The former refers to the organization of joint activities of geographically localized legal entities and individuals with the intention of creating a cluster that is aimed at developing and enhancing the competitiveness of its participants. A socially significant initiative is a set of measures to support a business initiative to solve a social problem, develop inclusion or expand support for socially vulnerable groups.
The pilot regions were Berezovsky and Kobrin districts of the Brest region, Braslav and Orsha districts of the Vitebsk region, Braginsky, Zhlobin and Khoiniki districts of the Gomel region, Lida district of the Grodno region, Borisov and Molodechno regions of the Minsk region, Bykhov and Klichev regions of the Mogilev region.
Applications are accepted in electronic form from June 5 to July 31, 2020 inclusively on the competition website (https://www.prospring.by/). $ 1.44 million will be allocated to support the best cluster initiatives, and the budget for enterprises aimed at solving socially significant problems will be $ 1.8 million.
“We want to support initiatives whose implementation will have economic, social and environmental effects. Business ideas should be relevant for the territory where they are planned to be sustainable, realistic and innovative. We hope that the proposed support will help restore the regional economy in the current difficult epidemiological situation, "explained Irina Babachenok, director of the Department of Entrepreneurship of the Ministry of Economics. And the head of the European Union’s representative office in Belarus, Dirk Schuebel, expressed hope that funding initiatives would not only help overcome the social and economic consequences of the pandemic strike, but would also help solve the long-term problems of the most vulnerable groups of society and small and medium enterprises, which are the basis of the economy.
“The initiatives participating in the competition should be aimed at solving specific problems of the regional development of Belarus. They should promote local sustainable economic growth, the possibility of decent work, gender equality, digitalization and innovation. We expect applicants to take innovative approaches to solving problems in areas of development using new methods, ideas and products, "said UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus Alexandra Solovyova.
According to Nadezhda Sinelnik, specialist of the project on public relations, the project “Supporting local economic development in the Republic of Belarus” is funded by the European Union and has been implemented since February 1, 2019 by UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Economy. It will last until January 31, 2022. In 2019, the project held a competition of initiatives aimed at developing the infrastructure to support entrepreneurship (with a budget of $ 1.32 million). The winners were 11 initiatives in the pilot areas of the project. These are business support centers, business incubators. The implementation of these initiatives will help local businesses respond more effectively to changing economic conditions caused by emergencies, as is the case with COVID-19. In addition, new initiatives will help create jobs, increase business resilience and increase the number of small and medium-sized enterprises.