Deadline: 1 November 2019
Applications are now open for Generation Unlimited (GenU) Youth Challenge 2019/20 in Ghana to bring together bright young minds to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing their generation.
This Youth Challenge aims to inspire young people with brilliant ideas, but without the resources to bring them to life including, those who face daily discrimination due to their gender or their disability and those who are disadvantaged by poverty. The challenge in Ghana is being implemented by UNICEF, UNDP, Plan International, with support from the Ghana Education Service.
Successful applicants will be invited to take part in a design workshop in Accra in November. Following the workshops, the five most promising ideas will be selected and awarded up to USD 1,000 in funding and provided with mentoring and implementation support.
In the summer of 2020, the most promising projects in each country will be submitted to a global judging process, which will identify eight projects, which could have the greatest impact for young people. These projects will receive up to a further USD 20,000 investment (exact amount depending on age bracket that the team falls on), along with a tailored mentorship programme from Generation Unlimited partners to support them to scale.
Focus Areas
The challenge calls on young innovators across Ghana to design solutions to improve education, employment and civic engagement.
- Education & Training:
- Promote formal school experiences that build skills young people need for productive lives and the future of work
- Provide young people outside formal schooling with opportunities for training, skill development, and additional education
- Example(s) which applicants team may wish would explore:
- How might we reduce the number of teenage girls dropping out of school?
- How might we address sanitation issues in schools so that girls are less likely to drop out of school?
- How might we address issues of child marriage or teenage pregnancy to reduce the number of girls dropping out of school?
- How can we support building accessible and inclusive learning platforms, so youth with and without disabilities can study together?
- How can we expand access to remote learning (or work) opportunities for young people who live in refugee camps or have limited local opportunities?
- Employment:
- Improve connections between young people and existing work opportunities.
- Increase the number of quality work opportunities available to young people.
- Example(s) which applicants team may wish would explore:
- How can we best tweak the curriculum to respond to the development needs of the country ?
- How can we best guide young people in their career choice?
- How best do we link industry to academia?
- How do we retool and retrain young people to provide solutions to their development challenges?
- What may be the antidote for areas of development lagging?
- How may we close the gender digital gap?
- How may we close the gender wage gap?
- How do we ensure decent work for the youth?
- Entrepreneurship:
- Foster entrepreneurship as a mindset and a livelihood
- Example(s) which applicants team may wish would explore:
- How best do we support startups?
- The role of incubators, hubs and platforms that support the entrepreneurial journeys of young people
- Financial Management for start-ups.
- Ethical entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development
- Equity & Engagement:
- Promote equitable access to quality education, training, employment, entrepreneurship, and civic participation
- Equip young people as problem-solvers and engaged members of civil society, helping to create a better world
- Example(s) which applicants team may wish would explore:
- The role of technology to engage the youth?
- Volunteerism for Development.
- Sports, Arts and Culture for engaging young people.
Values of the Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge
- A human rights-based approach:
- Young people are recognized as key actors in their own development, rather than passive recipients of the Youth Challenge benefits and services.
- The Youth Challenge identifies the realization of human rights as a key goal of development for participants
- Participation in the Youth Challenge is both a means and a goal.
- A strengths-based approach to adolescent development:
- Young People are capable of changing, growing and becoming positively connected to their community
- Young people’s confidence is improved through positive feedback
- By youth for youth:
- Young people’s ideas and creativity are the cornerstone of this Challenge
- Adults play a facilitating and empowering role within the Challenge – through their communication style, during the bootcamp and subsequent mentorship; they should not seek to influence or steer the ideas and project
- Where possible, youth are engaged as facilitators and mentors, as well as Challenge participants
- They are all equal:
- They are committed to foster and encourage the engagement of disadvantaged youth in all stages and phases of the Youth Challenge
- They welcome teams that are gender equal and include diversity of all kinds of identity – gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability
- By design, They will actively engage participants from marginalised communities and create inclusive and accessible environment for all
- They are all working together:
- There is no automatic entry for specific young people or groups into the Challenge. There is a transparent application process.
- A learning approach:
- They will embed real-time learning in everything they do to implement the contest, in the same way that they seek to embed this mindset in supporting young people to develop their ideas and projects
- No limits on potential:
- Things won’t always go as planned – this is a learning opportunity; not a failure
- They see no limits to the potential of young people
- By youth for youth:
- Young people’s ideas and creativity are the cornerstone of this Challenge
- Adults play a facilitating and empowering role within the Challenge – through their communication style, during the bootcamp and subsequent mentorship; they should not seek to influence or steer the ideas and project
- Where possible, youth are engaged as facilitators and mentors, as well as Challenge participants
- They are all equal:
- They welcome teams that are gender equal and include diversity of all kinds of identity – gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability
- By design, they will actively engage participants from marginalised communities and create inclusive and accessible environment for all
- They are all working together:
- There is no automatic entry for specific young people or groups into the Challenge. There is a transparent application process.
- A learning approach:
- They will embed real-time learning in everything they do to implement the contest, in the same way that The seek to embed this mindset in supporting young people to develop their ideas and projects
- They can do it:
- Things won’t always go as planned – this is a learning opportunity; not a failure
- They see no limits to the potential of young people
Eligibility Criteria
Young people of teams with at least 3 team members and no more than 5 who:
- Are aged 14-24 (on September 23rd 2019)
- Are starting to work on a new idea or project. For example, for this particular challenge young people CANNOT apply if:
- They have already received funding to develop the idea (Applications with existing solutions, solutions that have received funding, and/or solutions based on which there is already a registered company or community organization should be referred to other opportunities and platforms both local or global i.e., MIT Solve etc.)
- They are already a registered company or community organisation
- Can commit to attending:
- The pre-bootcamp training session in Accra, 15 November 2019
- The bootcamp in Accra, 16 – 17 November 2019
- If selected for local seed funding and mentorship, can commit to implementing their idea, which could last until July 2020
- If selected for global seed funding, could commit to ongoing implementation
- They welcome diversity!
- They welcome teams that are gender equal and include diversity of all kinds of identity – gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability
How to Apply
Applicants can apply online via given website.
For more information, please visit https://www.unicef.org/ghana/press-releases/generation-unlimited-youth-challenge-201920-calling-young-innovators-design