An alumni survey engaged 65 graduates of the UNDP and MF SR’s BOOST programme. The generated insights will inform future acceleration program improvements.
Numerous nonprofits and start-ups have received capacity building support and grants to strengthen innovation, technology, and social impact in their organizations or business models through BOOST acceleration programme. It was launched in 2020 by UNDP and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic.
So far, BOOST has run six regional and national challenges on its platform, encompassing more than 20 countries and territories from Europe and Central Asia, 145 solutions selected, 475+ applications, and $715,000 distributed in grants. In 2022, the BOOST methodology and learnings have been scaled through the cross-regional acceleration program Tadamon Accelerator, which supports civil society organizations working in areas of crisis response in 33 countries worldwide.
To evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the BOOST and Tadamon acceleration programs implemented between 2020 and 2022 and to gain insights into the diverse landscape of the growing alumni community, an alumni survey was conducted recently. The survey successfully engaged 65 alumni graduates, including startups, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and academic institutions.
Alumni spotlight
The generated insights will inform future acceleration program improvements and the design and roll-out of an alumni network and program. Some of key findings:
- BOOST and Tadamon graduates are actively progressing and growing. A significant number of the surveyed participants have not only secured funding and investments but have also expanded their teams and are venturing into new markets.
- A strong commitment to supporting women-led organizations has notably contributed to an alumni network with a significant representation of women.
- An overwhelming 92.3% of surveyed organizations express a need for further funding, highlighting their continuous efforts in finding financial resources to scale their initiatives. As a follow-up, UNDP is now working on expanding funding and financing opportunities.
About BOOST
Launched in 2020 originally as a reaction to COVID-19, BOOST has now expanded its scope to tackle issues beyond the pandemic. It engages a wide range of public and private, local and international partners to co-design and jointly launch open calls for innovations that tackle specific development challenges related to inequality and poverty, governance, energy, environment, resilience and gender equality. The program includes a series of training modules, workshops and individual mentoring sessions led by international experts, experienced in leadership, organizational and business development, digital transformation, behavioral insights, impact measurement and management, and other fields. BOOST innovators are spearheading change for millions of people – from improving air quality and forecasting floods, to creating e-learning classes for improved access to education for children and upskilling platforms for women in STEM.
Read the full report here and check out the website https://boostimpact.org/.
More about innovations supported by the Slovak Ministry of Finance: https://publicfinance.undp.sk/en/podpora-inovacii/.