UNDP State of Palestine Accelerator Lab

We are immersed in inclusive economic development for sustainable sourcing, and to improve conditions for small producers.

The UNDP State of Palestine Accelerator Lab has been acting as a strategic advisory unit. We started our work by conducting a comprehensive sensemaking exercise to assess current initiatives to identify strategic areas and better linkages between programmes. The exercise informed on areas that could be further strengthened: stronger grassroots engagement and a diversification of our partner base. We conducted ecosystem mapping, which led us to capitalize on an unusual partnership with the Research and Development Department of the Palestinian Water Authority, whereby two solutions in the water sector were supported and one was scaled-up through UNDP. Another major part of our work is to support the Prime Minister’s Office in identifying solutions to accelerate progress across the SDGs. Finally, the major focus is driving UNDP to focus more on system-level and transformative initiatives and testing them through a portfolio of interventions. The area that we are working on is inclusive and resilient economic development and exploring different models for sustainable production and sourcing to enhance small producers' access to new business opportunities, including penetration of international markets.

The work on inclusive and resilient economic development was part of a yearlong engagement that led to exploring new models and approaches that allow marginalized Palestinians to better absorb shocks and adapt during crises. Toward the end of the process, a studio was held in Palestine, which brought together a group of multi-disciplinary experts to drive ideas into action. We are now in the process of synthesizing the learning and designing a portfolio of interventions to advance inclusive economic development in Palestine.