The story of the Montenegrin non-profit Korak sa naukon (KSAN), which translates to Step with Science, begins with the belief that science should be accessible […]
The UNDP Crowdfunding Academy (CFA) is now open for applications! The global CFA is a two-month online training that dives into the world of fundraising, […]
Thirty micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from across Kosovo, whose project proposals demonstrated significant potential for making the shift towards environmental sustainability, have been […]
In the ever-evolving world of impact acceleration, we, the Innovation team at UNDP Europe and Central Asia and the architects of BOOST and Tadamon Acceleration […]
In a rapidly evolving urban landscape, traditional methods of addressing interconnected urban challenges are becoming increasingly inadequate. As a result, urban development practitioners are exploring […]
For Mayors involved in the initiative, the purpose is to provide a sense of expanded options in the face of complexity, rather than resorting to […]
UNDP Kosovo launched the second edition of the BOOST x Kosovo programme to support green recovery in the private sector. This edition: The Kosovo Green Challenge: NextGen […]
4 October 2023, BATUMI – More than 200 participants from Eastern Partnership cities convened in Batumi, Georgia, for a two-day urban forum organized by the Directorate-General […]
New developments in artificial intelligence (AI) arise every day. AI offers us a vast array of opportunities for labour optimization, refinement of education systems, disease […]
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Islamic Solidarity Fund (ISFD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) successfully organized […]
Next week, Mayors for Economic Growth, a joint UNDP and EU initiative, will host the Urban Forum: Future-Fit Cities, a gathering of over 300 representatives […]
Originally published by UNDP Eurasia. Edited by Karen Cirillo, Digital Communications Specialist, UNDP IRH. Biowaste. It’s not just your average trash. Biowaste – anything from egg shells […]
Recent crises demonstrate that the future will not necessarily mirror the past. We face a multitude of possible, probable, and preferable futures that we need […]
The Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization […]
Edited for brevity by Arianna Friedman and Svetla Baeva. See full article on the UNDP Kazakhstan website. 99% of the global population is exposed to […]
Children leading co-design for revolutionizing urban spaces in Prishtinë/Priština, Kosovo* Do children in Prishtinë/Priština a have access to public spaces to interact, play, socialize? What kind of […]
In this two-part blog series, the Innovation team at UNDP Europe and Central Asia shares their reflections on the recent user-testing for a new online […]
For the Innovation Team at UNDP Europe and Central Asia, much of our work revolves around creating, storing, managing, and sharing knowledge. Approaching the latest […]
We live in a rapidly changing world where vast technological advancements are announced almost daily – think of the AI developments in just the last […]
In July, UNDP, in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank, the Islamic Solidarity Fund, and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, organized a […]
Cities are confronting unprecedented challenges and traditional linear approaches are no longer sufficient to address overlapping, interconnected issues efficiently. But there is an effective way […]
When we at the RBEC Knowledge and Innovation Team at UNDP Europe and Central Asia designed our four-week learning sprint with selected municipalities in Ukraine […]
Istanbul, 26 July 2023 – The Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility, a joint initiative of the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme […]
Our first ever portfolio bootcamp The climate crisis, urban development, and digital transformation are complex challenges that call for a new way of working. This […]
The building of “Sălcioara” kindergarten, not repaired in last five decades, had undergone a makeover, and both children and parents are thrilled with the change. […]
or how UNDP, UNICEF and the City of Skopje established the first Biohacking Lab in Skopje FROM EMPTY LAB TO FIRST PROTOTYPES AND SOLUTIONS Through […]
Our UNDP Urban Talks is back with a special summer series edition! Last year we heard from a diverse range of urban practitioners and academics […]
Reflections on the first Regional Sensemaking with nine cities under Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) “When we started the project last year, I did not […]
Tiko Tkeshelashvili, M4EG Project Manager, UNDP Georgia Irmak Ekin Karel, Strategic Innovation Designer, CHÔRAIgor Izotov, Head of Exploration, UNDP Accelerator Lab, North Macedonia [1]Rusudan Zhozhadze, Head […]
Reposted from UNDP North Macedonia. Collective challenges Droughts in the Horn of Africa, flooding in South Asia, and severe summer heats and droughts in in […]
Article was originally published on UNDP Kazakhstan’s website. Our current educational model is struggling to keep up with the rapidly evolving demands of the labour market, […]
Prototyping City Learning Circle amidst Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine This blog is based on the experience of Ukraine cities who were part of […]
Reposted from the Centre for Public Impact. The latest developments internationally demand responses that have not been tried before. It requires governments at the central […]
Reposted from UNDP Serbia. In the last few months, you have probably played around with a generative AI application, asking it to create an interesting […]
