Deadline: 26-Jun-20
United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has launched a call for proposals for Covid-19 Financial Health Challenge.
The objective of the challenge is to raise awareness and inspire collective action toward improving the financial health of this new breed of workforce by crowdsourcing viable solutions from start-ups and MSMEs globally.
The challenge will be designed to:
- Use Malaysia and/or China as a test bed to pilot the solutions in the market, iterate quickly and gather insights over a couple months of intense bootcamp, field testing, mentoring and judging;
- Provide seed capital and technical assistance to a maximum of 3 promising solutions;
- Provide opportunity to present at global stage – FinTech Festival.
The covid-19 pandemic has particularly brought this notion to the foreground. With billions of people around the globe confined to their homes due to the pandemic, many are experiencing job losses and reduced incomes. In such times, those that are financially resilient are less likely to be severely impacted than those that aren’t.
Are there (digital) products and services that could help individuals become more financially resilient and better prepared for adverse and unexpected financial futures? In other words, how could these solutions help people shore up their financial futures, so they are better prepared to weather income losses and/or unexpected emergency expenses? Is there a behavioural aspect they can explore in the way they design and deliver solutions so as to drive positive financial behaviours such as savings, asset-building and risk-mitigation?
UNCDF is looking for solutions that can clearly articulate how a product or service can enhance an individual’s financial resilience. In doing so, the solution can invoke design thinking, behavioural sciences and other approaches that are not merely product focused. The solution could take the shape of a financial product, a delivery channel or a learning tool. An ideal solution is one that considers data-driven approaches to design and deployment, is user-friendly, has a measurement mechanism to monitor and track progress and deployable at scale in the future.
Improving people’s financial health is a key enabler for inclusive growth and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), financial well-being is defined as “a state of being wherein you:
- Have control over day-to-day, month-to-month finances
- Have capacity to absorb a financial shock
- Are on track to meet your financial goals
- Have the financial freedom to make the choices that allow you to enjoy life.
Funding Information
- UNCDF contributions may vary from 5,000 to 130,000 USD per partner.
- Maximum expected date for the full completion of the pilot is December, 2020. Based on subject of availability of resources or requirement, the project period could be extended beyond the pilot.
Eligibility Criteria
The challenge invites applications from companies and teams based on the following criteria:
- Company registered in any country by 31st August 2020
- Companies having annual revenue less than USD 1,000,000 AND
- Has a minimum viable product (MVP) or a product in the market that addresses the problem statement.
For more information, visit https://www.uncdf.org/article/5682/rfa-covid-19-financial-health-challenge
