In Ghana, young people (aged 15-35) constitute 38% of the population, however about 25% of them are not in employment, education or training. Women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) face particular difficulties in securing employment. Entrepreneurship is one route out of unemployment, but about 74% of Ghanaian start-ups fail (the African average is about 50%) due to the lack of systems and pathways to develop and scale-up.

To support youth-based innovation and entrepreneurship, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding from Mastercard Foundation is implementing the Young Africa Innovates (YAI) Programme to generate, select and scale innovative youth-led solutions (mostly atypical), which should contribute to employment and strengthen the innovation ecosystem.

In this context, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the YAI programme wishes to announce a second call for proposals from NGOs/CSOs/CBOs. The overall objective is to scout for and promote innovative solutions at the grassroots level across seven (7) regions thus Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Savannah, North East, Volta and Oti Regions. This is to help develop capacity and platforms among local communities, civil society groups, and other stakeholders as a key driver of innovation.
 
As a first step in the competition process, we are requesting interested entities (CSOs, NGOs, CBOs) to submit a proposal by 31 May 2024, 5pm GMT. All proposals should be developed using the “GRANT PROPOSAL APPLICATION FORM” template and submitted to helpdesk.gh@undp.org.
 
See further background information and guidelines in the “CALL FOR PROPOSALS” document. 

This call only applies to entities (CSOs, NGOs, CBOs) that have strong experience in grassroots community mobilization especially with marginalized groups such as youth, women, rural communities and PWDs, and a fair understanding of Ghana’s start-up and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

For further information or process assistance if interested in the call, please contact allen.anie@undp.org or jude.kwegyir-aggrey@undp.org