IDB launches call for proposals for urban challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean

• The deadline for accepting proposals to the challenge "Cities for All" is February 6th, 2022

• Call for proposals seeks challenges that can be solved through experimentation processes

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through its Cities Laboratory, today launched the challenge Cities for All, which seeks to identify urban challenges that accentuate inequality in Latin American and Caribbean cities. The initiative will support challenges that can be solved through experimentation processes, such as prototype schemes, pilots, iterative models of solutions, among others, to design innovative, replicable, and scalable solutions.

Cities from the IDB's 26 borrowing member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are eligible to participate, specifically, entities that promote urban innovation as part of or in partnership with city governments. Urban innovation laboratories, universities, innovation agencies, or civil society groups associated with one or more city governments are encouraged to apply.

The call focuses on identifying problems in the following areas:

• Poor access to financing and quality housing solutions;
• Inadequate access to basic services;
• The socio-spatial disconnection of informal neighborhoods from formal ones;
• Limited or no access to information and communication technologies;
• Vulnerability and resilience to climate change and natural disasters; and
• Limited formal employment opportunities

Six semi-finalist teams will be selected to participate in a mentoring process to improve the definition of the challenge, which will be presented at a pitch day. From these, three teams will be selected to receive technical assistance from the IDB, up to $35,000, to work on an iterative process of experimentation consisting of the co-design, implementation, and evaluation of a prototype or pilot project that will contribute to solving the posed challenge.

This initiative is aligned with Vision 2025 - Reinvesting in the Americas: A Decade of Opportunities, created by the IDB Group to achieve sustainable recovery and inclusive growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the digital economy, gender and inclusion, and climate change.

Applications are open until February 6th, 2022. To learn more, visit the call for proposals page.