The launch of the EU Response and Renewal Programme for local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova for M4EG To support the new realities of local […]
In recent years, there has been a strong shift from investing in traditional businesses to investing in impact ventures, i.e. companies that aim to create […]
The Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility is increasing its support to members in Ukraine and Moldova Brussels, Chișinău, Kyiv, 29 March 2023 – the European Commission […]
UNDP North Macedonia and its AccLab team embarked on a journey to understand how using behavioral sciences and experiments (nudges) can help us tackle air […]
UNDP North Macedonia and its AccLab team embarked on a journey to understand how using behavioral sciences and experiments (nudges) can help us tackle air […]
The Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) initiative held a Partner Dialogue in Istanbul on 28 February 2023, bringing together representatives from the EU and UNDP and […]
Gender disparities persist globally, particularly in positions of power and higher pay, where women face cultural and professional barriers to advancement, which are often referred […]
On a daily basis, we receive toxic news about problems in the local finance – poor property tax collection, low fiscal effort, limited fiscal capacities, […]
Big data from satellites, mobile phones, and social media, among other tools, allows researchers to build on or replace traditional methods of acquiring socioeconomic data. […]
Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a joint EU and UNDP initiative focused on reimagining urban and local spaces, is running a Portfolio Journey with 10 […]
Reposted from UNDP Serbia. How to build an Internet portal which offers start-ups simple and user-friendly information needed for their further business development? This was […]
The biowaste audit dashboard visualizes how commercial entities working in the capital city of North Macedonia – Skopje, particularly in the HORECA (Hotels, Restaurants and […]
We live in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is rapidly transforming the economy and our way of life. Artificial intelligence, automation and […]
Urban Imaginaries is a programme that supports towns and cities to reimagine local economic development and governance through new tools. Urban Imaginaries is one programme […]
How “digital twins” of real cities can help guide innovation and transform our lives As a child, I loved playing SimCity, a popular video game […]
BOOST x Kosovo, an acceleration programme aiming to promote green transition, announced the grant awardees for the first edition of BOOST programme in Kosovo. The […]
In 2022, we worked with 55 changemakers from 16 countries and territories in Europe and Central Asia on harnessing innovation and technology to advance gender […]
Reposted from UNDP North Macedonia. Imagination versus & policymaking The world faces a deficit of social imagination’, with people finding it easier to imagine negative rather than […]
Two years ago, Mariam Torosyan, a human rights lawyer and social entrepreneur, founded SafeYOU, a social impact startup, in a bid to curb domestic and gender-based […]
The European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched today a new ecosystem of learning opportunities to reimagine urban and local spaces […]
A financial top-up under the auspices of the Mayors for Economic Growth Facility supports the crisis immediate response and recovery & long-term renewal of Moldovan […]
In our previous story „Imagine the city we want,“ we introduced the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a joint EU and UNDP initiative that supports […]
“On the surface we’re hitting our targets. But my big fear is that nothing fundamental is changing. We’re not shifting the underlying dynamics that are […]
BOOST, a regional acceleration programme for social impact innovation, financed and supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic and Koç Holding, announced […]
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo, in partnership with the Government of Japan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Innovation […]
Cities: A powerhouse for innovation Throughout history, cities have held a central role in innovation. First, local governments often are more agile than the national […]
A personal reflection of the past year as the lead orchestrator for a joint EU & UNDP project called the Mayors for Economic Growth International […]
Local governments are at the forefront of change and opportunity – whether that is tackling climate change, addressing inequality, or attracting and retaining talent. Yet, […]
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo, in partnership with the Embassy of Japan in Kosovo, launched today BOOST x Kosovo, an acceleration programme to […]
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in an increasingly evolving, interconnected, and uncertain world requires the ability to navigate complexity. In ecosystems where different actors operate […]
Urban Talks is an 8-part webinar series (with several bonus episodes) that spotlights cities and initiatives that are building new inclusive visions across Europe and […]
Tadamon, a community platform for civil society organizations empowerment has recently announced, 50 civil society organizations (CSOs) will join the Tadamon Accelerator open call, a […]
Interview with Didem Cikse, the co-founder and CEO of Hub21. In August 2022, BOOST announced that the 2022 Women Innovators champion in Turkey is Hub21, a […]
