Work4Progress Program 2023 to promote Innovation and Quality Employment

Deadline: 29-May-23

The “la Caixa” Foundation is inviting applications for the Work4Progress Program to promote innovation and quality employment among women and young people vulnerable to through the creation of networks or innovation platforms made up of civil society organizations, universities, the private sector and public actors.

Work4Progress currently promotes three innovation platforms for job creation:

• Work4Progress India,
• Work4Progress Mozambique and
• Work4Progress Peru.

The main novelties of this program are:

• New listening tools to identify problems and needs.
• New methodologies for co-creation, prototyping and scaling.
• Evolutionary and impact evaluation systems.
• New financing strategies.
• Generation and systematization of knowledge through publications, events and other dissemination activities (Think tank).

The Work4Progress 2023 call for India, Mozambique and Peru aims to:

• Main goal:
  • Acceleration and scaling of inclusive businesses and support services for the entrepreneurial ecosystem that promote local and sustainable economic growth in the regions of action of the Work4Progress program from a systemic perspective.
  • For this reason, the focus must be on the promotion of multi-stakeholder solutions (involving both private and public actors, social entrepreneurs, civil society, etc.) and multi-variable (acting at various levels, both on business models and frameworks). regulations) that enable true systemic changes that facilitate greater scaling and sustainability of the proposed models, increasing the impact on communities.
• Lines of action:
  • Acceleration and scaling of the portfolio of business prototypes and services already designed by the Work4Progress program, seeking at all times its commercial and financial viability.
  • Design of new medium and large-scale prototypes that are linked to the portfolio of prototypes launched by Work4Progress, with a special focus on circular economy, energy transition and adaptation to climate change.
  • Promotion of market access for the portfolio of prototypes launched by Work4Progress, especially prioritizing the participation of the business sector.
  • Development of technological innovations to improve business competitiveness, including business digitization, prioritizing those innovations that complement the activities implemented by the Work4Progress program.

Complementary objectives:

• Improved access to microfinance by the beneficiary population, especially women and young.
• Reinforcement of collaboration between sectors (government, social sector, academia and companies) and the network work.
• Access to sources of co-financing (announcements, local philanthropy, impact investing, aid programs from state institutions, etc.).
• Visibility of the potential impact and systematization of best practices and learning.

Funding Information

• The “la Caixa” Foundation will finance two types of proposals:
  • Proposals up to a maximum of 800,000 euros, taxes included, if applicable:
    • For networks of a maximum of 4 main entities.
    • Focused on the acceleration of the current portfolio of prototypes in each of the countries,preferably in the geographical areas of operation, connecting with markets and designing larger-scale prototypes as specified.
  • Proposals up to a maximum of 250,000 euros including taxes if applicable:
    • For applicant entities that have not previously received funds from the program Work4Progress.
    • For networks with a maximum of 2 entities (as long as one is local). For this modality, especially innovative proposals  presented by a single entity will also be accepted as long as it is local.
    • Focus on developing especially innovative  solutions for businesses
• Duration: The applications presented in this call must have a maximum duration of 24 months.

What do they do?

• Through the Work4Progress call, they contribute to the creation of quality employment for vulnerable women and youth in India, Mozambique and Peru through the start-up and acceleration of inclusive businesses and support services for the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the promotion of access to markets and the development of technological innovations to improve competitiveness.

Requirements

• The entities leading the proposal must meet the following requirements:
  • Be a non-profit entity.
  • Have an account audit report.
  • Experience of at least 5  years in the fight against poverty, job creation, cooperation international and/or innovation, especially technological.
  • In the case of being a Spanish or international entity, they must be accompanied by at least one entity of the country of action.
  • In  the case of being a Spanish or international entity, demonstrate experience of at least 3 years in the country of operation. The  existence of specific experience in the geographical areas in which the W4P networks operate will be valued in a  particularly positive way.
  • In case of not being a Spanish entity, demonstrate experience of  collaboration with Spanish organizations and/or with multilateral organizations (UNDP, etc.).
  • The networks must incorporate some of the following types of partners (in case of not incorporating them, justification will be required):
• Incubators and accelerators of social enterprises with a presence in the countries of action;
  • Local social economy companies and business associations or other articulators of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, startups, local small-scale companies with a presence in the countries of action, provided that the costs incurred by these associations and organizations in the framework of their proposals for the W4P program are exclusively direct and have roles and responsibilities clearly defined in the proposal and reflected in the budget. In no case will structure costs be accepted for this type of entity.
• In addition, it will be valued very positively that the networks incorporate partners of the following types:
  • Entities from the academic and research field of the action countries;
  • Microfinance institutions in the countries of operation.
• Likewise, it will be valued positively:
  • That the networks promote local appropriation by having a greater presence of local partners and adjusting the structure costs as much as possible.
  • Entities have quality certificates.
  • Demonstrate networking experience and flexibility to be part of a networking platform social innovation.
  • Membership of organizations, networks and platforms for coordination and concertation.
  • Accredited experience in collaborations with local authorities in the countries and regions of action of the W4P networks.
  • The availability of experienced personnel based on the countries and geographic areas of performance of W4P networks.
  • The inclusion in the proposal of partners with the capacity and willingness to be potential partners sponsors of the prototypes.

For more information, visit Work4Progress Program.