Deadline: 27-Oct-23
The UNFPA, Organon and MIT Solve are looking for up to 14 solutions created by and for young people, prioritizing adolescent girls and young women, that address key challenges within sexual and reproductive health and rights within UNFPA’s programme countries.
This Challenge seeks solutions that will help provide young people with the tools and conditions needed to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people across UNFPA programme countries. When they refer to young people they are considering individuals within the range of 18-35 years of age. This challenge strongly encourages applications that are led by and primarily serve adolescent girls and young women in all their diversity.
To that end, they seek solutions that address at least one of the following dimensions:
- Prioritize infrastructure centered around young people to enhance young people’s access to SRHR information, commodities and services.
- Strengthen the capacity and engagement of young innovators in the development, implementation and growth of solutions addressing their SRHR needs.
- Improve the SRHR outcomes of young people and address root cause barriers to SRHR care.
- Enable young people’s meaningful participation in SRHR cross-sector collaboration, including but not limited to fields such as legal, policy and advocacy.
Benefits
- Finalists will be invited to a virtual pitch event to present their solutions in front of distinguished judges. A total pool of $140,000 in funding is available for up to 14 winners of the 4HerPower Challenge. Winners will be eligible for a maximum amount of up to $14,000.
- In addition to funding, each Challenge winner will participate in a 6-month support program run by MIT Solve in collaboration with UNFPA and Organon that will include:
- In-kind resources curated to support entrepreneurs across critical areas including pro bono legal support, software licenses, and marketing
- Virtual orientation session
- Virtual monthly cohort convenings during the support program period
- Virtual check-in meetings between Solve staff with each winner
- Professional executive leadership coaching for winners
- Virtual capacity building workshops hosted by experts focused on potential topics such as Participatory Design, Theory of Change, Impact Metrics, or other themes
- Invitation for Challenge winners to attend Solve at MIT 2024
- Connections to expertise from global networks
What types of solutions are eligible?
- Solution applications must be written in English. The Challenge considers solutions at various stages of development.
- Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model.
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community or population.
- Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth in multiple communities or populations.
- Scale: A sustainable enterprise working in several communities or populations that is looking to scale significantly, focusing on increased efficiency.
- Through open innovation, the Challenge is looking for a diverse portfolio of solutions led by young people across UNFPA’s programme countries, development stages, and team members’ demographics. They encourage people of all backgrounds to submit applications.
How are they CrowdSolving the Challenge?
- Sourcing Solutions: Anyone who meets the criteria can participate in this challenge and submit a solution. Whether you’re working on a prototype or scaling your program or product, they’re looking for innovators and entrepreneurs with the most promising solutions to improve young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- Selecting Solutions: Once the submission deadline passes, judging begins. After an initial screening and review by Solve staff and community reviewers, 20 solutions will move forward as finalists. These finalists will be invited to pitch their solutions at a virtual pitch event, where judges will then select the winners.
Eligibility Criteria
- They invite submissions from individuals, teams, and/or organizations.
- Solutions can be for-profit, nonprofit, or hybrid models and must be at least at the prototype stage.
- Solutions must be led by and serving young people between the ages of 18-35 to be eligible for this challenge.
- Individuals and teams must be living and working in UNFPA programme countries and demonstrate proximity to the community served by their solution.
- Solutions that are affiliated with a registered organization must be registered in and implementing the solution within at least one of UNFPA’s programme countries.
- Solutions that are led by adolescent girls and young women in all their diversity are strongly encouraged and will be prioritized. If you have a relevant solution addressing at least one of the dimensions of this Challenge, they hope you’ll apply!
- Demonstrating proximity to the community served may, for example, mean that the team lead and team members originate from and are living in the community they are serving.
For more information, visit Solve.
