Call for Essays: The Africa Youth Day, Ethiopia 2014

Women account for about half of Africa’s talent base. As a group, they have been marginalised and their economic, social, political and environmental contributions go in large part unrealised, underutilized and undervalued. Poverty and HIV/AIDS still carry a female face. Women’ education is often sacrifice because of various socio-economic and cultural reasons and women are among the most affected by conflicts and violence. Empowering their participation in the community and the workforce greatly increases economic growth, reduces poverty, enhances societal well-being, and helps ensure sustainable development in all countries.

It is against this background that the African Union Heads of State and Government have dedicated next year, 2015, as the “Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”. As a prelude to these celebrations, the African Union Commission is celebrating this year’s Africa Youth Day under the theme: Delivering on the Potential of Africa’s Young women.

Celebrated on the 1st of November, TheAfrican Youth Day aims to promote an increased recognition of youth as key agents for social change and economic growth in all aspects of African society. The event also aims to contribute and channel the youth motivation, energy and idealism to reinforce the efforts towards the achievement of a sustainable development in the Africa.

To open up this discourse, the African Union Commission invites young Africans to submit an essay of not more than 1500 words, which identifies and makes the case for policy measures to support the empowerment of young women. Entries are encouraged to be evidence-based, drawing on experiences of the writer or other individuals or institutions.

Finalists will be invited to celebrate the African Youth Day at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and engage with Ministers of Youth from across the continent. Winning essay shall be published and presented at various high level policy meetings in 2015.

Competition Rules:

1. The call is open from the 1st of October 2014 to the 20th of October 2014

2. The competition is open to young people (18-35) from African Union Member States.

3. Only one essay is allowed per entrant.

4. Essays should be submitted in any of the AU languages i.e. English, French, Portuguese and Arabic

5. Photographs and other illustrations that enhance the article are welcome, although these must be original to the author and be copyright free.

6. Submission should be made to essays@empoweryouth.today

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Green Innovations Bootcamp for Ethiopians

Deadline: 26th of June 2014

Location: Climate Innovation Center (CIC) office, Kebena, behind 4kilo AAU Campus, Addis Ababa

INTRODUCTION

The Green Innovations Bootcamp will be held in Addis Ababa on July 8th-9th 2014. The goal of this two-day bootcamp is to promote green innovations & entrepreneurship, and build bridges between Finnish and Ethiopian startup communities & companies.

WHAT IT IS?

What environmental issue would you like to solve? How do you do it? Could your solution be developed into a business?

Most sustainable solutions come from the people who understand their surrounding problems and needs.  What simple solution would make your surroundings better for living?

Apply with your idea, meet up with other innovative minds, get feedback from professionals, build further business ideas and finally pitch your solution in public.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Social entrepreneurs, Students, techies, or whoever with an unchained mind and a vision to make the world a greener places to live.

PRIZE

The winners (2 individuals) will travel to Helsinki, Finland to participate in one of the biggest European startup events, SLUSH on November 18th & 19th 2014 with all travel expenses covered by Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Other prizes are also available, including free membership and coaching at iceaddis & CIC.

HOW TO APPLY?

Steps to apply:

Step 1: Fill the application form on Google doc – Click here

Step 2: Selected teams will be informed on July 3rd, 2014

For more details click here

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UNAOC support for Youth-led NGOs to attend the Youth Event at Bali, Indonesia

Deadline: 30 June 2014

The United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC) invites youth around the globe to participate in Youth Event to take place on 28 August 2014.

Topic: The Role of Youth in Promoting ‘Unity in Diversity’ through Education, Media, and Migration

Total 100 youth (60 international and 40 Indonesian) from diverse cultural and religious background will be selected to participate in the youth event. The participants will join political and corporate leaders, civil society activists, representatives’ of faith communities, journalists and others in the 6th Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilization to be held on 29 and 30 August 2014 in Bali, Indonesia.  Theme of the forum is Unity in Diversity: Celebrating Diversity for Common and Shared Values.The UNAOC covers airfare (international or domestic as per the participant), accommodation, food and local transportation (shuttle bus) of the youth participants.

Eligibility Criteria

§  Applicants must be in between 18 and 30 years of age at the time of youth event.

§  Applicants must be the members of non-government and non-for-profit youth-led organizations working for the benefit of youth, or have experience in youth activities.

§  Applicants must have good command over English language.

For more information, please visit Call for Applications

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Internship opportunities with YPARD (3-4 positions)

1. Call for an intern in Translations

Intern’s main responsibility

YPARD is searching for an intern to support YPARD’s expansion in three languages: English, French and Spanish.

