Grant competition

Within the EU-funded “FUTURE TODAY: Empowering women, youth and children for deepening democracy in Armenia” project UNDP Armenia’s Kolba Lab opens a special call for proposals seeking partnership with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) around co-design and incubation of citizen-driven innovative ideas. The call aims at mobilizing a critical cohort of innovators in identifying, developing and testing (1) bottom-up citizens proposals on how to improve participatory governance at local and national levels; (2) and ideas related to alternative connectivity, social networking, peer-to-peer support and mobilization.

Executive summary

The call is open to the CSOs from Armenia. The short-listed 6 applicant organizations will be invited to the Co-design and rapid-incubation booth camp (3 days); up-to 3 selected teams will receive funding of up to USD 7,500 for pilots in Armenia to be implemented within 3 months. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2023. The applications should be submitted online by the following form.

Background

The FUTURE TODAY project is designed to enhance democracy in Armenia through the empowerment of women, promotion of gender equality, strengthening youth and adolescent participation, ensuring inclusive engagement in all sectors of society and further expanding government accountability and transparency mechanisms. The project is designed to build on the unique momentum of the emerging citizenry and to nudge new quality and value of participatory governance – the right of every woman and man, as well as marginalized groups, to participate in the democratic decision-making process both at local and national levels, towards good governance and equitable development. In this context, UNDP initiates tailored actions to generate citizen-based ideas related to (1) user-driven innovations in areas like alternative connectivity, social networking, peer-to-peer support and mobilization and (2) bottom-up citizens proposals on how to improve participatory governance at local and national level. Main concentration should be on Digital Solutions and/or youth involvement. Kolba Lab will support the generated ideas through Co-design and rapid-incubation booth camp and seed funding.

Priority themes

In the framework of the overall future vision, the CSOs are expected to submit proposals tailored around the following directions:
• innovations in areas like alternative connectivity, social networking, peer-to-peer support, and mobilization
• proposals on how to improve participatory governance at local and national level.
o Main concentration should be on Digital Solutions and/or youth involvement

Project eligibility criteria:

• The Call invites submissions for the two following categories:
o Early concepts.
o Existing solutions, including solutions that have already been verified.
• The challenge will be open to CSOs from Armenia. A prior experience of similar work will be an advantage.
• All entries must focus on solutions that can be implemented in Armenia, but possibly rolled out in the region or globally.
• Fund will be disbursed based on UNDP Innovation Grants scheme.

The project selection process:

➢ Submission

• All entries must be submitted by the deadline of March 31, 2023, 18:00. Applications must be submitted through the following form. Please ensure to include:
• Team Profile: Please submit the following information: team name, assigned team leader and the names of all team members alongside a short bio of each member of the team (100 words per team member).
• Questionnaire: Answers need to clearly articulate on a) identified challenge; b)suggested solution, describing methodological approach to implementation of main project objectives (above), information on the technical capacity of the team to advance the further development of the solution.

➢ Evaluation

All submissions will be evaluated and up to 6 CSOs will be shortlisted for booth camp (3 days); up-to 3 teams will receive funding of up to USD 7,500 for pilots in Armenia to be implemented within 3 months. The shortlisted organizations will be notified by April 10, 2023.

All proposals will be judged based on the following criteria:
• Relevance of the solution to a clearly defined challenge and the rationale of the
suggested solution – 30%
• Operational and technical feasibility, scalability, and sustainability of the project – 25%
• Innovation – 25%
• Qualification, capacity, and experience of the organization/team – 20%

➢ Technical questions

The Booth Camp will be organized during the second half of April 2023. During the first two days of the Booth Camp, specific workshops on Idea Validation, Stakeholder Analysis, Customer Research, etc, will be conducted. On the third day of the Booth Camp teams will pitch their updated ideas to a professional jury.

All the costs related to the accommodation and transportation to the Venue and back will be covered by the UNDP Kolba Lab. Maximum 3 people per team will be invited to the Booth Camp. Teams will be asked to bring with them 1 laptop to work on the final presentations.

If any questions, please contact to UNDP/Kolba Lab Task Lead Hovhannes Yeritsyan via email (hovhannes.yeritsyan@undp.org)

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This initiative is implemented in the framework of Future Today: Empowering women, youth and children for deepening democracy in Armenia project, financed by the European Union