UNDP: Official Development Assistance Challenge

Deadline: 28-Jun-21

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has launched Serbia launches Serbia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) Challenge Call for innovative solutions that can respond to the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania.

The goal of this public call is to support the public and private companies and the academic and research institutions from Serbia to transfer innovative solutions to partner companies and organizations in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania, with the aim to mitigate the social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in these two countries and contribute to their recovery.

Areas

Private sector companies, public enterprises, universities and research institutes registered in Serbia may apply to the call. They may offer solutions in the following areas:

New digital services – Innovative, inclusive and sustainable digital solutions in the service sector.
Contactless economic activities – Innovative solutions that introduce new ways of production and consumption, and support contactless economic activities, remote delivery services and teleworking opportunities, to stimulate economic growth.
Health and well-being – Innovative solutions that support individuals and communities’ health and psychosocial well-being, and other ways to improve the well-being of individuals and communities.

Type of Activities

The following types of activities will be considered for funding:

Feasibility studies or proofs of concept: to test the proposed solutions and/or to be able to tailor-make them. The Feasibility Study in this context is understood as technical and technological solutions to the identified challenges in partner countries and their valuation and identification of concrete financial instruments for their support from international financial institutions, donors, the public budget of the local governments, or local or international investors.
Solutions implementation: in case feasibility of the solutions has been tested, proved feasible, and the partners identified, the Applicants can receive support for the implementation of their ideas. Within implementation, the introduction of new production processes, training of the local workforce, reimbursement of legal and translation services and capacity building of local suppliers, raising awareness about new products or services may be eligible.

Award Information

Selected Applicants will receive funding in the amount of up to $40,000 to implement their solution.
The Project must be completed until December 2021.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Applicants include:
- Private sector entities (commercial companies);
- Public enterprises;
- Universities and research institutes.
All Applicants must be registered in Serbia, according to national legislation.
All Applicants have to establish partnerships with local partners from the Republic of North Macedonia and/or the Republic of Albania (depending on in which country the proposed solution will be implemented) to ensure that the solution will be viable in local conditions. The declaration of the partnership with a local partner from the Republic of North Macedonia and/or the Republic of Albania in the form of the Letter of Support or Contract must be submitted in the Application phase, as an attachment to the Application Form.
Applicants can apply independently or in Consortia with another legal entity from Serbia. If the Applicant is a group of legal entities that will form or have formed a Consortia, they shall confirm in their Proposal that:
- they have designated one party to act as the Lead applicant, duly vested with authority to legally bind the members of the Consortia jointly and severally, which shall be evidenced by a duly notarized Agreement among the legal entities, and submitted as an attachment to the Proposal; and
- if they are awarded the contract, the contract shall be entered into, by and between UNDP and the designated Lead applicant, who shall act for and on behalf of all the member entities comprising the Consortia.
The Lead Applicant will also be the main recipient of the funds vis-à-vis project resources.
Entities wishing to apply to the Challenge Call need to meet the following eligibility criteria:
- All applicants must demonstrate their capacity to implement their proposed Project and will need to demonstrate adequate financial, material, human and other non-financial resources to implement the proposed Project within the set timeframe.
- The funding request is for a specific, new and innovative project that addresses the set development challenge.
- The Project must be implemented in at least one of the partner countries: the Republic of North Macedonia and/or the Republic of Albania.
- The proposed Project must have a potential for financial, social and environmental sustainability and scale-up.
- All projects must be inclusive in nature and benefit the target beneficiaries and contribute to the achievement of SDGs rather than solely benefitting the participating entity.
- The project must demonstrate that the activities funded by the Challenge Call will be in addition to the entity’s existing activities and that the proposed project would not go ahead without the Challenge Call funding. The Challenge Call could also consider projects which, if they would have gone ahead, would do so at a much-reduced pace or scale in case of absence of the Challenge Call funding support.