Innovation in Action: A Q&A with Radhika Bhavsar on Driving Positive Impact

By Maureen Simpson

If you ask Radhika “Rad” Bhavsar, innovation is meant to be uncomfortable. Valuable breakthroughs and insights rarely come packaged without this necessary rite of passage; the key is trusting the process.

“I think my life has always been trial and error, and through trial and error, you learn faster,” says Rad, who serves as the Senior Technical Specialist, Innovation at Global Communities. “Nobody likes to be uncomfortable, but you have to find those people who are willing to just dance it out with you, experiment fearlessly, see what sticks and make a mark.”

For over 15 years, Rad has made her mark — or several — using human-centered design and process improvement to tackle complex challenges in public health and global development. In 2024, the San Diego Business Journal recognized her as one of the “40 Under 40” Next Top Business Leaders for her work pursuing innovative solutions for community issues worldwide. 

I recently chatted with Rad about how our Innovation Works team is helping Global Communities accelerate positive impact for people and the planet. The interview was edited for length and clarity.

Maureen: You’ve described your team, Innovation Works (IW), as a startup within the organization. What does that look like in practice and what do you see as your goal posts?

Rad: Since it’s just myself and Chris Bessenecker, our Senior Director of Innovation, operating as a startup means embracing agility, experimentation and a collaborative mindset. As a small team of two with limited resources, we work at a fast pace, maintaining a high tolerance for risk and failure.

In practice, this involves creating a strong sense of teamwork and co-creating solutions with our technical and program teams. Our main structure for success revolves around these five steps:

Our goal for this year is to continue building our innovation ecosystem by expanding our portfolio of product, process and business model innovations. We’re also working hard to embed creativity — one of Global Communities’ five core values — by encouraging our staff members to embrace curiosity, experiment and think outside the box. 

Maureen: How would you explain the role of innovation in international development?

Rad: Every 15 years, the United Nations sets ambitious goals, like the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to address global challenges such as ending poverty, achieving gender equality and ensuring universal health care. Only 15% of the 169 targets that make up the 17 SDGs are on track to be achieved by 2030. If there was ever a moment to innovate, it is now. 

Each SDG represents a challenge that requires innovation, and our process is rooted in designing solutions that contribute to these overarching global goals. So, innovation in international development means creatively tackling these challenges, understanding their root causes, and building solutions that have lasting impact, with velocity.  

It’s important to do this fast because real progress often comes from bold, unconventional approaches. It’s about radical but structured shifts that rapidly create change. 

Maureen: Can you share about a project where you’ve guided one of our teams through an innovation design sprint?

Rad: In July 2024, Chris and I guided the Healthy Start Enhanced – San Bernardino Team through an innovation design sprint to tackle disparities in infant mortality rates in San Bernardino County, where the mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black infants is nearly 2.5 times higher than that of white infants. 

One of the key contributors to this disparity is low breastfeeding uptake and continued breastfeeding rates among Black women, alongside higher rates of low birth weight due to high stress and anemia rates. Traditional pregnancy support services, such as in-home doulas and lactation consultants, have been proven to improve birth outcomes, but they remain inaccessible to many due to high costs ranging from $2,000 to $6,500 per birth. 

During the innovation design sprint, the Healthy Start team developed “My Beautiful Bump Boxes,” a trimester-based, cost-effective solution aimed at improving birth outcomes by providing accessible and low-cost pregnancy support products that complement existing resources. The boxes are intended to be delivered directly to our participants’ homes and include products designed to address breastfeeding uptake and reduction in stress and iron deficiency. Featured items include the Lucky Iron Fish for iron infusion in meals; LactApp, a breastfeeding education mobile application tool for early adoption of breastfeeding practices; the Willow wearable breast pump; iron-rich nutritious meal recipes; and QR-coded user-friendly cooking tutorials. 

Since October, the team has been working to identify local health clinics and other community partners in San Bernardino County to collaborate with on the My Beautiful Bump Boxes. Validating our proof-of-concept will allow us to assess whether the box improves breastfeeding rates, increases iron intake and reduces stress — while ensuring affordability, simplicity and scalability at under $200 per pregnancy.

This innovation is a meaningful step toward exploring cost-effective ways to close the gap in infant survival rates by enhancing breastfeeding support and decreasing stress and iron deficiency. We want to ensure that the vital resources and assistance needed for success reach those who need it most.

