Locations
Accelerator Lab
UNDP Indonesia
As the Research and Development (R&D) function within UNDP, the Lab in Indonesia combines digitalization and social innovation with local knowledge to create tangible impacts at the community level and influence bottom-up policy development. The Lab’s work centres on the theme of Urban Resilience, covering a range of interventions, including smart city, community resilience, and climate action. From mapping vulnerable disaster zones and using crowdsourced data for flood prevention, to facilitating the digital transformation and innovative financing potential for local businesses, these initiatives demonstrate how innovation and partnership can drive progress that matters.
In 2021-2022, UNDP Indonesia Accelerator Lab organized an Urban Innovation Challenge to foster grassroots innovation focusing on critical areas like smart cities and digitalization of small-medium enterprises (SMEs). The digitalization initiative, for example, successfully mapped the city’s disaster-prone areas and produce a digital disaster risk platform to support Tegal’s Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Tegal). Similarly, the Lab leveraged networks of community volunteers to map 170 lakes in the Greater Jakarta area to support flood mitigation efforts. In 2023-2024, the lab also facilitated a participatory approach in the design of Indonesia’s prospective capital city of Nusantara, capturing bottom-up insights into how inclusivity and environmental sustainability can be balanced, as well as how sustainable practices related to waste management and farming could be introduced to improve the livelihoods of local communities.
In 2023, the Lab conducted an exploratory ethnographic study on Pathways to Empower Urban Poor Communities, which reveals the various challenges faced by People in Need of Social Welfare Services (PPKS). The findings served as the basis for the lab’s follow up initiative in 2024, Community Empowerment Hub (SEDAYA), which aims at strengthening government entrepreneurship programs directed for those living in poverty and other vulnerable groups with the skills, knowledge, and resources to sustain their micro businesses, in collaboration with the Office of Social Affairs (Dinsos) and Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Municipal Government of DKI Jakarta, as well as the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) and National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas). This partnership continues at scale, as insights promoted in SEDAYA have been used to inform strategies to strengthen national social assistance and protection policies under a UN Joint Programme: Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions.
In the area of climate action and environment, the UNDP Indonesia Accelerator Lab explored efforts to strengthen waste management and circular economy, including through conducting a participatory action research study that explores the influence of faith and religious messaging on waste collection and waste sorting behaviour. The Lab also worked with bio-conversion community to experiment with the processing organic waste using black soldier flies to prevent food loss and waste. More broadly, the Lab investigates social dimensions of climate change through its study on the nexus between climate change and human security in East and West Nusa Tenggara, which reveals the impact of climate change on social conflict but also the role of local wisdoms in conflict mitigation and resolution.
Our publications
Throughout our journey, we have been actively sharing our learnings through these blogs:
