"We are using distributed ledger technology to help the cooperatives better market and differentiate their products on the back of their sustainability certifications, creating products with provable certification claims and traceability back to their origin. This traceability is then being leveraged to sell "proof packages" containing all this information to downstream buyers, driving more value directly back to a cooperative similar to how impact credits work in other industries," says Erik Zvaigzne of Convergence.tech as we talk with him, as well as Marina Petrović and Robert Pašičko of UNDP Alt Fin Lab, about their project collaboration in the DLT4EU accelerator programme.The DLT4EU accelerator programme identifies and connects di...

 A whole series of new solar projects in Moldova, Georgia, Serbia and Tajikistan are going to be financed through crowdfunding campaigns. Citizens from these countries, but also from all round the world will have the opportunity to participate in solarization of this region!We will start with the youngest in Serbia. The future belongs to them and must be renewable so the city of Kragujevac will crowdfund for a PV installation on the roof of a kindergarten. Energy independence of the building will be done with the assistance of the first Serbian energy cooperative from the city of Šabac, under the Solar Mayors' Club Initiative.Education of children is an extra benefit of this kind of projects, and another one is...

​New York — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) today launched a renewed action plan to strengthen collaboration in support of national efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The new plan builds on UNDP's and IsDB's commitment to cooperate in shared priority areas such as crisis response and recovery, poverty reduction, private sector development, capacity-building, and knowledge-sharing. "This joint plan of action between IsDB and UNDP will support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the countries we serve around the globe and will identify new opportunities to work together," said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. "I look forward to piloting new initiativ...

​By UNDP and Magic LeapIn the blockbuster science fiction movie 'The Matrix', after Neo takes the red pill offered by Morpheus, he not only learns the truth about reality, he also discovers how an ecological disaster has led to humans being harvested and enslaved by machines. At UNDP we wondered, what if we 'matrix' our way into tackling climate change, using emerging technologies to create urgency and kick start political action. After all, we're in uncharted territory, or as writer James Bridle in 'The New Dark Age' calls it 'peak knowledge.'We went straight to the source — to Magic Leap, whose Senior Vice President for Creative Strategy, John Gaeta, created all the special effects in 'The Matrix'. What did we learn?Several studies indica...

 Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), United Nations Development Programme in Egypt (UNDP Egypt) and the UNDP Alternative Finance Lab (AltFinLab) partnered together to foster crowdfunding in Egypt during the week of 3rd to the 7th February 2019. In 2017, $65 billion was raised on global crowdfunding platforms and there is an upward trend in developing countries in adopting crowdfunding as a source of finance. This is particularly interesting for Egyptian SMEs, as only 50% of SMEs in the formal sector currently engage with banks. Crowdfunding lowers barriers of access to finance and matches demand and supply of finance as it allows individuals to make contributions and investments directly to projects they are passi...

Crowdfunding Academy in Ukraine is a three months project dedicated to entrepreneurs from conflict-affected areas in Donbas. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to rally all available resources to help improve the livelihoods of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities throughout Ukraine. Experts from UNDP Alternative Finance Lab and Terra Hub NGO, who created the concept of Crowdfunding Academy, as well as trainers from the leading Ukrainian online crowdfunding platform "Spilnokosht" are helping entrepreneurs raise funding for their businesses using online tools and innovative methodologies.To be admitted to the Crowdfunding Academy, participants had to describe their business idea and specify the required investmen...

UNDP'S 1ST GLOBAL CROWDFUNDING ACADEMYUNDP's 1st Global Crowdfunding Academy took place in December of 2015 in Istanbul. Inspiring projects that ranged from community green solutions to peacebuilding and poverty reduction were presented by 11 teams from around the world.Global Crowdfunding Academies are envisaged as 3-6 month service where the team identifies a pipeline of potential ideas, develops ideas into crowdfunding campaign and provides hands-on support during the campaign. The team is moving into the area of setting regional support centers with the best candidates by providing education, training and by connecting local actors, diaspora, start-up community, and social enterprises.UNDP'S 2ND GLOBAL CROWDFUNDING ACADEMYThe interest f...

​Global Crowdfunding Academy is a program aimed at training UNDP staff to learn to conduct their own crowdfunding campaigns and thus contribute to 2030 Agenda and its goals. The interest for this year's academy was twice as large as last year and can be understood as an indication that new funding mechanisms are beginning to gain larger ground in CO operations across the globe. This year's Global Crowdfunding Academy was conceived as an educational program that brings together two types of teams, so the program includes two types of Academies.This year, 11 different teams from around the world will be educated through this program. Most of the work will be done through webinars and individual consultations, while the campaigns will accompli...

What are the campaigns, what is in the #BigStoriesSmallBusinesses?Take a small A to W quest with Maša and find out!A. stands for Antonov, Ukrainian engineer who constructed the biggest cargo plane in the world, the famous Antonov! Produced in Ukraine. Mašenjka saw it in Zagreb several years ago, once it landed to pick up a transformer for a powerplant. The queue of curious people was the longest queue she has ever seen! Can you imagine how thrilled she was she realised we have another Antonov in one of the teams that is composed of engineers who once worked in the Antonov factory? Now The A. team has created the first electric cargo bike in Ukraine – find out what is their name and try-out the bike when they go out to the crowds with guerri...

