Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
The UNIPOD: Harnessing youth creative thinking and innovation skills, to create a
transformational impact for SDG acceleration
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that altough the Zambian government’s commitment to innovation creates a fertile environmentfo r entrepreneurship through innovation,previous UNDP supported innovation initiatives such as the National Innovation Initiative, in partnership with government, have revealed high youth participation, amounting to 80% of the 4,000 submissions received in the past 3 years. However, some key challenges that still remain for the youth, particularly women face to grow their innovation into thriving businesses are; limited access to resources, and mentorship. For Innovators to actualize their ideas, they need access to education, training, linkages to finances and the private sector.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Leveraging on the partnership established with the Copperbelt University (CBU) since 2020 as part of the National Innovation Initiative (NII), which identified 140 locally developed innovations with high potential for impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the TRAC 2 resources will support the transitioning from a UNDP co-led initiative to fully government-led one. The investment will support the graduate path of the Experimentation Programme of the initiative through the establishment of this UNIPOD within CBU. The UNIPOD will particularly focus on female students as UNDP has worked with various stakeholders to encourage young women and girls to embrace careers in Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The National Innovation Initiative (NII) is under the leadership of the Ministry of Technology and Science and is implemented in close collaboration with the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The proposed intervention will build upon previous collaborations between UNDP, through its Accelerator Lab, and the Copperbelt University (CBU) to promote the development of innovations through the National Innovation Initiative and the Experiment Programme to test innovations to generate evidence to inform their scale up.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
The Innovators Journey Study
Tech and entreprenurship ecosystem report
Accelerating Digtal Transofrmation in Zambia
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
A recent assessment of the innovation ecosystem in Zambia led by the AccLab revealed that among the 110 innovations supported with access to finance, entrepreneurship, and experimentation mentorship, only 27% were represented by women. The UNDP is
committed to ensuring that no one is left behind in this endeavor and offers its expertise in strategic innovation to provide catalytic setup of a facility that is underpinned by the deliberate inclusion of female led innovations while leveraging on the opportunities that university education presents to create a great platform to ensure sustained synergies among students and faculty in the implementation of a university-based Innovation Hub - Unipod. The UNDP’s offer to public Universities through the Unipod presents opportunities for ideating, training and coaching aimed at refining innovations, developing solutions and building skills that promise to help students from low-income families fabricate, prototype, and develop their innovations into viable ventures.
Supporting a Unipod in a public university will contribute to the addition of a work force that is potentially well equipped to effectively contribute to the job market but also contribute to job creation for other youths, though harnessing innovations with the potential to impact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
🌐 When Innovators Meet Academia, Magic Happens! ✨🔍 UniPod, the epicenter of experimentation, ignites the collaboration between bright minds and academic expertise. Let's revolutionize how innovation shapes our world! 🌟👥 #UniPod #InnovationCollaboration
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Copperbelt University
What sector does our partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Main Implementing Partner: CBU will be hosting of the Unipod and direct Implementing Partner of
the Hub. The Copperbelt University Innovation Hub would be established and located in the University main campus at Jambo Drive, Riverside Kitwe. It will serve as a meeting place for creative students who want to work on developing innovative ideas together with other students. It shall be a place to build networks, learn about innovation processes in practice and to explore new ideas with the potential to impact the attainment of the SDGs. The Copperbelt University will lead sustainability efforts targeting partnership building coordination, scaling and networking with relevant Hubs, Universities, and the Private Sector
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
I feel the creation of the UNIPOD doesnt necessarily fall into the "traditional" framework of the AccLab methodology instead it is an enabler for AccLab work, therefore there is no strict learning question.
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The UNIPOD will serve as the environment/ space in which the tagged innovation methods will be used.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The proposed data sources listed above are envisioned to be used by Pod innovators.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
Possible growth opportunities lie with the private sector to support the sustainability of the POD. The POD is envisioned to create industry relevant innovations that can be scaled in collaboration with private sector partners.
END OF ACTION LEARNING PLAN: Thank you! The form saves automatically and your submission has been recorded. You may now exit this window.
9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
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