APPLICANT GUIDEBOOK

Accelerator
Labs
Are you who we're looking for?
We’re looking for people who are curious, persistent, and deeply committed
to social change. The Accelerator Labs program is for you if:

You are capable and excited about starting, designing, and managing
projects, direct engagement with local communities and collaboration
across global networks.

You are driven by learning new things. You’re constantly reflecting and
experimenting with improving your work. You’re also a generous teacher.
You tell stories about the solutions you find and helping your peers and
partners learn from what you’ve learned.

You are comfortable with ambiguity. You know you will have to adjust
course as new opportunities and challenges come into view. You avoid
zooming in on one “right answer” too quickly. You’re also sharp on
execution. You make plans with the right level of detail and find creative
ways to get things done whatever the circumstances.

You understand systems, the good, the bad and the ugly. You’re an
optimist who challenges the way things are done. You’re also a humble
bridge builder who brings a wide array of people along for the journey
and who is capable of working within bureaucracies to make change.
In what countries are we hiring?
You must be a citizen of the following countries in order to qualify for that specific
country's open positions:

Africa: Arab States:

Cameroon Egypt
Eritrea Syria
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau Europe and Central Asia:
Mauritania Belarus
Mauritius (& Seychelles) Georgia
Nigeria Kazakhstan
Senegal Kyrgyz Republic
North Macedonia
Asia-Pacific:
Afghanistan Latin America and the Caribbean:
Bangladesh Bolivia
Bhutan El Salvador
Indonesia Guatemala
Maldives Haiti
Mongolia Panama
Myanmar Peru
Samoa (& Cook Islands, Niue, Trinidad & Tobago (& Guyana &
Tokelau) Suriname)

What roles are available?

Each country's Accelerator Lab is made up of three individuals:
Head of Experimentation
Head of Exploration
Head of Solutions Mapping

You will find details on each of these roles in the next pages.
Head of Exploration
Shine light on emerging trends, use data science to identify patterns
and make a case for change.

We’re looking for people who are:

Adept storytellers. People who can turn data into a compelling story that makes
for a convincing business case and case for change.
Forward-thinkers. People who can sift through different kinds of data to find
emerging trends and understand their future social or environmental impacts.
Creative partnership builders. People who help us find unusual but effective
partners. People who can understand the needs of a wide variety of partners and
how we might be valuable to them.

As Head of Exploration, you must love data—as well as translating that data into
stories that are easily understood by others. You are doing discovery and
sensemaking of emerging trends, and uncovering implications of those trends for
systemic impacts. You’re deeply curious and through your networks, you find
unusual solutions, people, and partners that can tie into the Lab’s work.

What are examples of people who might apply for this position?
Data scientist
Data analyst
Design researcher

Here are some of the skills we're looking for in a Head of Exploration:
You have experience managing development programs, social policy, or social
innovation.
You are familiar with horizon scanning techniques.
You know how to analyze large and diverse sources of data and use data
visualization to surface clear insights.
Head of Experimentation
Build portfolios of social or environmental solutions, strengthen the
design of solutions, and learn through experimentation.

We’re looking for people who are:

Strategic thinkers. People who understand how possible solutions for social or
environmental change fit into a broader portfolio of solutions that can collectively
tackle a tough challenge.
Crafty experimenters. People who seek out evidence when others might
speculate. People who are constantly looking for ways to test what they’re
working on so they can better understand how it works and how to improve it.
Systems thinkers. People who see how different parts of a system are connected
and impact each other. People who design solutions that take into account the
whole system.

As Head of Experimentation, you institute rapid learning about emerging challenges

by designing and conducting a portfolio of experiments to better understand which
development solutions work and which ones don’t. You iterate and strengthen the
design of solutions based on learnings from experiments and partner interactions.

