Call For Applications : The Duke – Unicef Innovation Accelerator For WASH

Ready to scale your innovation and solutions in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) ?

The Duke-UNICEF Innovation Accelerator, located at Duke University, was created to provide social entrepreneurs with the knowledge, tools, and networks needed to improve the lives of children worldwide. Duke – Unicef are looking for innovations that make WASH adaptive, safe, and resilient with a focus on engaging youth. Innovations that contribute to futureproofing WASH, climate resilience or adaptation, or the circular economy in East Asia and Pacific.

RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS

THE ACCELERATORS’ YOUNG CHANGEMAKERS COHORT 2022 FOR WASH

Water, sanitation, and health are at the core of sustainable development, and the range of services they provide underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. However, in recent decades overexploitation, pollution, and climate change have led to severe water stress in locales across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose additional obstacles, impairing access for billions of people to safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services – services desperately needed to prevent the virus from spreading.

Now more than ever the world needs to transform the way it manages its water resources and delivers water and sanitation services for billions of people. Urgent action is needed to overcome this global WASH crisis, as it is affecting all countries around the world, socially, economically and environmentally.

WHAT TO EXPECT

DUKE-UNICEF SUPPORT

Over the course of the 15-month accelerator, selected enterprises will receive :

$25,000 unrestricted, one-time grant

Personalised coaching from social enterprise experts at Duke University and field experts from UNICEF
Bespoke mentoring

Customized capacity building and scale curriculum
Duke University student and faculty support
Access to our broad networks

Accelerator awardees should anticipate the following as part of their participation:

participate in online communities and monthly webinars.
Participate in monthly calls for coaching, mentoring, and peer learning
Participate in the week-long Duke-UNICEF Virtual Forum on Social Innovation, held twice yearly

Develop a capacity-building plan for scaling their impact, with support from the Accelerator team
Implement and track progress of a customized capacity-building plan, with support from the accelerator team and other mentors
Report relevant program performance and financial data on a semi-annual basis

Share insights, promising practices, lessons learned, and other expertise with all social enterprises participating in the Accelerator

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

OverThe Duke-Unicef Innovation Accelerator is open to any impact enterprises, working in or across East Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, DPR Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, VietNam) that meet the following criteria :

Is a non-profit, hybrid, or for-profit social enterprise
Has one to two founders/executives/senior leaders or program managers that can represent the enterprise over the course of the 15-month Accelerator and are comfortable and proficient in working in English

Organization representatives are under the age of 35, strong preference will be given to participants under 30
Has strong evidence of impact over at least 1-2 years and has a plan for how to use the Duke-UNICEF award to scale that impact in the next 3-5 years
Deploys a promising WASH product and/or service, innovative supply chain model, business model, or other approach that has potential for widespread, sustainable impact

Enterprise or enterprise innovation adheres to UNICEF Innovation Principles
Active in any country, or multiple countries, in East Asia and the Pacific
Preference for a diverse, gender-equitable team; female entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply

Current student teams are not eligible

Applications for 2022 are now open until 11:59p EDT on June 5!

Begin preparing your application by reviewing the questions offline HERE.

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