On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, the Liberian Government along with UNDP and other Partners, will launch the University Innovation Pod (UniPod) at the University of Liberia, Fendell Campus, Riverview complex in Monrovia’s outskirts.

The UniPod project is part of the new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Africa Timbuktoo initiative involving more than 10 countries which are Benin, Guinea, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. With a current investment of approximately USD 900,000 from Timbuktoo — UNDP is supporting the refurbishment of the UniPod facility at the university and has procured a consignment of high-tech equipment all to be powered by solar energy.

This project aims to encourage students in universities to engage in innovation and design thinking. The UniPod project is multi-pronged and focuses on supporting and growing innovative, scalable, and impactful entrepreneurship by young African people while relying on a springboard of partners who together contribute meaningfully to building an African youth innovation and start-up ecosystem.

The long-awaited Liberian launch to support the creation of jobs and promote an inclusive economic transformation leveraging the rise of the digital economy to spur innovation across all sectors of the economy is coming to reality. 

UNDP Liberia has thus forged a partnership with the University of Liberia and Orange Digital Center which shares the same vision of the UniPod ecosystem. The UniPod facility is a unique centralized space that is powered by solar energy through which innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors, and technologists can co-create solutions to Liberia’s development challenges while at the same time expanding access to digital skills in alignment with the Government of Liberia’s pledge to train 10,000 youth with digital skills in the first half of 2024. 

The UniPod is made of a maker space (electronic, textiles and 3D printing, digital media production etc), computers, and accessories with workstations (engineering, environment, agriculture, business). The space also speaks to the UNDP principal development mandate which supports countries in reducing poverty inequalities and ensuring inclusiveness.

The project is part of UNDP Liberia’s commitment to supporting inclusive growth in Liberia, leveraging its convening authority and broad development mandate of systemic utilization of innovation at scale to provide substantial value addition to country-level SDG efforts. UNDP is uniquely positioned to play this role given its extensive networks across government, the NGO, and private sector community as well as with development partners.

This launch is expected to attract more partners to invest in this initiative meant to spur distinct skills of Liberian youth.