Financing of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention and Control, held in Copenhagen in April 2018. 

The Youth Innovation Lab welcomed 20 NCD talents that Dalberg Media recruited through a global network of NCD-focused NGOs and academic institutions. The lab was established to create innovative solutions for sustainable financing of NCD prevention and control. Ultimately, its aim was to empower youth in tandem with the United Nations High-level Meeting on NCDs. 

Over four days, Youth Innovation Lab participants came up with tangible solutions to some of the challenges tackled at the concurrent WHO Global Dialogue. Inputs from Youth Innovation Lab delegates were shared in real time with participants at the WHO Global Dialogue to inspire debate and new policy making. Youth Innovation Lab attendees presented their ideas in a marketplace format, and 10 participants earned the opportunity to pitch their solutions in front of WHO Global Dialogue participants. All the ideas stemming from the Youth Innovation Lab were disseminated in writing to the WHO Global Dialogue participants, and lab participants were organized into a talent network designed to keep the group connected following the conclusion of the event. 

In a subsequent communications effort, Dalberg Media produced videos with 13 high-level stakeholders at the WHO Global Dialogue, including the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and the Assistant Director General on NCDs and Mental Health from WHO. With Dalberg Media’s support, the World Diabetes Foundation’s Social Media reach increased by 14,000% in the week of the event on Facebook, and profile visits on Twitter increased by 191% in a month.