Ramallah, 18 December 2019 – In the presence of His Excellency Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, and in partnership with the Prime Minister's Office, the United Nations Development Programme / Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP), represented by Ms Yvonne Helle, Special Representative of the Administrator, launched the Solve It Platform and the Palestinian Accelerator Lab.

His Excellency Dr Mohammad Shtayyeh, Prime Minister of the State of Palestine emphasized the Government’s commitment to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through sourcing young Palestinian talents with the vision and drive to disrupt conventional models and solutions towards more inclusive societies. “We announced 2020 as the year of Palestinian youth. The launch today fits neatly within the direction the government is taking. The Labs and Solve it represent the spirit of partnership between the government, the donors and the implementing partners”.

The UNDP Accelerator Labs are a new service offering that works with people, governments, and the private sector to reimagine development for the 21st century. Through long-standing partnerships with national governments, the Labs are creating a new capability for decision-makers to explore, experiment, and grow portfolios of mutually-reinforcing solutions to tackle complex development challenges from multiple angles.

Yvonne Helle, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator highlighted the potential of the Palestinian Accelerator Lab as a catalyst for solutions that address the development needs of the Palestinian population, and implementation of the SDGs. “Business-as-usual approaches to development are not keeping up with current challenges. There is a need to foster greater experimentation and adaptability to facilitate development in and amongst the most vulnerable Palestinian communities,” she added.  

Presenting UNDP Accelerator Lab in the State of Palestine

The Solve It platform, also launched today, is an initiative led by the Prime Minister’s Office, in partnership with UNDP/PAPP, that privileges open innovation and human-centered design and development. Solve It aims to generate new networks of community resilience through prototyping locally sourced solutions, while also strengthening public engagement in addressing the State of Palestine’s pressing development challenges.

Following the opening ceremony, the Palestinian Accelerator Lab team provided an interactive presentation of the Solve It platform and explored with the guests the Labs methodology and ideas on how to collectively address the financing gaps to achieve the SDGs.

The UNDP Accelerator Lab was launched in July 2019. The Accelerator Lab Network is made up of 60 teams serving 78 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. UNDP Accelerator Labs provide partners with new approaches to address complex development problems unleashing the power of local innovations, collective intelligence and experimentation. The Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Qatar, represented by the Qatar Fund for Development, and UNDP’s core partners are the founding investors of the Accelerator Lab Network.