Famous American writer and activist James Baldwin once wrote: we made the world we’re living in and we have to make it over. That’s just […]
As different aspects of UNDP’s work on urban transformation in Europe and Central Asia come together, we’re embarking on a series of high level discussions […]
What needs to be done to create a prosperous future for people and planet, a future to be realized through the UN 2030 Agenda for […]
Powered by UNDP Europe and Central Asia, BOOST announces that the 2022 Women Innovators champion in Turkey is Hub21, a women-led startup building a new way to […]
40 girls from Dushanbe and Khujand in Tajikistan were selected from 420 applicants to participate in a five-month long coding programme for young women, organized […]
Our Show & Tell event, held in Kutaisi, Georgia in July, 2022, was attended by the representatives of municipalities falling under the umbrella of the […]
The Călărași town calmly lies along the banks of the river Bic in the region of the miraculous Moldovan hills of Codru. But not everything […]
Artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning (ML), is used across all areas of modern life from voice recognition systems to navigation apps. Scientists and practitioners are […]
Complex issues – like climate change, inequality or a pandemic – are unpredictable and have cascading and interdependent effects across the environment, economy and society. […]
When thinking about the future, we often ask who gets to speak for it. But instead, we decided to ask ourselves a different question: who […]
This blog kicks off a series on the joint portfolio design process by UNDP Uzbekistan, facilitated by the Accelerator Lab Uzbekistan and led by the […]
Our world is changing fast – often faster than societies can adapt. The seemingly imperceptible changes to our climate, brought on by the burning of […]
Supporting cities to take a more complexity-informed approach to urban challenges. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Centre for Public Impact (CPI) have […]
May 17 marks the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD). In today’s age of an ever-evolving array of technologies, it speaks of a revolution, […]
Civil society organizations across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa can apply by June 10, 2022, to receive access to training and funding fast-track their […]
I am standing on a podium in Baku, Azerbaijan, in front of 46 city Mayors, gathered together from all corners of the country. There is […]
55 regional champions will take part in BOOST’s new cohort to advance gender equality in Europe and Central Asia UNDP Europe and Central Asia’s BOOST, a regional […]
In nowadays world immersed in multiple crises and in growing uncertainty, where the situation and dynamics change even on hourly basis, we should all embrace […]
Kazakhstan has made progress in gender equality in all sectors, but challenges remain. Young women in Kazakhstan are not well represented in STEM (science, technology, […]
Cut down, an average tree could be worth up to a thousand BAM. It’s simple math: no. of cubic meters x the price of m3 of […]
How might we use the public sector’s purchasing power to slow climate change and advance the green transition of the economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina? […]
In 2022 living solely offline seems like something from a bygone era. Connectivity and technology have indubitably become integral parts of most people’s daily lives. […]
If we are to bring about systemic change, we need a “portfolio” of solutions, rather than assuming that a single project can lead to the […]
When you talk to urban development practitioners, they seem to agree that there are no silver bullet solutions to the challenges cities face. What is […]
Anyone who wants to make a difference in their community is now able to mobilize support and funds in Georgia through the homegrown crowdfunding platform […]
What do Marvel comic book, technology and people have in common? They all ask the question “What if…?” and they all can be superheroes or supervillains. […]
As part of the Joint EU & UNDP Virtual Forum on Urban Transformations, we interviewed two thought leaders on how to radically change our urban spaces to become […]
A large and diverse group of municipalities, research institutions and think tanks has kicked off a promising dialogue on how to radically change cities and […]
UNDP Europe and Central Asia is launching the Ministry of Data (MoD) handbook – a guide to run successful data innovation challenges, co-created and tested […]
Urban digitalization can accelerate our progress towards cities with cleaner air, creating a more eco-friendly environment in Belarus. Urban green spaces’ natural ability to filter […]
EU & UNDP organized a joint forum on “Embracing Complexity & System Innovation, and its Implications,” on 28 October 2021. The purpose of the forum […]
The joint EU and UNDP Partner Forum discussed how to address today’s dynamic challenges through new approaches that embrace uncertainty and discovery. Brussels/ New York/ Istanbul/ Skopje, 28 October […]
We are living in an age of long, interlinked emergencies that cannot be adequately addressed unless nations and governments can look beyond the horizon of […]
To celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child, we at UNDP Kyrgyzstan are reaching out to innovators across Europe and Central Asia to promote our […]
UNDP Kazakhstan Accelerator Lab team decided to experiment with a new approach to organizational strategies and ‘hack’ our own Country Programme Document (CPD), a strategy […]
UNDP announced the five organizations and startups that have been selected as the winners of the 2020 BOOST Innovation Challenge Fund.