The intern will be in charge of the translation of:

-Key governance documents

-YPARD information and communications products

-YPARD news articles

Profile

The candidate should have a background in translations. He/she should be fluent in French and/or in Spanish, and have a very good working knowledge of English.

Knowledge about agricultural related fields, natural resource management or similar fields OR related to youth issues and development will be a strong asset.

 

2. Call for an intern in Social Networking

Intern’s main responsibility

YPARD is searching for an intern to increase YPARD’s visibility on Social Networks: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ etc, disseminate information posted on the website and animate YPARD social networks profiles.

The intern would also be solicited to take part and animate discussions on YPARD’s Forum space.
Profile
The candidate should have a background in agricultural related fields, natural resource management or similar fields OR related to youth issues and development.
While expertise in Social Networks is not required, the candidate should demonstrate a keen interest in using them and a genuine understanding of it.
The candidate should show outstanding communication skills, a strong curiosity, and eagerness to animate discussions on issues related to agricultural and youth development.
He/she should be a Young Professional, member of YPARD (sign up now at www.ypard.net )
He/she should be fluent in English. Knowledge in French and/or in Spanish will be considered a strong asset.

 

3. Call for an intern in Web4Knowledge

Description

• He/she will be in charge of updating the information available on the YPARD website, including job opportunities and calls for papers, events and featured ARD news for Young Professionals. This includes finding the relevant information, manual information posting on the website and management of RSS pipes
• He/She will be in charge of the development of some key sections of the website: partners and stakeholders, external resources display and e-library, media and pictures spaces
• The intern might be solicited to translate existing communication products and YPARD news articles, when appropriate – if skills required are met

Profile

• The candidate should have a background in agricultural related fields, natural resource management or similar fields OR related to youth issues and development.
• While ICT skills are not required, the candidate should demonstrate a keen interest in Information research and dissemination, and in issues related to agricultural and youth development.
• The candidate is expected to show a strong curiosity, good written communication skills and an outstanding interest in contributing to information sharing for agriculture development.
• He/she should be a Young Professional, member of YPARD (sign up now at www.ypard.net)  
• He/she should be fluent in English. Knowledge in French and/or in Spanish will be considered a strong asset.

What will the candidate gain from this internship?

YPARD is eager to give a young professional the opportunity to gain in professional experience related to his/her background in Translation services, and getting expertise in the field of agriculture and international development.

Working with YPARD is also about getting a chance to increase one’s network within the ARD sector and expanding one’s knowledge in on-line resources and organizations in ARD.

Conditions of work

The candidate will work remotely in close collaboration with the YPARD Web and Communications Officer. It is therefore compulsory he/she has a good internet access and connection from his/her own place, Skype installed with headphone, and knowledge in using it.

The internship contract is for 10-15 hrs a week, for 6 months. Work load might be heavier by the end of each month (due to monthly reports)

This position is not remunerated.

Application

Interested candidates should send a CV and a motivation letter to info@ypard.net with the: [internship Translations application] in the subject line.

Application to be sent anytime from end March 2012; the successful candidate is expected to start ASAP in April 2012. 

 

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2012/2013 Africa-wide Young Professionals in Science Competition

Excellence in Science, Technology and Innovation for Agricultural and Rural
Development

Call for Abstracts

“Feeding 1 billion in Africa in a changing world”

This competition seeks to promote excellence and recognize and reward outstanding young professionals who are undertaking scientific and innovative research, technology and engineering related development activities and communicating the outputs (knowledge, technologies and approaches) to improve agricultural performance and socio-economic development in Africa.

Who can participate?
Young professionals (25-40 years) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), North Africa and the Diaspora1 are encouraged to participate. Individual and group entries will be accepted. The role and contribution of the young professional(s) must be clearly demonstrated in group submissions. Entries should demonstrate effective partnerships and combination of skills and/or engagement with peers and or rural communities.

What is the scope?
Any science, technology and innovation (ST&I) related research and development activity linked to the topic “Feeding 1 billion in Africa in a changing world” which has been undertaken within the last five years and shows measurable impact (potential or demonstrated) on agricultural development or rural livelihoods in Africa, is eligible.
Thematic areas include: 

(i) increasing agricultural productivity and food security; 

(ii)postharvest handling and value addition;

 (iii) environmental and eco-system sustainability
– climate change, water, soil and biodiversity; 

(iv) policy, economics and trade;

 (v) tertiary education, knowledge management and ICTs; and 

(vi) agricultural machinery/engineering
including processing and packaging. Communication strategies, methods and tools used to
disseminate results - scientific findings, technologies, or approaches must be included.

