Applications will be received between July 1 and 31, and the selection process will take approximately three months.
14ymedio, Madrid, June 30, 2025 — From this Tuesday and throughout the month of July, both private and state-owned MSMEs*, non-agricultural cooperatives (CNA) and local development projects (PDL) from the east will be eligible for up to $40,000 in funding. The project, financed by the European Union as part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with assistance from the French Government, is intended for acquiring resources and equipment.
The objective, described by UNDP in the call made public last Wednesday, is “that the new economic actors [NAE] strengthen their capacities, improve the quality of their products and services, and broaden their presence in the market, in order to promote the creation of employment and the activation of the local economic fabric, with a focus on women and young people.”
Thus, they intend to “contribute to the well-being of the Cuban population by encouraging a dynamic and revitalized economy and economic actors in their innovation, entrepreneurship, management and, where appropriate, access to international markets,” they say in a burst of optimism that contrasts with the deep crisis that the country is experiencing.
The agency also announces that it will soon launch another five calls, two regional and three national
The review of applications will be carried out by “multidisciplinary teams,” says the statement, “made up of an odd number of experts from the three regions of the country, who will never evaluate projects in their own region in order to facilitate transparency and impartiality.”
To apply, you must fill out a form and send it to convocatoriasnae2025@gmail.com, with the subject “Application,” from 1 to 31 July. The selection process will take, according to UNDP, no more than three months.
The agency also announces that it will soon launch another five calls, two regional and three national, focusing on “strategic sectors” such as sustainable agro-food systems, renewable energy, information technologies and “creative industries.”
On UNDP social networks, several users complain that self-employed workers (TCP) are excluded from these possible grants. Thus, Henry Chávez Góngora asks how a TCP could access funding, to which the organization responds that although the call “is aimed at other actors, it aims to promote experiences that encourage productive chains where other actors can participate.”
Chávez Góngora, who claims to have an agro-industrial project with “eight production lines potentially only 12 kilometers from the main port of Cuba” – Mariel – continues: “How good, but at the beginning and in the end it is the farmer who is directly in the field, with projects of mini-industries in my case, to process myself the productions obtained on the land. My suggestion is to look at the front line of the production chain and if we have chains in our businesses.”
To the question of whether the call covers farmers with land under usufruct, UNDP answers that “other forms of management” can participate by “associating themselves with these experiences as chains,” it says, referring to MSMEs, CNA and PDL. And the user argues: “The farmers are associated with all these forms, but we perform the same work as them and with a greater commitment to the people. We sell at much lower prices and make greater more sacrifices in order to produce. If your call is only for that ’robust sector’, it stinks in my opinion.”
A total of $35.3 million was allocated to Cuba last year by this UN program, according to its own report, “to support sustainable development” in more than 40 projects on the island.
Translated by Regina Anavy
*MSME – Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises
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