USAID Young Women Transform Prize 2018 (Up to $35,000 for youth-led or youth-serving organizations)

Deadline: April 30, 2018

USAID has announced the Young Women Transform Prize in celebration of International Women’s Day 2018. The Young Women Transform Prize competition will award youth-serving or youth-led organizations in low and middle income countries to capture new evidence and approaches to improve young women’s economic opportunities.

USAID is committed to empowering young women and unlocking their potential to transform their communities and the world.  Through the Young Women Transform Prize, USAID will support youth in developing countries to develop their own solutions to advance the economic empowerment of young women in their communities.

Prizes

Prizes of $15,000 to $35,000 will be awarded to grassroots youth-led or youth-serving organizations in low- or middle-income countries to address long-standing barriers to young women’s employment.  This prize competition is intended to stimulate and promote innovative approaches and new evidence, particularly from youth-led, youth-serving organizations, to barriers to young women’s economic empowerment.

Two types of prizes will be awarded:

•  Creation Prize of up to $35,000 each: to support the development and implementation of activities with the potential to broaden young women’s access to, and choice over, employment and economic security, with a focus on collecting and disseminating learning; and
•  Recognition Prize of $15,000 each: to recognize innovative strategies that have improved young women’s economic opportunities, and collect and share learning from that innovation.

Both types of prizes will focus on collecting and sharing learning, and on capturing new evidence and approaches to improve young women’s economic opportunities.

Eligibility

• Open to youth-serving or youth-led organizations working in a low-or middle-income country, as listed here.
• Awards will be made to applicants offering youth-led approaches that address specific barriers to young women’s economic empowerment, which include but are not limited to:
  • Safety, workplace discrimination, and occupational expectations
  • Education and skill training for employment
  • Access to assets, networks, and economic security
• Grants will only be made to responsible applicants able to demonstrate that they:
  • Are legally organized as one of the eligible types of organizations.
  • Are in good standing with all civil and fiscal authorities (e.g., not declared insolvent).
  • Possess financial accountability and maintain detailed records of all expenses.
  • Will not charge a fee or receive profit under the grant agreement.
  • Display sound management in their financial, administrative, and technical policies and procedures (Making Cents will assess this capability prior to awarding a grant).
  • Use a system of internal controls that safeguards assets; protects against fraud, waste, and abuse; and supports the achievement of program goals and objectives (Making Cents will assess this capability prior to awarding a grant).
  • Are willing to sign applicable assurances, statements, and certifications
  • Do not appear on the “Lists of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Non-procurement Programs” or on the master list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, maintained by US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
  • Are not designated by the United Nations Security Sanctions Committee (UNSC) under UNSC Resolutions 1267 (1999) 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) Concerning ISIL (Da’esh) Al-Qaida and associated individuals groups undertakings and entities

They encourage maximum participation by youth-led and youth-serving organizations from low and middle-income countries who meet the above eligibility criteria.

Ineligible Entities

• Individuals
• Government entities or officers
• Any entity that proposes a fee or profit on the proposed activity
• Private foundations established for estate-managing purposes
• YouthPower Learning subcontractors
• Political parties, groupings, or institutions or their subsidiaries and affiliates
• Organizations that advocate, espouse, or promote anti-democratic policies or illegal activities
• Faith-based organizations whose objectives are for discriminatory and religious purposes, and whose main objective of the grant is of a religious nature
• Any entity whose name appears on the List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Non-procurement Programs.

Application

For more information, visit Young Women Transform Prize.