Laos has become one of the latest countries to have Accelerator Lab launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The lab is designed for participating countries to find “radically new approaches” that fit the complexity of current development challenges.
It aims to transform UNDP’s collective approach by introducing new services, backed by evidence and practice, and by accelerating the testing and dissemination of solutions within and across countries.
The lab also analyzes challenges within local contexts to identify connections and patterns in search of new avenues of work to act effectively in addressing wicked development challenges. UNDP currently runs 60 labs across 78 countries.
In Laos, the lab will map local grassroots solutions, test them and, if found viable, scale them up to quickly answer important challenges, according to a statement by UNDP Los. In particular, the global plastic crisis and youth employment are among focuses.
“With the Accelerator lab, we want to quickly identify burning issues that affect people and economic development, explore and map the solutions that already exist, experiment what could work and share widely in Lao PDR and with the rest of the world,” said Ricarda Rieger, UNDP Resident Representative.
