Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World 2013

UN Women Singapore and MasterCard are once again joining hands to launch Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World in 2013.

As with Project Inspire 2012, this year-long digital and social media driven initiative aims to inspire young people across the world to take action to empower disadvantaged women and girls in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East or Africa.

A US$25,000 grant will be awarded to the winning project.

How to Enter

If you are passionate about making a positive and lasting impact towards the empowerment of women, we want to hear from YOU!

Please ensure that your submission meets the following criteria:

1. The Project

Project Inspire presents 18-35 year olds with a 5-minute platform to pitch their inspired idea to the world and win a US$25,000 grant. The grant must show creativity and sustainable impact on the lives of women and girls across Asia, Pacific, the Middle East or Africa through access to business and livelihood skills. To qualify for the US$25,000 grant, the project must meet the following requirements:

The program must empower disadvantaged women and girls with business and livelihood skills in order to attain a sustained livelihood

1. Must be an existing women’s empowerment program.

2. Beneficiaries must be women or girls in Asia/Pacific, Middle East or Africa.

3. The winner(s) of this competition will have to commence the fieldwork by 1 December 2013.

4. The project is designed to be implemented with a US$25,000 budget.

2. The Entry

The proposed project must be an existing initiative that the participant/s is/are looking to expand.

1. The proposed project must not propagate any political view or religious doctrine.

2. Entries must be submitted in the form of either a (maximum) 5-minute video or a (maximum) 2-page A4-sized proposal.

3. Video entries are to be uploaded on any public video-sharing sites. Links to the videos must be provided on the submission form.

Each proposal should address the following questions:

1. What is your inspirational idea?

2. How will your project change the lives of women and girls in the short and long term?

3. Tell us how many women and/or girls will benefit directly and indirectly from your project.

4. How will you/your team carry out the project?

5. Please include a timeline for the project, indicating key phases relevant to your project i.e., ground preparation, pilot phase, training period, evaluation etc.

6. Tell us the activities you have planned to help reach your goal.

7. How will you spend the US$25,000 grant to carry out the project?

8. Within your proposal, include a detailed budget plan on how the US$25,000 grant will be utilized. The budget should clearly indicate the programme expenses, operational costs, manpower costs, and other spending relevant to your project.

9. How will you measure the success of the project?

Submissions, either video or written, must be made in English.

Submissions should be accompanied by information on the existing program, biographies of the team members and any supporting materials (e.g. website, social media channels, media clippings, past awards).

All participants are required to submit a tweet or Facebook post to bring awareness to Project Inspire. Participants who have a Facebook account are also required to ‘like’ Project Inspire’s official Facebook page.

Deadline for submissions is 30 June 2013 via www.5minutestochangetheworld.org.

3. The Participant(s)

This contest is open to both males and females.

Participants may submit entries as an individual or a team of up to three members.

Each participant, either as an individual or as a team member, must be between 18 and 35 years old.

Team members listed in the entry must be qualified to represent the team at the final round, if selected.

Only one representative from each team, whose name is listed in the original entry form, is able to represent the team at the final round held in Singapore in the last week of August, 2013.

The representative must be available to attend the entire period and program of the final round.

4. Judging Process

Up to 10 shortlisted projects will be announced by 31 July 2013 (subject to changes) and finalists will be notified via email. A valid email address is required for submission.

Up to 10 representatives from the 10 shortlisted entries will be invited to present a full project plan to a panel of judges in Singapore by 31 August 2013. Finalists’ trip to Singapore is sponsored by MasterCard.

The public can vote for their favourite project from among the finalists through www.5minutestochangetheworld.org. Public voting will be open in August 2013 as notified on www.5minutestochangetheworld.org.

The judging panel will evaluate the creativity, efficacy, impact and sustainability each proposal demonstrates. The judging panel’s scores will determine the winner(s).

Please note final judging score for each shortlisted project will not be revealed.

Winner(s) will be announced at the final presentation in Singapore.

The panel of judges reserves the right to seek more information pertaining to the entry.

All decisions made by the panel of judges are final.

Awards may be withdrawn if there is non-disclosure or misrepresentation of information, or non-compliance with any stipulated rules.

5. The Prize

A US$25,000 grant will be awarded to the winning proposal to implement the winning project.

Each winner is encouraged to start the fieldwork as soon as they receive the fund, by 1 December 2013.

Each winner is obligated to document the progress of the project via social media platforms and regular reports to UN Women Singapore.

Each winner must submit a full action plan to implement the winning project (for UN Women Singapore’s approval) within 30 days after the announcement.

Each winner is accountable to use the funds appropriately as discussed and agreed by UN Women Singapore.

Each winner will be required to take out and maintain such insurance coverage as UN Women Singapore reasonably requires in connection with the implementation of the Project, including personal accident, health, travel and life insurance.

6. Rules and Regulations

Participants represent and warrant that any and/or all information submitted as part of the proposal, is not a result of plagiarism, and does not infringe any intellectual property right (including but not limited to, patent, design, copyright or trademark) or any other rights of any third party.

Participants acknowledge and agree as a condition of entry to allow use of each participant’s name, any videos, photographs, images, text, content and other information that it provides for purposes of publicity and education.

The organizer reserves the right to use all submitted entries for the purpose of the competition’s publicity.

The organizer has the sole discretion and right to alter any contest rules at any time, including without limitation the right to extend the contest deadline at any time or disqualify entries that are deemed offensive.

Winners must not infringe local laws and regulations during the project implementation.

MasterCard and UN Women Singapore reserve right to withdraw award if subsequent implementation of winning entry contravenes any law or regulation.

This contest is not open to the staff of MasterCard and UN Women.

To find out more about Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World , please visit www.5minutestochangetheworld.org

For enquiries pertaining to submissions, send your email to contact@5minutestochangetheworld.org.