Call for Proposals : Central Asia – Be bold. Be creative. Get Support.

• June 13, 2019 • 0 Comments

The Youth for Water and Climate #YWC Platform is looking for youth-led projects! Deadline to submit: 30 June 2019.

This call for proposals has been designed to identify, encourage and support youth engagement related to water management in Central Asia region. It is made possible thanks to the International Secretariat for Water, the German Kazakh University and the contribution of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and will enable youth from Central Asia region to access financial support to help implement innovative and creative water and climate projects.

The ECO-Talk project aims at promoting innovation and business models in the environmental sphere, supporting the development of modern soft and hard skillsets through cutting-age communication and learning practices. The teams of the selected projects will receive a grant of Maximum 3000 US$ to pursue the development of their project. A mentoring program will be established, aiming at accompanying the teams towards the project’s preparation and implementation. The teams will use a combination of virtual discussions and live meeting towards the implementation of the pilot. The travel costs for the live incubator meeting will be covered by the organizers. Mentors from the environment, economic and business sphere will provide guidance to the group.

Winners will have the opportunity to:

  1. Take part of the Eco-Talk Incubator where experts will help you to strengthen your project. 
  2. Receive a grant to support your project implementation.

Only projects from the 6 following countries will be accepted: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan. 

How to apply

To apply, fill out the project template.

The call is open until 30 June 2019. All project submissions received in that period will be admissible.

If you have trouble submitting your project online, please send your project file using the project template to: ywcplatform@gmail.com

Prize & Incentives

The selected projects and leaders will receive financial support of up to 3000 USD each and their participation to the Eco-Talk Incubator (mandatory for projects leaders). These projects will be featured on the YWC platform where they will be able to interact with other supporters, including technical experts, that can help them scale up their projects. In addition, every selected project will be featured in YWC outreach activities in the following months.

Activities and timeline

A- Submission deadline: 30 June 2019.

B- Announcement of the results to the project leaders: 5th July 2019.

Incubators activities

Eco-Talk – Live incubator in Almaty, Kazakhstan: July 2019

Webinars and supporting activities for business development: July to December 2019

View the full details of the Incubator activities here.

Selection criteria

A team of reviewers will review the projects proposals. The review will use a scoring grid based on the Quality Assurance framework & criteria of the platform. These include, among others:

  • Relevance: Does the project contribute to the achievements of the 2030 development and climate agendas? How relevant is the project to water management and climate change issues in the chosen community? How practical is the implementation of the project? Does the project appear meaningful in terms of issues to be addressed and could it achieve real change?
  • Youth inclusion: Is youth participation included across all aspects of the project?
  • Social impact: How has/ will the project support social needs at the local level (e.g. stronger community cohesion, transfer of technology or knowledge)?
  • Innovation: Does the project have ‘thinking outside the box’ elements? Is the project multidisciplinary in nature?
  • Local partnership and multi-stakeholder integration: Does the project consider stakeholders and actors involvement?
  • Finance: Is the project financially feasible?
  • Sustainability: How sustainable is the project and its ability for future adaptation? Is it possible to upscale or replicate the project?
  • Implementation: Does the implementation plan appear credible and adapted to the ambitions set out for the project?

 

Download the project template here.

Contact the YWC Secretariat at ywcplatform@gmail.com 

 

This call for proposals is made possible thanks to the International Secretariat for Water, the German Kazakh University and the contribution of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation