Press Release
UN agencies launch innovation challenge to support women's empowerment, maternal health, reproductive rights
05 April 2022
New York, 5 April 2022 – UNFPA, the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and the International Telecommunication Union are pleased to announce their first ever Joint Innovation Challenge 2022.
UNFPA’s mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. The Joint Innovation Challenge 2022 supports this mission by promoting innovative solutions to challenges in women’s empowerment, reproductive health and gender-based violence.
Challenge Overview
The Joint Innovation Challenge 2022 will fund women-centered innovations, including those that provide women with access to reproductive health care in humanitarian settings, or scale up prevention and response to gender-based violence. The challenge aims to scale projects that disrupt gender inequalities and advance the empowerment of women and girls around the world.
The ten winners of the challenge will sign a nine-month contract and receive investments of up to $60,000. UNFPA and its partners will further provide them with targeted mentorship, training opportunities, interactive workshops, and unique access to the UN network to help them bring their ideas to scale.
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposal must be aligned with UNFPA’s goals and mission
- Applicant must be registered and operate in a UNFPA programme country
- Applicant must have created an existing prototype, pilot, and Minimum Viable Product
- Proposal must include a viable and sustainable pathway to scale
Application Process
- Expressions of Interest can be submitted on our website
Timeline
- April 15th: Deadline for Expressions of Interest
- April 30st: Selected candidates are invited to submit Requests for Proposal
- May 25th: Deadline for Requests for Proposal
- June 2022: Live pitch event with 20 Finalists; announcement of 10 Awardees
- July 2022: Virtual bootcamp with awardees and mentors
- July 2022 to March 2023: Positioning to scale; ongoing mentorship and check-ins
- March 2023: End of challenge
More Information
- More details about the challenge can be found here
- Find out more about the International Telecommunication Union here
- Find out more about the World Intellectual Property Organization here
- UNFPA media contacts: Eddie Wright: ewright@unfpa.org; +1 917 831 2074
About UNFPA:
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. UNFPA's mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, quality maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education.
About WIPO:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information, and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, it assists 193 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs. WIPO provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries, resolves disputes, and delivers capacity-building programs that help developing countries. It further offers free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.
About ITU:
ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), driving ICT innovation together with 193 Member States and over 900 member companies, universities, and international and regional organizations. ITU is the intergovernmental body responsible for coordinating shared use of radio spectrum, promoting cooperation on satellite orbits, connecting the developing world, and establishing the standards for seamless interconnection in a vast range of communications systems.
