UNDP Accelerator Lab Ghana

COVID-19
Innovation Challenge

Creating the “New Normal” and Building the Recovery
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Get on board

The Challenge is a call to innovators, community activists and problem solvers, including those who do not have an online presence to participate.

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Prizes

Up to $2,000 to be won
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The challenge

Innovation and resilience are vital to adjusting to the “new normal”

The UNDP Ghana Accelerator Lab is creating a nation-wide innovation platform to identify local solutions designed to help society in this period of adjustment. The Challenge is a call to innovators, community activists and problem solvers, including those who do not have an online presence to participate.

Application Closed

What we are looking out for

The UNDP Ghana Accelerator Lab wishes to work with innovators, entrepreneurs, local authorities and volunteers in communities to identify and support sustainable solutions that are helping us to adjust to the new normal way of life under COVID-19 and will be useful in Ghana’s recovery from the pandemic.

Key Sectors

The Challenge will cover technological and social innovations across public and private organisations including businesses, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), the creative industry and the informal sector. The objective is to explore sustainable solutions that players in these sectors have developed. The Ghana Accelerator Lab will support winning solutions and initiatives to scale up.

1

Communicating key messages about COVID-19

How do we ensure that we maintain our adherence to the key public education messages from the Government? How do we avoid “caution fatigue” by keeping our motivation to comply with all protocols?
2

Supporting Vulnerable Groups including People with Disabilities

There is concern that vulnerable groups particularly the poor and those with disabilities are being adversely affected by the pandemic. Which innovative approaches can be used to support them?
3

Precautionary Measures against COVID-19

The World Health Organisation has set out the key precautionary measures to reduce the risk of infection. Are there particularly innovative approaches to integrating these measures into our daily activities, as part of the “new normal”? Which approaches work best in the Ghanaian context?
4

Compliance with Social Distancing Requirements

We are required to maintain physical distance from others to reduce transmission of the virus. How do we ensure that we continue to comply with this requirement while maintaining important social and business links?

Judging criteria

Relevance

Is the initiative relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic? Has its implementation responded to immediate needs which have already been identified or emerging needs in communities? How relevant is the initiative to living with the pandemic and the recovery?

Feasibility

Is the initiative viable – is the solution already in use or prototyped? If implemented, is it likely to achieve its stated aim? What will success look like – will we be able to monitor and evaluate the success once implemented? Will the solution be readily supported by the population?

Availability of components locally

Are any inputs required available locally? Will implementation require the importation of goods and services? Are required inputs available in communities outside Accra and other major cities? How resource intensive is the initiative?

Duration/time of implementation

How quickly can the initiative be implemented? Does the initiative include adequate time for testing the solution to ensure that it works?

Ingenuity

Is the proposal genuinely innovative? Does it include novel perspectives of COVID-19 and responses to it? Does it address issues that will outlast this pandemic?

Scalability and replicability

Can the solution be scaled up quickly? How will it work in different contexts across Ghana?

Participants can join by applying below
Application Closed

Meet our judges

UNDP Accelerator Lab, Ghana Partners
+ UNDP CORE PARTNERS

Key dates

Applications must be received by midnight on 25th September 2020. 
Launch
01
Sep
2020
Application deadline
25
Sep
2020
Selection
30
Sep
2020
Announcement of winners
TBD
DEC
2020

Prizes

Prizes

Cash Prizes

Winners will receive cash prizes of up to US$2,000.00 each to support their projects.

Mentorship & Support

Shortlisted applicants will receive other forms of support and mentorship from the Ghana Accelerator Lab. The Accelerator Lab will collaborate with organisations to support testing and scaling up of selected innovations.