Polish Challenge Fund

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted not only the health sector, but also the global socioeconomic situation. The Polish Challenge Fund is launching a second call for innovative solutions to address the emerging development issues resulting from the global health crisis.

BOOST will support the implementation of solutions in Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus and scale them across the Europe and Central Asia region and beyond. ​Applicants can apply for any of the following issue areas: new digital services and voice, low touch economies, wellbeing. Up to five applicants will be selected to join the BOOST acceleration program and receive funding between $20,000 USD and $40,000 to prototype and implement their solution. The applicants should provide co-funding of at least 20% of the total cost of the project. Partnerships with local partners need to be documented.

Guiding Principles

Budget Breakdown

Contract Template Form

• The applicant must be a registered entity – private sector entity (commercial company), university or research institute – in the Republic of Poland.
• The project must be implemented in one of the partner countries: Ukraine or Republic of Belarus
• The applicant must provide co-funding of at least 20% of the total cost of the project. Co-funding can be in-kind or financial. Co-funding above the minimum threshold is preferred and will be taken into account during evaluation.
• An applicant may submit one application per country (Ukraine and Republic of Belarus), however, only one application per applicant will be selected for funding.

• Scalability​: Solutions that arescalable across countries
• Viability​: The applicant is required to engage local partners to ensure viability in Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus.
• Management: ​The applicant must demonstrate it has an adequate team in place and will have the capacity to implement the solution in 3–6 months
• Potential for impact​: Solutions that can improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable groups.
• Innovation​: Solutions that use cutting-edge technologies, social and digital innovation tools and that transform current business models with digitalization
• Effectiveness​: Solutions that demonstrate how they will tackle one of the issues areas impacted by Covid-19.