What are examples of people who might apply for this position?
Engineer
Designer
Urban planner

Here are some of the skills we're looking for in a Head of Experimentation:
You design experiments and get excited when testing prototypes and validating
your hypotheses (you can get others excited in doing so, too!).
You know how and when to tap into approaches such as User Research, Systems
Thinking, Lean Startup, Data Empowerment, Collective Intelligence.
You’ve led co-experimental design sessions and capacity-building in the past, and
‘agile and lean’ are more than buzzwords to you.
Head of Solutions
Mapping
Immerse deeply in communities, identify local solutions, and bridge
bottom-up solutions with policy design.

We’re looking for people who are:

Natural community builders. People who have personalities that connect quickly
with a diverse set of people and build relationships between them.
Curious learners and observers. People who find what is meaningful and
important in what others might find mundane and ordinary.
Micro and macro thinkers. People who can quickly zoom into what a solution
might look like in the everyday life of an individual or family and zoom out to what
it might look like as a policy or a systems change.

As Head of Solutions Mapping, you are doing deep immersions into the dynamics of
grassroots communities, identifying and working with lead users who have
addressed social and environmental challenges for themselves, and surfacing the
implications of bottom up solutions for the design of policies.

What are examples of people who might apply for this position?
Ethnographer
Social entrepreneur
Community manager/organizer

Here are some of the skills we're looking for in a Head of Solutions Mapping:
You know how to conduct field research in remote communities, in fact you have
done it multiple times. Documenting ethnographic evidence and honoring the
knowledge you gather in these unusual places is what keeps you going.
You are a proponent of participatory methods, when you find an expert in their
own sustainable development, you recognize the value immediately.
Sometimes making sense of unarticulated needs requires help from partners, you
know this (and like this!) from experience.
How to Apply

1 Apply
Visit the job application page,
select your country and
position, and send in your CV
3 Interview
Our in-country team schedules

2 Demonstrate
If you qualify for the next
stage, we'll request additional
information from you such as
a portfolio
and conducts an interview
with you
4 Success
If you're selected for the
position, we'll notify you and
begin the onboard process
UNDP Accelerator Labs:
Who We Are & Why We're Here
In 2019, UNDP built the world’s largest and fastest learning network on
sustainable development challenges. We are 60 Lab teams covering 78 countries.
We create actionable intelligence, test solutions with national partners. Our 180
new Lab team members bring bright, unusual talent into the development sector.

As the Accelerator Labs, we draw inspiration from local solutions that are already
working — regardless of whether it’s a grassroots invention, a policy workaround,
or a business that’s making the world a better place.

We radically accelerate learning about what works by operating as a globally

integrated network where each Lab learns from the rest, by exploring multiple
solutions at the same time, and by designing experiments that teach us whether
solutions can work and grow in weeks or months rather than years.

The Accelerator Lab network is part of UNDP's broader efforts to expand the way
the organization invests, thinks about, and delivers development. Working with
climate change, poverty reduction and governance experts throughout UNDP,
our 60 Accelerator Labs around the world are now testing new ways of working to
address social and environmental challenges.
Our Projects
Our Accelerator Labs choose the problems that they solve
together with national partners. Here’s a quick look at some
of our projects so far:

Solutions Mapping: In Serbia, we are using new sources of

data to help the central government understand drivers of
brain drain. In Uganda, we are addressing deforestation
issues by convening representatives from government and
private companies managing natural resources. And in the
Congo, our “Caravan of Innovation” is touring remote
regions of the country to develop a comprehensive
database of solutions developed by local citizens - the first
of its kind in the country.

Testing: Our Namibia team is testing out electric vehicles to

reduce costs of ownership and explore options for using the
cars to provide energy backup during local outages. Our
Lab in Bosnia and Herzegovina is conducting an experiment
that bans single use plastics in the UN House as a way to
learn what works and what does not before scaling with
national partners. And the UNDP India Accelerator Lab has
landed a partnership to test out an air purification
technology developed by a Singapore based startup.

