Call for Projects: Global youth take action! (Step up. Innovate. Act.)

Deadline: 7 June 2020

This call for proposal has been designed to identify, encourage, and support youth engagement related to water management and climate change adaptation in the current global pandemic context. More specifically this call for proposals aims to support initiatives regarding water & health, water & agriculture, water-related risks, and water sharing. This call for proposals is made possible thanks to International Secretariat for Water.

All over the world, youth have stepped up and mobilized to lend a helping hand to those most in need by proposing inspiring, creative, and innovative ideas. More than ever, it is vital to support young people who are engaged and empowered for achieving water security. Through their actions, they have shown that they are unified across disciplines and scales to understand, innovate, and adapt to the complex and dynamic nature of water security and governance.

As the world faces a global health emergency, 2.2 billion people, or 1 in 3 people, still do not have access to safely managed domestic water supply services and 4.2 billion people, or half of the world’s population, does not have access to safely managed sanitation services (2019 JMP Report, OMS/UNICEF). Globally, 40% of households lack soap and water handwashing facilities (WHO/UNICEF JMP Report 2019). The risks related to the current global COVID-19 pandemic are thus exacerbated for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

This call for proposal is made possible thanks to the contributions of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Gouvernement du Québec, l’Agence de l’eau Artois-Picardie (and more partners to come!), which will enable youth from around the world to access financial support to help implement innovative and creative water management projects in response to the current global pandemic.

Objectives

To support youth initiatives related to water management and climate change adaptation in a context of global pandemic and health emergency

Themes

The call for project will be structured around 4 main themes. Admissible projects must cover one or several of these themes:

• Water and health: WASH emergency response & communication related to the current COVID-19 pandemic, health campaigns, water-borne diseases, etc.
• Water and agriculture: can be related to food safety which could be exacerbated by the current global crisis, irrigation, drought issues, rainwater harvesting, etc.
• Water-related risks: can be related to risk management, recovery and response to natural disasters, floods, drought, etc. Such situations are still occurring despite the health crisis and must not be forgotten!
• Sharing water: can be related to transboundary cooperation which can be particularly difficult considering the current border shutdowns, watershed management, water & peace, etc.

Grant Information

The selected projects will receive financial support up to 3500 euros each. These projects will be featured on the YWC platform for additional visibility.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible, participants and their project must correspond to the following rules:

• The project must be conceived, led and implemented by youth aged between 18 and 35;
• Project implementation must respect local public health rules and regulations regarding the current pandemic and must not increase the level of risks for project leaders and communities;
• Project leaders must have project management experience;
• Project leaders from every part of the world are eligible but projects from low- and middle-income countries or targeting indigenous communities will be prioritized;
• Project must address at least one of the four pillars;
• Youth participation must be included across all aspects of the project.
• Projects must have a direct local impact on vulnerable communities;
• Can be a new or ongoing project
• Projects can be submitted in French, English or Russian

Application Process

• Prepare a short project presentation video (max. 3 minutes) in which you shall reflect upon the following questions:
  • Relevance: How relevant is the issue in the chosen community? How practical is the implementation of the project? Does the project appear meaningful in terms of issues to be addressed and could it achieve real change?
  • Youth inclusion and leadership: Is the project conceived, led and implemented by young people? Is youth participation included across all aspects of the project?
  • Impact: How has/will the project support needs at the local level?
  • Innovation: Does the project have ‘thinking outside the box’ elements? Is the project multidisciplinary in nature?
  • Local partnership and multi-stakeholder integration: Does the project consider stakeholders and actors involvement
  • Finance: Is the project financially feasible?
  • Sustainability: How sustainable is the project and its ability for future adaptation? Is it possible to upscale or replicate the project?
  • Implementation: Does the implementation plan appear credible and adapted to the ambitions set out for the project?
  • Does the implementation plan respect local public health rules and regulations regarding the current pandemic?
• Upload your video on YouTube
  • To facilitate the video transmission, they ask that you upload your presentation video on YouTube. This video can be private (unlisted). Only people who have the link to the video will be able to see it. It does not appear in any public area of YouTube such as search results, your channel, or the navigation page.
  • Tips for the video
    • Be clear and concise!
    • Be dynamic and convince us that this project will have an impact and can be implemented
    • The technical video quality is of no importance, they simply want to clearly hear what you have to say
    • IMPORTANT: In this video, you must clearly demonstrate that this project is conceived, led and implemented by young people aged between 18 and 35.

For more information, visit Global youth Take Action.