Maureen: What is key to the innovation process and what is a hindrance? Are there certain conditions that need to be in place for innovation to ‘happen’?

Rad: Innovation thrives when people feel empowered to experiment, take chances and learn fast from failure. An enabling environment — one that values curiosity and allows room for testing and iteration — is essential for innovation to truly flourish. 

However, bureaucracy can be a major barrier. Rigid structures, excessive layers of approval and a focus on minimizing risk often stifle creativity and slow down progress. When there’s too much red tape and fear, it discourages quick decision-making and limits the freedom to try new approaches. 

Lack of funding and limited team incentives are also hindrances. Philanthropic funding rarely supports experimental or high-risk projects, making it challenging to find donors willing to invest in innovation, especially when failure is part of the process. Without clear incentives, team members may lack motivation to pursue innovative projects. 

To support innovation, we need to create flexible systems that prioritize agility over strict processes. This means streamlining approvals, promoting safe and open communication, and fostering a culture where taking calculated risks is supported. With these conditions in place, innovation can move forward with the momentum it needs to create real impact.  

Maureen: What do you think people get wrong when it comes to the idea of innovation?

Rad: Many people think innovation is just about technology, but it’s really a mindset and an approach to problem-solving. Innovation isn’t limited to technological breakthroughs; it’s about seeing challenges differently, identifying the root of the problem and co-creating solutions as a team.   

Another misconception is that people think they “can’t” innovate. The truth is, with the right frameworks — like our Innovation Design Sprint methodology — anyone can tap into their creativity. Our teams are often surprised at the creativity they unleash within themselves during these sessions. Innovation is accessible to everyone; it just needs the right environment and a safe space to thrive.  

Maureen: You’ve said that in innovation, you have to fail to understand what you’re doing; if you’re not failing, then you’re not learning. Can you share an example of when you reframed failure as a lesson, turned this lesson into an opportunity, and took the opportunity to innovate and solve a specific problem?

Rad: As a Global Health Corps Fellow in 2016, I worked with the Ministry of Health in Rwanda to implement and refine a new version of an electronic medical record (EMR) system for rural districts in the Northern Province. The original system had failed because it was too complex for healthcare workers to easily understand, use and adapt to; they just weren’t using it. While my role was to redesign the system to be more human-centered, I quickly learned that solutions must be simple to adopt and built for the resources people actually have — not what we assume they have, like reliable Wi-Fi or advanced technology. 

With trusted partners and flexible funding, we redesigned the system by replicating key EMR features into a simple, app-based digital tool that functioned offline and synced data to the cloud whenever an internet connection was available.  

While it might seem like the innovation was simply creating a new “app,” the real innovation was building a team and fostering collaboration. We brought together MoH staff, healthcare workers and community members to co-create and reimagine what the new system should look like. It was about getting the right people in the room, creating a trusted environment, and using targeted funding to build a refreshed, practical and scalable solution.

Maureen: Is there anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t covered?  

Rad: Innovation is ultimately about people, problem-solving and partnerships. The most successful innovations are built on trust, respect and collaboration with the communities we aim to support. Empowering local voices in the innovation process not only leads to richer, more impactful solutions but also ensures sustainability and alignment with real needs.

Now is the time for bold innovation in our sector. We must be scrappy, agile and decisive — using discernment to make quick, informed decisions, failing fast and learning even faster. It takes strength and courage to embrace uncertainty, but that discomfort fuels the momentum needed to build mission-driven solutions that create real impact.

Let’s adopt a product-driven mindset, break free from rigid frameworks and harness the power of teamwork to generate groundbreaking ideas. The toughest challenges of our time demand fearless creativity — let’s rise to meet them.

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Radhika Bhavsar is the Senior Technical Specialist, Innovation at Global Communities. Her career began at Deloitte Consulting, working with the U.S. Department of Defense – Navy Medicine. She has since worked at leading healthcare institutions in the U.S. such as Dignity Health, Scripps Health and the University of Michigan Health System. Her NGO work spans designing pandemic response frameworks for Partners in Health during the COVID-19 crisis, driving product and business model innovation at the March of Dimes, and digitizing healthcare delivery in northern Rwanda during her Global Health Corps Fellowship in 2016. She is currently a WomenLift Health Leadership Fellow through the Gates Foundation. In addition, she serves as a lecturer in global health at the University of California, San Diego.