Guidelines:
Entrants are required to submit an extended abstract (1000 – 2000 words) that clearly details the ST&I project. The heading “Young Professionals in Science”, name and full contact details; official mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address must appear at the top of the first page. The abstract should include the title, brief background, objective(s), methodology/approach, results, discussion, conclusion, communication strategy, methods and tools used for sharing outputs and impact (potential or demonstrated).
Passport page showing proof of age and citizenship must be submitted with the entry.Extended abstract and passport page should be e-mailed to scicom2012@cta.int and copied to agsci_award@fara-africa.org. The deadline for submission is 14th May, 2012. 

Abstracts received after the deadline will not be considered. Criteria for evaluation include logic (10%), content (20%), communication (20%), impact (20%), innovation (15%) and originality (15%).

Evaluation (Stage I)
Abstracts received by May 14th, 2012 will be evaluated by a panel of experts including scientists, policy makers, farmers, gender and information and communication experts. The top 20 semi-finalists will be announced on 11th July, 2012. They will be sponsored to attend a scientific writing and communication workshop which will be held in conjunction with the 3rd RUFORUM biennial conference, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from 24-28th September, 2012. Semi-finalists will be required to submit full draft papers of not more than 4 – 6 pages by 13th August, 2012. Failure to submit draft papers in keeping with the competition guidelines by 13th August will result in immediate disqualification.

Evaluation (Stage II)
Final papers are to be submitted by 16th November 2012. All final papers will be evaluated by the expert panel to select the 10 top finalists who will compete for the cash awards, prizes and trophies during the Finals and Award Ceremony in June 2013. All semi-finalists who meet the 16th November deadline for submission of final papers will be invited to the 6th Africa Science Week and FARA General Assembly scheduled for June 2013, in Accra,Ghana.

Competition Organizers:
The Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (ACP-EU), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE), the International Foundation for Science (IFS), the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

1African nationals working or studying abroad and doing research on African issues linked to/and contributing to Africa’s development. Proof of citizenship is required.

For more information Click Here

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ILO video contest on Decent Work for Youth: instructions for participants

The ILO has launched a video contest for young people (from 18-29 years) on how the global jobs crisis is affecting them and their communities. Three winners will be offered an all expenses paid trip to Geneva, Switzerland to present their videos at the ‘Youth Employment Forum' which takes place at the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 23-25 May 2012.

Briefing note | 08 March 2012. Here's an opportunity to share with the world and with other young people like YOU, just how the global employment crisis has affected you, your friends, your family or community.

Your ideas, your story, your views

Use creativity and originality to describe (by video) how the youth employment crisis has affected you or your community. Are you having trouble transitioning into the job market? Have you lost your job or are you struggling to find one? Do you work under poor conditions? Share your thoughts and suggest an innovative idea that you think could help! If you have a story to tell, we're ready to watch and listen. Videos must be your original work.

Upload on your YouTube account

Upload your video on your own YouTube channel and send us the link at the following email address: youth@ilo.org.

If you don't have a YouTube account, please create one at http://www.youtube.com/create_account. Then simply send us the link to your video via email. Please don’t forget to provide your name, age and nationality. You must be between the ages of 18 and 29 years to be considered eligible for participation in the contest.

Your video

Videos should be no longer than two (2) minutes in length. They must not contain offensive or inappropriate language or content, and must comply with YouTube's general terms and conditions. Use your creativity, with or without words to share your thoughts. If you decide to use words which are not in one of the 3 official languages of the ILO (English, French, or Spanish), please add subtitles in one of the official languages. For simple instructions on how to create subtitles for YouTube videos, please see http://www.youtube.com/t/captions_about

Submissions must be in by 23:59 (GMT) on 10 April 2012. Entries submitted after this date will not be considered. Videos cannot be modified after the deadline. The results will be announced on 20 April 2012. The ILO will contact the winners after the announcement of the results to start arranging the trip to Geneva.

Legal matters

The participants grant the International Labour Organization (ILO), its partners and other UN agencies as well as other persons or entities authorized by the ILO, free of charge, an exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, perpetual, worldwide license to use the copyright, related rights or any other intellectual property rights that have arisen by law or will arise by law in the prepared and submitted videos.

The ILO is entitled to publish the videos, but has no obligation to do so. The ILO accepts no responsibility for technical or other disturbances that may impede the uploading of your video. By submitting your video, you accept these Entry Rules and Conditions. The ILO expressly reserves the right to exclude videos if participants breach these Entry Rules and Conditions or in case of a corresponding cause or suspicion.

Eligibility rules

• You must be between the ages of 18-29 years;
• Videos must be a maximum of two minutes in length;
• Videos which are not in one of the three official languages of the ILO (English, French or Spanish), must include subtitles in one of the ILO’s official languages. Videos without narrations (silent videos) are also accepted.
• You must send the link of your video via email toyouth@ilo.org and provide your name, age and nationality;
• Deadline for submission is 10 April 2012 at 23:59 (GMT).

