INA opens the VINCULA Territorios scholarship for two weeks

The National Learning Institute (INA) has opened the official call for the INA-UFODE Scholarship of the VINCULA Territorios program, aimed at beneficiaries of the Banking System for Development (SBD). The invitation to apply will be active for two weeks from the date of publication, and the INA warned that, if required, it will provide further calls which will be communicated through its official pages and media. The call appears in La Gaceta No. 193 of Tuesday, October 13, 2026, pages 98 to 101, under official reference IN202601132170, signed by the Executive Presidency of the INA, led by Edgar Oviedo Blanco.

A program for communities that connect and produce

The program is officially named “VINCULA Territorios - Communities that connect and produce: training for local development, alliances, and community productive projects.” Its objective is to strengthen the technical, organizational, digital, and management capacities of social and solidarity economy organizations, associations, cooperatives, development associations, ASADAS, producer associations, SMEs, ventures, and productive units that are beneficiaries of the SBD.

Execution combines applied training, mentoring, asynchronous work, milestone-based accompaniment, and in-person territorial or technical visits, depending on the modality. The program will be executed during 2026 and 2027, and the admissibility verification will be carried out in accordance with the Scholarship Plan and the SBD Regulations.

Two modalities with different durations and methodologies

• Local Development: VINCULA Territorios - Community and Associative Projects. Referential duration of 16 weeks, hybrid milestone-based model, six complete methodological areas, two territorial visits per approved care unit, intermediate progress presentation, and closing activity.
• Productive Investment: VINCULA Territorios - Projects for Financing. Referential duration of 8 weeks, 100% virtual training route, three focused methodological areas, one in-person technical visit per approved SME, venture, or productive unit, virtual project presentation, and virtual closing.

The schedules are referential and may be adjusted for technical, territorial, budgetary, logistical, or institutional reasons, following coordination with the INA, without modifying the technical purpose of each modality.

Requirements, costs, and deliverables

General requirements include:

• Be over 18 years of age and have Costa Rican nationality or regularized immigration status.
• Be an active part of an organization, SME, venture, productive unit, or associative model linked to the purposes of the Development Banking System Law.
• Represent a productive, community, territorial, associative, or business initiative that requires formulating, organizing, structuring, or presenting a project.
• Have time availability for in-person and virtual sessions, mentoring, territorial visits, and applied work.
• Have basic access to technological devices and internet, complete the official application form, and sign the commitment contract.
• Assume 5% of the total cost of the Program, according to the co-financing scheme of the SBD Scholarship Program.

Regarding financing, the INA contribution covers 95% and is disbursed according to the milestones of the Scholarship Program, while the remaining 5% is paid by the beneficiary person directly to the executing entity, in a single payment and before the start of the program. The INA payment is conditional upon attendance, fulfillment of deliverables, and a minimum approval rating of 80%.

Upon completion, each participating person or organization must have a certificate of participation, a technical project document in editable format, an executive presentation, a basic budget, an execution schedule, a stakeholder and requirements matrix, and a preliminary management roadmap. The INA specified that this exit profile does not constitute a guarantee of approval, financing, award, or disbursement of resources.

For additional information, the Business Promotion and Development Unit (UFODE) of the INA has enabled the emails lmartinezrodriguez@ina.ac.cr and CTsoZapata@ina.ac.cr.

Impact for the country’s organizations

The call opens a two-week window for cooperatives, ASADAS, development associations, and SMEs benefiting from the SBD to convert their territorial needs into technically structured projects that can be presented to financing sources. The INA support for 95% of the cost reduces the economic barrier to entry, although the 5% counterpart and the 80% approval threshold demand a real commitment from the participating organizations.

Source: La Gaceta No. 193, Tuesday, October 13, 2026, section I (Decentralized Institutions), pp. 98-101 (official reference: IN202601132170).