Experimenting: Our Lab colleagues in the Democratic

Republic of Congo are testing whether homemade charcoal
bricks can cut on deforestation and contribute to the
reduction of gender-based violence. In Viet Nam, our quick
experiments showed what kind of recycling initiatives
citizens respond to best, saving the local government
money before large scale investment. In the Caribbean, the
Labs are exploring whether sargassum seaweed could be
used as a biodegradable alternative to single-use plastic.
Stories From The Field
Below are some stories from our Accelerator Labs' team members from all over
the world. Let this give you a better idea of what to expect, what kind of attitude
and skills we are looking for, and how to better craft your CV and application.

“This job, without a doubt, makes you grow because you

learn to react very swiftly to changing situations. It is the
most intense experience I have ever had because it forces
you to drive short learning cycles, exchange learning
experiences with teammates from all over the world in
search of patterns, and make changes based on emerging
challenges and opportunities.”

María Verónica Moreno

Head of Solutions Mapping, Argentina

“Within the larger UNDP Accelerator Labs network, we

formed a community of regional Heads of Exploration: We
call ourselves the RBAP Explorers. There are some 10 of us
so far, and we meet fortnightly to exchange stories and
signals. This provides regional context for the work we are
doing, but more importantly, a sense of community that
keeps me going. Exploration is, arguably, the most abstract
of the three Lab functions, so it's great to have regional
colleagues I can turn to for a listening ear, who in turn
challenge me and don't think I'm crazy!”

Benjamin Ong
Head of Exploration, Malaysia
 “Working in this program means constantly asking “what if,”
and “why does it have to be this way.” Here, you get to use
your creative spirit to introduce new ideas, new ways of
working and empowering other colleagues to foster an
innovation culture.”

Drasko Draskovic
Head of Exploration, Serbia

“Working in AccLabs is different from the way I had been

used to working before, which normally involved drafting
project documents that are not inclusive enough, coming up
with solutions that we weren’t sure were going to work, and
taking 1 to 2 years to deliver on said project. In contrast, the
processes in AccLabs are very inclusive and done within the
shortest time possible, sometimes as short as 100 days. The
lessons are then shared within the global network, so that
solutions can be scaled, or can be used to inform policy or
cause behavioural change.”

Hadijah Nabbale
Head of Solutions Mapping, Uganda

“The best part about the Accelerator Labs is interacting

frequently with people from all over the world. My team and I
have weekly meetings with the global team, and this makes
me feel like I’m truly part of something big and that my job is
contributing to a global cause, not just for my country.”

Ayad Babaa
Head of Experimentation, Libya
 “Going into the work, I had expected our team to be just one
more arm of a huge international organization. But our work
is very visible and has a lot of influence in the work of the
UNDP at global level, which makes me feel proud, but at the
same time very responsible... It is a transformative and
rewarding experience that will give you more doubts than
certainties along the way, one that will allow you to grow in
an environment of plurality, innovation and collaboration.”

Lorena Moscovich
Head of Experimentation, Argentina

“While doing our solutions safari in one of our Zambia’s

densely populated areas, we came across a community
initiative that had successfully transformed the lives of the
residents: ‘Know Your Neighbor.’ The community members
were able to coordinate projects around waste collection,
gender-based violence, crime and substance abuse
prevention, without much help from government structures.
This initiative was a ray of light and proved that communities
do have the capacity to come up with solutions tailored
around their way of life. This is the kind of work that made me
see the value in the UNDP Accelerator Labs’ mission."

Salome Nakazwe
Head of Solutions Mapping, Zambia

“Being a part of UNDP Accelerator Labs has allowed me to

discover the range and depth of local innovation in my
country which I was not aware of.”

Akinyemi Scott-Boyle
Head of Solutions Mapping, Sierra Leone
Got more questions?

Join us for a live Q&A session on Zoom, and get your questions
answered directly by our UNDP directors.

We only have a few sessions happening from May 13 - May 20,

so make sure you reserve a spot as soon as possible. RSVP here:
http://ama.acceleratorlabs.org/

If you're ready to apply, you may proceed directly to the

application page here: http://acceleratorlabs.undp.org/careers