UN launches call for research proposals on evidence-based financial solutions for women entrepreneurs in Asia-Pacific

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has launched a call for research proposals which will provide up to $25,000 in funding to a maximum of six proposals, to undertake human centered design inspired research. The research should explore the nuanced challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing financing at different stages of their enterprise journey and offer solutions to those challenges, it said, adding that the objective of the applied research is to identify innovative financial solutions that can be developed or tailored to best address the needs and demands of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, Nepal, Samoa and, or Viet Nam. “ESCAP’s Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship initiative, with financial support from the government of Canada, works to create an enabling entrepreneurial ecosystem for women.”
The research findings through the initiative will be used to inform the design of market-based solutions that enhance different groups of women entrepreneurs’ access and use of financial services. The research findings should also inspire replication of proposed solutions in other markets, it added.