Competition official site

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Support for Young African Women Leaders

Support for Young African Women Leaders: Moremi Initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa is pleased to announce its call for applications for the Moremi Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD) Fellows Program.The MILEAD Fellows Program is a one-year leadership development program designed to identify, develop and promote emerging young African Women leaders to attain and succeed in leadership in their community.MILEAD fellowship awards will be made to as many as 25 young women with exceptional qualities who have exhibited leadership potential in their community, organization and/or profession.

Objectives of the MILEAD Program:To foster a cadre of young African women leaders empowered to promote social justice and transform their communitiesTo enhance the capacity of women and girls to advocates and agents for advancing women’s rights and empowerment.
To build a human rights culture within countries.
To develop leadership capacity in women and girls using different mentoring approaches, such as role modeling, shadowing, peer review, internships and placements.
To equip women and girls to build intra- and inter-generational solidarity that cuts across borders.
To empower women and girls to facilitate and lead research projects in the areas of leadership.
To develop a knowledge base that takes into account different leadership perspectives.
To identify, strengthen and maintain critical partnerships that facilitate the development of close links and networks among alumni and between them and other leaders and organizationsacross the globe.
Fellowship Application Eligibility Criteria:
Be a young woman (between 19 and 25 years of age); Have a working knowledge of the English language.
Interest in community service.
Demonstrated high academic potential- with ability to participate in under-graduate level program.
Outstanding personal qualities, including openness to interpersonal and multicultural experiences.

How to Apply:
Completed MILEAD Application Form.
Resumé/Curriculum Vitae (C.V.)
Two letters of recommendation from professional or academic contacts.
Deadline: April 30.

For more information and application, Visit: Support for Young African Women Leaders

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North-South Centre of the Council of Europe seeks Grant Applications for Africa Europe Youth Cooperation Program

The Africa Europe Youth Cooperation Program is an initiative of North-South Centre of the Council of Europe that aims to raise awareness about issues of global interdependence and solidarity in Europe. This program also aims to promote cooperation and human contacts between Europe, the southern Mediterranean and Africa. One of the main objectives of the program is to provide training and capacity building for young people and youth organisations as well as to facilitate policy action on youth in development policies.

North-South Centre of the Council of Europe is currently inviting grant applications for Africa Europe Youth Cooperation Program. This grant allocation, or seed funding, is intended to promote Africa Europe youth exchanges, networking and political participation of nonstate actors. It aims at funding initiatives which provides the possibility for youth leaders, youth workers, experts and trainers to participate in Euro African Youth activities and youth exchanges projects.

Grant Provisions

The grants are of a maximum 2000 € per project/organisation.

Program Activities

• five sub-regional seminars on youth policies and African youth charter;
• Africa-Europe training courses for youth organisations, and training opportunities for African Diaspora in Europe;
• mapping exercise of Africa-Europe youth cooperation/work, leading to the creation of an Africa Europe Youth Cooperation on-line resource centre.
• providing seed funding for pilot youth NGO exchanges;
• the establishment of the Africa Europe Youth Platform and institutional follow up, monitoring and implementation with key youth actors from Africa and Europe, and representatives of implementing agencies and institutions of the Africa-Europe youth strategy;
• African University on Youth and Development.

General Conditions

• The application should be submitted by a youth organisation, network or nonstate actor at local, national, (sub)regional or international level that is active in promoting Africa Europe youth cooperation.
• Priority is given to projects presented by organisations coming from Africa and/or from the African Diaspora Living in Europe, and organisations/networks that submit projects which will allocate the grant support for African youth participants in the project and/or participation of African Diaspora in the project.
• The participants in the project benefiting from the grant should be under 35 years of age.
• Innovative projects with an experimental approach are encouraged to apply.
• Projects that respond to the thematic priorities, such as: youth rights; youth participation; climate change, food security and youth entrepreneurship would be priorities in this call.

Eligibility of Expenses

The following costs are eligible for the grant:

• International travel
• Local transport
• Board and lodging
• Visa expenses
• Fees for experts (i.e. trainers, facilitators, speakers, etc)

The organisation which receives a seed funding grant will be notified at the latest 4 weeks after submission of project description and will thereafter sign an Administrative Arrangement with the North-South Centre for the execution of the financial support. Two (2) months after the implementation of the project (end of eligible period) the beneficiary must submit a narrative (of the results and main outcomes of the project) and financial report of the project to the NSC.

Last date for submitting the applications is January 29, 2012.For more information Click here.

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