Promoting socio-economic stability through institutional capacity and livelihood development in Sudan
This Programme will tap into Sudan’s immense economic potential by harnessing the latent talent of its currently displaced human capital. Inspired by the handful of start-ups that have cropped up in Sudan during the recent crisis, our rapid-response Programme will invite innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs to identify opportunities for a rapid response. The Programme will aim to empower 150 Sudanese women and men to launch new businesses that address immediate and midterm economic needs of the economy, create employment and sustainable income-generating opportunities
Participants will gain skills in agribusiness, entrepreneurship, innovation, finance and trade and digital literacy so they can “build back better”, irrespective of their current or future geographic locations.
Business skills:
- Entrepreneurship and innovation
- Agribusiness management
- Sustainable concept development and business plan development
- Business finance and accounting
- Sales and marketing management in the digital age
- Operations and logistics management
- Value chain analysis
- Business applications and usability of AgriTech
- Business applications of technology in other sectors – HealthTech, FinTech and EdTech
- Strategic design thinking for business success
- Business pitch development for funding
- Importance of digital assets, technology and platforms for business growth
- Public-private partnerships – establishing collaborations for sustainable networks that boost access to resources, materials, technology, markets and know-how
Soft skills:
- Job creation and identifying opportunities for growth
- Navigating adversity, overcoming challenges and building back better (through Hiroshima’s transformational journey)
- Critical-thinking mindset for decision-making
- Effective communication for successful business pitches
- Social, environmental and economic benefits of advancing women’s empowerment
- Promote a work culture that rewards inclusivity, equality, sustainability and innovation
- Cohesive teamwork for collective success
Phase I: “Resilient Growth for Prosperous Futures” (5-months, asynchronous training)
- This phase will include online learning modules that cover:
- Entrepreneurship and innovation
- Digital literacy to turbocharge businesses
- Building back better: lessons from Hiroshima’s transformational post–World War II reconstruction
At the end participants will have to submit a detailed project plan.
Phase II: “The Resilient Squad” (1-month, Bootcamp and Hackathon)
The top 40 performers from Phase I will take part in a week-long intensive online Bootcamp with guidance from experts, followed by a two-day virtual Hackathon. Coaches and experts will review the submitted proposals and select the top 20 most viable businesses.
Phase III: “Resilient Futures for Peace & Prosperity” (1-month, virtual conference)
All participants from Phase 1, as well as potential investors, experts and Sudanese diaspora will be invited to watch our top 20 present their business pitches in a one-day virtual conference.
Participants will complete self-led online asynchronous courses following a training design curated by UNITAR and refined over seven programme cycles (2016–2022). The online modules are complemented by interactive elements such as webinars, case-studies and assignments. The online courses will be hosted either on EdApp or Moodle. UNITAR will work with regional and Japanese experts across the entrepreneurship, innovation and digital sectors to present targeted sessions, complementing the microlessons on EdApp or Moodle and further strengthening learner comprehension and retention.
To complete the Programme, participants will undertake assignments on their business/project ideas. The assignments give the participants an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to real-life challenges. Participants will develop their business/project plans as self-led projects. They will identify needs and opportunities in their respective communities and incorporate them into their business design using approaches such as design thinking, the Lean Canvas and the Business Model Canvas. By the end of the course, participants will have developed a definitive and scalable business plan. They will have gained an in-depth understanding of business plan development and knowledge of digital tools and skills to start or scale their business and confidently pitch their concepts to investors.
In Phases I and II, participants will be assigned to a coach/mentor for support. The coaches will be drawn from outstanding alumni from past UNITAR courses, who will be trained to mentor the participants. UNITAR will reach out to local, regional, international and Japanese experts to offer continued mentorship to participants who completed Phase III of the Programme.
The courses on EdApp and Moodle will be authored by world-class experts. Each Programme goal will be mapped to a module that, in turn, consists of multiple microlessons. The bite-sized microlessons can be downloaded for offline access and completed in 5-10 minutes each.
Qualified UNITAR facilitators will be on hand to facilitate learning, under the guidance of expert resource persons, who will help contextualize the materials to the participants’ specific needs.
The Programme is open to Sudanese nationals with special focus on internally displaced people. A total of 150 learners will be selected. Selection criteria include:
- Interest in digital technologies, livelihood development, entrepreneurship, innovation, public works or similar thematic areas that fuel economic growth and aid in nation-building
- Age: adults over 18 years of age
- Passion for experiential learning and highly motivated to develop solutions to the ongoing economic crisis in the country
- Verbal and writing skills in English or Arabic
- Access to a computer or smartphone with internet connection