Qatar Fund for Development and UNDP Accelerator Labs hosted Virtual side event of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Learning from Local Innovations to Tackle Global Problems

Qatar Fund for Development and UNDP Accelerator Labs hosted Virtual side event of the
High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

Qatar Fund for Development and UNDP Accelerator Labs hosted a virtual event on the side lines of the 2020 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The theme of the conversation was “The Fast and the Curious. Local innovations to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in times of COVID-19”.

“Agility, diversity and tapping into the power of bottom up solutions will be essential to navigate a course beyond recovery, towards 2030, with the Sustainable Development Goals as our compass “shares Achim Steiner, Administrator United Nations Development Programme.

The conversation was about “Learning from Local Innovations to Tackle Global Problems” moderated by Mrs. Gina Lucarelli, UNDP Accelerator Lab Team Leader, with the following panelists: Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India, Dr. H. Purushotham, Chairman and Managing Director, NRDC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India , Mr. Omar Shaath, Project Specialist, Qatar Smart Programme (TASMU), Ms. Nouf Al-Kaabi, Development Analyst, Qatar Fund for Development, Mr. Hamad Al-Qahtani, SME Incubation & Acceleration Manager & General Manager, Qatar Incubation Center ,Ms. Sharleen Mabisa Moyo, Head of Solutions Mapping, UNDP Zimbabwe. 

“QFFD is very proud to be a core investor in the Accelerator Labs network. We strongly believe that more can be done and our commitment to more collaborative action is stronger than ever.” Said Mr. Ali Al-Dabbagh Deputy Director General for Planning of QFFD, on his opening remarks

Mr. Al-Dabbagh also called for “young innovators to continue addressing the developmental challenges wreaking havoc in fragile states, LDCs, SIDs and hampering progress towards Agenda 2030″

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, human development is on course to decline in 2020 for the first time since measurement began. 1.3 million new cases emerge each week, especially in developing countries where nine out of ten people earn a living in the informal economy, for whom ‘logging on and working from home’ is just not an option.

They discussed how local innovations can contribute to accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals even, and especially, in times of COVID-19.

• Geography
• Timeline 2020 - 2020
• SDGS Decent Work
• Partner United Nations Development Programme