 On a calm early Saturday morning, with her tiny feet and red hair-locks under her cap, Mašenjka walked swiftly across St. Sofia square. And then down with a funicular to Podil. And then straight along Riviera to Kyiv Hub 4.0. More then thirty curious entrepreneurs waited for her. Fifteen komandas couldn't wait to learn about a whole new world of crowdfunding.Mašenjka was not alone. Little rasta-girl with blond dreadlocks from the Crowdfunding Academy was with her, and two nice and bright comrades from Spilnokosht platform and a cheerful piccola djevushka Italiana.The komandas started pitching:We want school-kids to grow trees and turn grey destroyed areas into green woods.We want anti-cafe in Slavyansk to have a wonderful yard and gat...

​Seems like the last few months have gone away in a blink of an eye – that's how long it passed since a group of seven started to plan the Crowdfunding Academy project at small UNDP office in Croatia. Many e-mails, social media posts, new faces, public presentations, crowdfunding facts and working hours later, we are starting to realize the real size of a rock that we've managed to move by successfully bringing this project to life.Within the Crowdfunding Academy educational programme we gathered experts in business, financing, marketing, social media, journalism, strategy planning and many other fields, along with more or less successful crowdfunding campaigners from Croatia. They've shared their experiences through three modules tackling ...

Crowdfunding Academy Croatia is a non-formal educational programme on developing crowdfunding campaigns aimed for training cooperatives, municipalities and cities, start-up companies, entrepreneurs, craftsmen and all citizens with interesting and innovative projects. The second Crowdfunding Academy took place in summer of 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia with 19 participating teams. All of our teams had great, creative and sustainable ideas such as healthy meals projects, mental health campaign, and campaign for opening the first coffee shop in Croatia to employ people with Down syndrome.The educational program was carried out through four modules.​ During the first workshop team members were introduced to the basics of a crowdfunding campaign, the ...

Global Crowdfunding Academy is a program aimed at training UNDP staff to learn to conduct their own crowdfunding campaigns and thus contribute to 2030 Agenda and its goals. UNDP's 1st Global Crowdfunding Academy took place in December of 2015 in Istanbul. Inspiring projects that ranged from community green solutions to peacebuilding and poverty reduction were presented by 11 teams from around the world.​ Global Crowdfunding Academies are envisaged as 3-6 month service where the team identifies a pipeline of potential ideas, develops ideas into crowdfunding campaign and provides hands-on support during the campaign. The team is moving into the area of setting regional support centers with the best candidates by providing education, training ...

For those who haven't read the first part here is a little introduction. We are travelling around the world and meeting teams and projects of Global Crowdfunding Academy. All of them wish to make a change in their community. So, at the beginning of December we will gather in Istanbul and start working on realizing those dreams.Last time we visited Macedonia, Columbia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Tajikistan. Now there are six more countries ahead of us. So let's continue our little adventure!  Today our journey starts is in Zimbabwe. Project name: Young small-holder farmers Insurance and Risk Transfer Facility. Young small holder farmers are increasingly affected by extreme weather events and the adverse effects of climate change. To make...

For those who haven't read the first part here is a little introduction. We are travelling around the world and meeting teams and projects of Global Crowdfunding Academy. All of them wish to make a change in their community. So, at the beginning of December we will gather in Istanbul and start working on realizing those dreams.Last time we visited Macedonia, Columbia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Tajikistan. Now there are six more countries ahead of us. So let's continue our little adventure!  Today our journey starts is in Zimbabwe. Project name: Young small-holder farmers Insurance and Risk Transfer Facility. Young small holder farmers are increasingly affected by extreme weather events and the adverse effects of climate change. To make...

The first Global Crowdfunding Academy organized for and by the UNDP offices around the world had a really strong competition. After a tough selection process, we have chosen 11 teams with most inspiring projects from community green solutions to peacebuilding and poverty reduction.Interested? Let's go on a little odyssey around the world, meet the teams and see what they want to change in their community with the help of crowdfunding.First station: Republic of Macedonia. Project name: Let's paint Skopje from 50 shadesof GREY to 50 shades of GREEN. The main idea of this project is to pick out one prominent building in Skopje, turn it from grey to green and set an example for others to follow. The proposed building is the Skopje City Hospital...

​Seems like the last few months have gone away in a blink of an eye – that's how long it passed since a group of seven started to plan the Crowdfunding Academy project at small UNDP office in Croatia. Many e-mails, social media posts, new faces, public presentations, crowdfunding facts and working hours later, we are starting to realize the real size of a rock that we've managed to move by successfully bringing this project to life.Within the Crowdfunding Academy educational programme we gathered experts in business, financing, marketing, social media, journalism, strategy planning and many other fields, along with more or less successful crowdfunding campaigners from Croatia. They've shared their experiences through three modules tackling ...

Crowdfunding Academy Croatia is a non-formal educational programme on developing crowdfunding campaigns aimed for training cooperatives, municipalities and cities, start-up companies, entrepreneurs, craftsmen and all citizens with interesting and innovative projects. The first Crowdfunding Academy took place in spring of 2015 in Zagreb, Croatia with 14 participating teams. The projects range from helping migrants set up their own businesses in host countries, to introducing STEM education at schools or improving the nutrition of kids in schools, to the growth of new startups.​ The program was carried out through three modules. During the first module, participants were introduced with the foundations of a successful crowdfunding campaign an...