UNESCO Prize for Girls and Womens Education 2019

On International Women’s Day, UNESCO has launched the call for nominations for the 2019 UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education.

Governments of UNESCO Member States and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in official partnership with UNESCO are now invited to nominate up to three individuals, institutions or organizations who have made outstanding contributions in favour of girls’ and women’s education.

Funded by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Prize is conferred annually to two laureates and consists of an award of USD 50,000 each to help further their work in the area of girls’ and women’s education. The Director-General of UNESCO awarded the Prize for the first time in 2016.

Established by UNESCO’s Executive Board, the Prize directly contributes to the attainment of the 2030 Sustainable Development agenda, particularly SDG goals 4 on education and 5 on gender equality. It also supports UNESCO’s global priorities included in the Medium-term Strategy 2014-2021 and the Gender Equality Action Plan 2014-2021 (GEAP II).

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education Eligibility.

Who can be nominated for the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education?

Nominated projects must meet the eligibility and selection criteria set by the Prize;
They must be established and running for at least two years;
Show potential to be replicable and scalable and
Contribute to one or more of the priority areas of the Prize.

Selection Criteria for UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education.

Impact

The project/programme’s impact should be qualitatively and/or quantitatively measureable, and deliver tangible results relative to the invested resources. This can include demonstrable changes in: (1) attitudes, beliefs and practices toward gender equality; (2) girls’ educational participation, attendance, completion and learning outcomes; and/or (3) other relevant parameters to advance girls’ and women’s education.

Innovation

The project/programme is stimulating, and/or drawing on, innovative practices advancing girls’ and women’s education. This includes new ways of working and transformative “out-of-the-box” thinking and actions. The project/programme can demonstrate innovation in terms of: (1) the themes covered; (2) the methodology employed; (3) the channels used to create change for girls and women; and/or (4) other aspects.

Sustainability

The project/programme has taken steps, ideally from its design or implementation phases, to ensure it will have a lasting impact beyond the project lifecycle. This may include efforts to ensure the: (1) continuation of local action; (2) institutionalization of project components; and (3) generation of further initiatives.

Additional criteria

The project/programme should already be running for at least 2 years and show evidence that it may be replicable, scalable and/or provide significant learning potential for initiatives in other contexts. It should also contribute to one or more of the 5 Priority Action Areas of the Prize.

Basic education: support girls/adolescent girls to transition from primary education to lower-secondary education and completion of a full basic education
Literacy: support adolescent girls and young women to acquire literacy skills
Learning environments: support the creation of a gender-responsive and safe teaching-learning environment, free of school-related gender-based violence
Teachers: engage female and male teachers to develop gender-responsive teaching attitudes and practices and be change agents
World of work: support adolescent girls and young women to acquire knowledge and skills to adequately transition from school to work and lead a fulfilling life

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education Application Procedure.

Nominations must be submitted in English and French via the online platform, only accessible to UNESCO Member States and NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO. Nominations will be assessed by an independent International Jury of five experts on the basis of the project’s potential for impact, innovation and sustainably.

Official Link

Deadline for submissions is 28 May 2019 (midnight, Paris time).