Deadline: 14-Nov-2025
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched an Innovation Challenge to support business solutions that advance the transition to a circular economy in selected Local Government Units (LGUs).
The initiative aims to identify and test practical, locally relevant technologies and business models that address specific development challenges, particularly in the areas of plastic circularity, organic and food circularity, and green tourism. By strengthening sustainable production and consumption systems, the challenge seeks to reduce waste at its source and build more resilient local economies.
Shifting to circular practices remains difficult for many enterprises due to limited access to suitable technologies, context-specific approaches, and strategies to influence behavior change among consumers, producers, retailers, and waste managers. The Innovation Challenge responds to these barriers by seeking tailored solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches, ensuring that proposed models can be realistically adopted within each LGU’s unique social and environmental landscape.
The challenge is open to individual innovators, technology startups, social enterprises, MSMEs, NGOs, academic institutions, and private sector organizations with demonstrated operational capacity and business viability. Proposals must align with the strategic priorities identified by the partner LGUs and should serve as catalysts for long-term circular development. Solutions are expected to support waste reduction, resource recovery, job creation, and greenhouse gas reduction, while integrating social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
Priority project themes include promoting community-based waste reduction and recycling, developing local circular value chains, improving post-consumer recovery systems, supporting sustainable tourism models, and strengthening inclusive livelihood opportunities. Projects should also complement ongoing government and partner efforts, including those of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Science and Technology, and Expertise France.
Each selected innovator may receive grant funding between US$35,000 and US$40,000 per LGU, with one award granted per project. The funding is intended to pilot scalable and sustainable solutions that can continue beyond the grant period and help embed circular economy practices within local systems and markets.
By supporting innovation rooted in community needs, UNDP aims to empower local actors to lead the transition toward greener, more inclusive, and more resilient economies built on circular principles.
For more information, visit UNDP.