Deadline: March 15, 2024
Applications are open for the WISE Prize for Education 2024-2025. Since 2009, the WISE Awards and WISE Prize for Education have highlighted over 100 global innovative solutions and individuals in education and, throughout the past 15 years, many of them have grown to become more impactful, have contributed to the work of WISE, have scaled to new regions, and more. The legacy of the WISE Awards and WISE Prize for Education stemmed from the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, with the aim to elevate players in the field of education.
Now, in 2024, WISE is launching the next generation of the WISE Prize as one sole initiative, identifying a group of finalists to partake in this competition. WISE will identify and provide support through capacity building and mentorship to organizations tackling new challenges ahead.
This iteration of the WISE Prize will work with the chosen finalists over the span of one year to develop solutions that addresses one of the following key education challenges:
- Improving the teaching of Arabic language: Develop a solution to improve the effectiveness of teaching, acquisition and use of the Arabic language.
- Accelerating foundational literacies: Create a personalized learning tool to accelerate basic literacy and numeracy skills, particularly in under-resourced areas.
- Addressing challenges in A.I.: Design a tech-based intervention to equip youth with skills to navigate challenges of increasing presence in an A.I.-driven market and society, such as biases and disinformation.
Benefits
- Financial support of $100k – $150k USD provided to support the solution development
- Access to tailored mentorship to drive solution development
- Access to capacity-building for team members
- Progress monitoring and support from WISE
- A $1 million USD Prize awarded at the 2025 WISE Summit
Eligibility
- Any type of legally registered organization including colleges, universities, academic networks, schools, civil society, community organizations, governments, international agencies, private-sector companies and non-profit entities working in the field of education are invited to apply. The organization should be in operation for at least 12 months with established programs or products.
- Representation from any education sector including pre-primary, primary, secondary, tertiary, EdTech, vocational training, higher education, special needs education, informal learning, lifelong learning and more, are welcome to apply.
- Applications should be for original works and projects and should be submitted by a representative working within the project. All applicants should therefore guarantee that their organization, or they themselves, originate the project, and should not hold WISE liable for any action or claim from a third party with respect to the project submitted.
Applicants should have evidence of the transformative impact on individuals, communities and society in education already achieved from previous ventures, with:
- A strong record of proven success
- Minimum 2 years in operation
- More than one source of funding
- At least one dedicated full-time team member (or full-time equivalent) to drive the solution development
- A clear plan indicating the project’s objectives and development in response to the education challenge it will address
- A scalable solution and ability to replicate in other contexts and regions
Selection Criteria
- Credentials: Applicants have a record that back their ability to solve the challenge
- Innovation: Applicants address the education challenge in an evidence-based approach that has not been tested or implemented before.
- Feasibility: Proposals have a coherent Minimum Viable Product timeline with clear resource allocation and manpower planning.
- Scalability: Proposed solutions should demonstrate potential to expand and detail sustainable funding over time.
- Contextualization: Proposed solutions are adaptable to different geographic and social contexts
Application
The deadline for submission of applications is March 15, 2024 at 17:00 GMT.
For more information, visit WISE Prize for Education.
