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Business Incubator and Accelerator (BIA) for Mountains and Islands
BIA program: Acceleration Phase
Yunus Environment Hub (YEH) kicked off the acceleration phase in February 2024. In this phase we support 32 selected participants based in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, and The Philippines with a tailored assistance on business development with the goal of improving their production and commercialization strategies and activities, as well as their business activities based on the funding proposal presented to the Business Incubator and Accelerator (BIA) for Mountains and Islands.
The acceleration phase will contribute to:
- Promotion of resilient agro-food systems and inclusive economic growth, reducing inequalities in mountain areas.
- Protection and promotion of sustainable use of mountain ecosystems, combating climate change through sustainable agri-food systems.
- Building resilience of vulnerable populations, reducing exposure to climate-related events and shocks.
- Ensuring sustainable food production, doubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly marginalized groups like women, indigenous peoples, and family farmers.
BIA program: Incubation Phase
Mountains and islands make up 30 percent of the earth’s surface area and are home to approximately 1.3 billion people. Mountain and island communities are among the worst hit by climate change, suffering from high rates of poverty and hunger and struggling to cope with natural disasters.
The Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP), implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched a new grant programme to increase mountain and island communities’ resilience by supporting innovative entrepreneurship in agricultural and textile value chains through the provision of grants, technical assistance and capacity development.
Read the latest Mountain Partnership Secretariat 2023 Annual Report here
The incubation phase of the Business Incubator and Accelerator (BIA) for Mountains and Islands grant program was implemented in April 2023 in the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Fiji, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines and Uganda.
The program supported 107 producer organisations in the following areas of work:
- Biodiversity
- Sustainable forest management
- Climate change mitigation and community-based adaptation
- Natural resources management
- Strengthening of local economies
During the incubation phase Yunus Environment Hub delivered on:
- Supporting Funding Proposals: Assist participants in preparing full funding proposals that align with program objectives and donor requirements.
- Identifying Technical Assistance Needs: Through careful assessment, identify specific technical assistance needs and prioritise follow-up actions to ensure the success of the BIA program.
- Collecting Baseline Data: Gather data on social, economic, and environmental indicators related to the participants enabling to assess the program’s impact effectively.
- Ranking and Recommendation: Rank incubated applications by country and provide recommendations on the most deserving applicants for grant awards and progression into the Acceleration Phase of the program.
Incubation Phase Impact