Identifying effective means of increasing citizen participation in decision making is timely and relevant considering the impact of the pandemic on populations and governments preparing […]
What strategic innovation and art have in common – the role of identity, the need to have a direction and clearly conceptualized design principles, the […]
UNDP announced the seven civil society organizations (CSOs) that have been selected as Civil Society Technology Challenge awardees of the 2020 BOOST regional acceleration program. […]
Public procurement can be positively influenced by open contracting. This type of tendering enables all the interested individuals and legal entities to easily access data […]
Starting a platform for civil society development/transformation in 2020 was no easy feat, given the tumultuous state of the world. However, through innovative and community-centered […]
After one year of collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) on supporting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society organizations (CSOs) in 57 OIC […]
As we kick-off our online course on portfolio thinking in collaboration with the EU, we will be updating this blog with weekly live entries, snippets […]
We are excited to announce that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has started the implementation of the EU & UNDP Mayors for Economic Growth […]
The acceleration of the digital transformation will be crucial to weather the crisis and ensure long-term growth as we enter a “new normal.” We’d like […]
Michael Jordan will shed light on personal data stores; we’ll use the full Bulls team to illustrate data cooperatives, and coach Jackson will help us […]
UNDP AltFinLab and UNDP Lebanon have created a system solution and technical platform together with the Social Impact Network. The platform, built during the DLT4EU […]
UNDP AltFinLab explains their Track-and-Trace project, led under the DLT4EU accelerator programme, and addresses how the application of DLTs help solve societal and environmental challenges […]
Crises create opportunities, and we created one, LiveLebanon, in October 2009 by bringing citizens, the diaspora, and the private sector together to find solutions to […]
Agorà is a City Transformation Portfolio — a template that can be applied in any city system for designing and managing pandemic response and renewal […]
In an increasingly urbanized planet, understanding cities has never been so high on the agenda. The uniqueness of each city as complex sociotechnical systems is […]
How do we collaborate and communicate effectively online? How can we enable informed decision making in this new distributed reality? How can we ensure that […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of the networks linking the world together and challenged us to reimagine how we work together and maintain […]
The Presence Anytime Anywhere (PAA) project is exploring solutions to this problem, using a new technology called spatial computing that supports 3D data visualization.
UNDP Europe and Central Asia and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today the selected participants of BOOST’s Polish Challenge Fund, which brings together […]
UNDP Europe and Central Asia launched a new videocast series on using systems thinking to solve development challenges. In this opening episode of the series […]
In this post, we’re diving deeper into the question of how to exercise control over one’s data, how such ‘control taking’ would work in practice, […]
UNDP Europe and Central Asia and Koç Holding announced today the selected participants of BOOST’s Civil Society Technology Challenge, which aims to accelerate the digital […]
UNDP Europe and Central Asia and the Slovak Ministry of Finance announced today the selected participants of BOOST’s Innovation Challenge Fund, which brings together innovators […]
The shifting ground around us, a different type of demand from our counterparts and the availability of new organisational assets has gradually shifted the needle […]
The components of urban systems, from waste management to transport and parks, are interconnected and dynamic. Intervening to create change in any one of these […]
To tackle the long-term effects of Covid-19, UNDP Europe and Central Asia is launching BOOST, a regional acceleration program for social impact innovation. It will support […]
The current pandemic – the first of the algorithmic age – has not only shown the vulnerabilities of our social, economic and health systems, it has also […]
In the last few years there has been a growing interest from the public, private and development sectors in adopting a systems lens to develop […]
Blockchain, an emerging technology often associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has tremendous potential to tackle this and other challenges, accelerating development progress that truly […]
UNDP Uzbekistan’s Accelerator Lab launched the Green Aral Sea crowdfunding campaign, which will help resolve the impacts of the Aral Sea disaster.
