Since August 2019, we at UNDP’s Accelerator Lab have been mapping and exploring grassroots solutions that hold the potential to tackle the complex issues of unplanned urbanization and youth unemployment. In Kathmandu, we came across individuals who have been working for open spaces and dealing with youth unemployment related issues. We were able to secure partnerships with innovators, community-led organizations and the local government. In doing so, some of our hypotheses were tested, such as those related to data driven policies, ways of identifying grassroots innovators, and the scope of the lab on the national level. Here are a few of our learnings:  

i)     Know your audience!

Unplanned urbanization and youth unemployment require systemic changes where both direct and indirect stakeholders need to take accountability. The fact that urban Kathmandu Valley lacks green spaces is well known. So, in order to experiment with the concept of green pocket parks, we initially partnered with a local government body. And this was when we faced our first challenge - the complete lack of data on open public spaces.

Discussions with government officials revealed the need for a simple static data set that could be embedded into the existing digital maps of the city. We thus developed a GIS-enabled data collection app that we used to put together relevant details from a practical angle. Prabin Shrestha, Lead Park Project Coordinator of Lalitpur Municipality, believes that the app will be of great help in taking informed decisions when planning the right usage of open spaces.

ii) Think local !

We also felt that our focus was too Kathmandu-centric. So, to scope innovative solutions in the grassroots level outside the capital, we went to Karnali and Gandaki provinces where we looked at the solutions that made local communities resilient and self-sufficient. While there, we held discussions with local governments on various policies, such as their provisions for allocating seed money to start-ups, and holding innovation challenges to solve issues related to public service delivery, among others. As an outcome of this mission, we have been planning to partner with a private sector company to help accelerate their mission of greening the city while creating multiple green jobs to further support the economy.

iii)  Scope the potential for mini Accelerator Labs across the country

With the onset of federalism, the seven provincial governments have set a clear mandate to drive local level change - be it delivering efficient public service, creating data-driven policies or formulating provisions that can provide support in solving complex challenges. We held discussions with Gandaki and Karnali Province, showing positivity towards the Accelerator Lab’s potential in solving development challenges, appeared to be willing to establish similar entities in their provinces. Representatives from the private sector and civil society too looked upon the Accelerator Lab concept favourably. While we are not sure whether the idea of launching mini Accelerator Labs in each of the provinces will pan out, we believe we need to start somewhere, which is why we will be visiting the remaining five provinces as well. Stay tuned for more on our journey to elevate the concept of the Lab in provincial and national level.  

UNDP Accelerator Lab in Nepal is working closely with development partners, the private sectors and grassroot innovators as a “vehicle” to test innovative solutions around unplanned urbanization and unemployment, It is on a quest of to invest technical expertise on these two frontier issues in order to map, and explore a portfolio of experiments to foresee more possibilities.