El Salvador has been selected by the United Nations Development Program (UNPD) to be part of its global network of Accelerator Labs, a spearhead of innovation and the search for solutions to global challenges, through new and creative ways of working.

Accelerator Labs have been operating since 2019, in 60 countries, as bold spaces to rethink development from new perspectives and more quickly achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These have the support of the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Germany and UNPD Core Partners.

With Accelerator Labs, UNPD is driving the largest and fastest international learning network around the development challenges of the 21st century, from its own portfolio of innovation and alliances. This year, 30 new laboratories will be opened around the world, one of them in El Salvador.

The challenges of development are increasingly complex, numerous and changing. In the Labs, led by the most creative minds, different sectors participate in the co-creation of articulated and sustainable solutions for each particular context, while promoting exchange between different countries. Migration, water scarcity, accelerated urbanization, transportation, diseases that are propagated by the increase of air currents, crisis of violence, are some of the challenges that are addressed from these spaces, with non-traditional, experimental, technological and participatory approaches.

In the context of the COVID-19 emergency, laboratories are particularly important to explore proposals that can reduce the vulnerabilities and the level of exposure to present and future risks in the countries, as well as supporting governments in early recovery. For example, UNPD Accelerator Lab in Argentina is supporting the development of solutions so that unbanked people can receive money transfers, with tools that allow the continuity of the payment chain to those who need it most and the inclusion financial in times of pandemic.

"For UNPD, it will be very important to contribute to the country with local innovations to exploit its full potential to overcome the COVID19 emergency and move towards development," explained the UNPD Resident Representative in El Salvador, Georgiana Braga-Orillard.

Right now, UNPD is looking for highly innovative people, who stand out for their creativity and ability to work as a team, to join the Accelerator Labs, which is expected to start operating in the second half of the year. If you want to be part of this team, you can apply on our jobs page.

You can also reserve a "seat" in the free zoom session where our international experts will answer all your questions about these opportunities. Sign up here.

You can also download the guide to apply, with different recommendations for the process:

https://apply.acceleratorlabs.org.

https://www.sv.undp.org/content/el_salvador/es/home/presscenter/articles/2020/010/pnud-promovera-soluciones-innovadoras-para-el-salvador.html

 

https://www.sv.undp.org/content/el_salvador/es/home/presscenter/articles/2020/010/pnud-promovera-soluciones-innovadoras-para-el-salvador.html