Deadline: 30-Sep-20
The Polish Challenge Fund is launching a second call for innovative solutions to address the emerging development issues resulting from the global health crisis.
Considering the unprecedented disruptions seen in the partner countries, caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and with the view of bringing new innovative solutions into an international development platform, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland and the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub launch a second call for innovative solutions to address the emerging development issues resulting from the global health crisis. The Polish Challenge Fund (PCF) is part of the UNDP IRH pandemic challenge initiative – BOOST Solutions for COVID-19.
BOOST will support the implementation of solutions in Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus and scale them across the Europe and Central Asia region and beyond. Applicants can apply for any of the following issue areas: new digital services and voice, low touch economies, wellbeing.
It is an intensive six-month online acceleration program designed to prepare organizations and businesses to roll out their digital solutions. This will include both workshops and individual mentoring sessions taught by experienced business, med-tech, social-tech, digital technologies, and impact professionals. BOOST will support a wide range of solutions and organizations under one umbrella program.
Funding Information
The ‘Partnership Project’ will provide between US $20,000 and US $40,000 per Project through the PCF. The applicants are expected to provide in-kind or financial co-funding of at least 20% of the total project costs. Typical items that can be covered from the Challenge Fund may include, but are not limited to:
- Salaries of Project staff;
- Technology, design, business, development and other consultancy services;
- Advisory inputs;
- Small equipment and supplies;
- Training and workshop expenses;
- Costs including travel connected to the implementation of the Project.
Duration
- The Project must be completed within 3-6 months, not later than 15 April 2021, from the Challenge Fund Award.
Eligibility Criteria
- The applicant must be a registered entity – private sector entity (commercial company), university, or research institute – in the Republic of Poland.
- The project must be implemented in one of the partner countries: Ukraine or Republic of Belarus
- The applicant must provide a co-funding of at least 20% of the total cost of the project. Co-funding can be in-kind or financial. Co-funding above the minimum threshold is preferred and will be taken into account during evaluation.
- An applicant may submit one application per country (Ukraine and Republic of Belarus), however, only one application per applicant will be selected for funding.
Selection Criteria
- Scalability: Solutions that are scalable across countries
- Viability: The applicant is required to engage local partners to ensure viability in Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus.
- Management: The applicant must demonstrate it has an adequate team in place and will have the capacity to implement the solution in 3–6 months
- Potential for impact: Solutions that can improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable groups.
- Innovation: Solutions that use cutting-edge technologies, social and digital innovation tools and that transform current business models with digitalization
- Effectiveness: Solutions that demonstrate how they will tackle one of the issues areas impacted by Covid-19.
For more information, visit https://boostimpact.org/polish-challenge-fund/