In this post we’re looking at ways to ‘do’ data empowerment. Our aim is to provide those who design, implement, evaluate or fund data for […]
At UNDP we know too well that traditional approaches to development are struggling to keep up with the dynamic speed, breadth and nature of today’s challenges. And […]
Currently, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities and the urban population is expected to double by 2050. Intense urbanization has led […]
UNDP and Islamic Development Bank launched a renewed action plan to strengthen collaboration in support of national efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
In the Arab region despite steady progress in reducing poverty and boosting health and education, many countries face daunting development challenges. Tadamon aims to strengthen […]
Working with Magic Leap, the German Space Agency and BadVR, we created an experiential visualization, Climate Change Spares No One, that brings to life visceral […]
The public transport stops locations and schedules have been set based on an assessment conducted some 30 years ago and has not been upgraded ever […]
UNDP has been exploring ways to increase Islamic finance’s impact by linking Indonesia and Turkey together, through UNDP Alternative Finance Lab and UNDP Innovative Financing […]
Mayors from eight countries have joined forces with UNDP on a new initiative to boost financing for solar energy.
Forum for the Future opened the first week of educational webinars for the UNDP City Experiment Fund. Anna Simpson, curator of the Futures Centre, and […]
The complexity of the challenges we deal with – whether it is conflict, climate change or governance – combined with the high value and cost […]
AltFinLab, UNDP Egypt, and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center partnered together to foster crowdfunding in Egypt to unlock investment for achieving SDGs.
Cities occupy only about 2% of Earth’s land area, but house between 60–85% of the world population. At a time of accelerated change — and with […]
Since its launch in 2009, Live Lebanon has implemented 67 projects and raised US$4.2 million from Lebanese communities abroad. From education to environment, it has […]
Best known as the technology behind cryptocurrencies, blockchain is still too new and cutting edge for many industries. Blockchain data cannot be manipulated, it is fully […]
The Alternative Finance Lab, together with UNDP Panama, organized sessions to learn about advances in innovation with practical cases and thus be able to exchange […]
Just when we need them most, our governance systems are letting us down. Structures that have been stable for seventy years are cracking under the […]
We’ve led 35 crowdfunding campaigns at UNDP since 2015 and mobilized US$1.2 million. Here’s our take-away.
UNDP Istanbul Hub and Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra put their heads together and thought about the challenges around impact bonds-what comes to preventing and solving […]
Considering that the 21st century is an urban one, key attributes of our cities should be used as assets to harness urban development scenarios, primarily […]
UNDP AltFinLab partnered with Blockchain.com, UNHCR, and WEF to explore how block chain technology works, but also how it is already being used to pursue […]
UNDP Crowdfunding Academy has the first successful crowdfunding campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the “Talas” magazine team. Let’s dive into Talas magazine’s story and […]
Argan trees are, in many cases, the only income for local indigenous women. However, most of them lack cash for expanding their businesses beyond just […]
Displaced people often struggle with identity loss. Having the digital footprint of blockchain can help refugee families in transit and those of us in the […]
Could blockchain-based payment systems make financial access easier for migrant workers sending remittance payments from abroad, make the transfer cheaper, faster, and more secure?
UNDP Indonesia experiments with innovative and alternative financing models to tackle development challenges effectively. Here are the ten things that helped their crowdfunding campaign raise […]
The following piece was first published on the AltFinLab blog and was originally published on July 18, 2017. Crowdfunding Academy in Ukraine is a three […]
This year, our efforts are geared toward seeing to what extent crowdfunding can help small entrepreneurs accessing funding in places where it is prohibitively expensive […]
After two months of intensive work with the Crowdfunding Academy team, twelve teams are ready with their campaigns. Check out the teams and their videos, […]
UNDP Moldova explains the challenges and lessons from their mission of increasing children fruit consumption through their first crowdfunding campaign.
From conducting a successful campaign to setting up Crowdfunding Academy and UNDP Alternative Finance Lab, helping to launch more than 15 campaigns in 10+ countries […]
Zagreb Crowdfunding Convention comes as a manifestation of the Crowdfunding Academy’s goals to contribute to the development of a crowdfunding market in Croatia. It’s the […]
From blockchain to crowdfunding, Alternative Finance Lab mobilized over EUR 3 million across a series of experiments with new financial mechanisms.
The same as for software developers, we, development professionals, need a paradigm shift in how we do work, how that work gets financed and how […]
We are travelling around the world and meeting teams and projects of Global Crowdfunding Academy. All of them wish to make a change in their […]
From equity-based crowfunding and person-to-person lending, to crypto currencies and mobile money; entirely new players are disrupting the field of financing for development and public […]
The first Global Crowdfunding Academy organized for and by the UNDP offices around the world had a really strong competition. After a tough selection process, […]
