Call for Proposals Russian Innovative Solutions Challenge Fund

Deadline: 01-Jul-21

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced a Call for Proposals, the RCF aims to identify smart solutions for the transformation of vocational education systems in order to contribute to the achievement of SDGs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan.

The main goal of the KM Project is to support capacity building on knowledge and sharing expertise of Russia as a donor and to achieve sustainable, scalable development impact in partner countries through the programmatic promotion of several mechanisms of Russian expertise sharing.

The RCF is looking for innovative development solutions by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.

The proposed development solutions shall be innovative and shall demonstrate how they would not take place at the same scale or have the same development impact without the Challenge Fund contribution.

Funding Information

Estimated prize: Ranging between US$20,000 and US$40,000, the applicants provide financial or in-kind co-funding of at least 20% of the total cost of the project.
Expected contract length: up to 5 months
Expected contract start date: August 2021

Locality

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan

Eligibility Criteria

Entities wishing to apply to the RCF need to meet the following eligibility criteria:

The lead Applicant must be a registered legal entity (private sector entities, universities, and institutes) in the Russian Federation.
The Project/Solution must be implemented in one of the partner countries.
All Applicants will need to demonstrate adequate financial, material, human and other non-financial resources to implement the proposed Project/Solution within the set timeframe.
The Applicant is responsible for the Project/Solution and must warrant that the permission of the other members has been obtained.
The Applicant is advised to engage local Entity/Entities/Consultants in the programme country eligible for RCF support to assure viability in local conditions, and to promote sustainability and scalability of the solution.
The funding request is for a specific, new and innovative Project/Solution, documented in the methodology of the feasibility study, that addresses a set development challenge. The RCF views innovation in its broadest sense including:
- a new approach, product, idea or service that has not been tested anywhere;
- is new to the beneficiary country (if applicable);
- has not been applied to the sector in question in the beneficiary country; or
- service or business model being introduced to a target group where it has not been tried before.
The proposed Project/Solution must have a potential for financial, social and environmental sustainability and scale up.
All Projects/Solutions must be inclusive in nature, benefit the target beneficiaries and contribute to the achievement of SDGs, rather than solely benefiting the participating Entity.
The Applicants provide financial or in-kind co-funding of at least 20% of the UNDP Award amount. Co-funding above the minimum threshold is preferred and will be considered during evaluation.
The Projects must demonstrate that the activities funded by the RCF will be additional to the Entity’s existing activities and that the Projects/Solutions would not go ahead without RCF funding.