On International Women’s Day, UNESCO launches the call for nominations for the 2021 UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education. The Prize awards US$ 50,000 annually to two laureates making outstanding efforts in favour of girls’ and women’s education.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in a context where girls and women have been disproportionately impacted by nationwide school closures, ensuring that girls and women continue learning must be a priority. UNESCO estimates that over 11 million girls and young women may not return to school following the impact of the pandemic. This is in addition to the 128 million girls who were already out of school before the pandemic.
The Prize is more significant in these challenging times than ever before. Highlighting innovations that can help us foster an equal future is key to responding to global challenges around girls’ and women’s education. Read about the nomination process below.
Details
Governments of UNESCO Member States and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in official partnership with UNESCO are now invited to nominate up to three individuals, institutions or organizations who have made strong, innovative contributions in favour of girls’ and women’s education.
The two Prize laureates will be selected by UNESCO’s Director‐General on the basis of recommendations made by the independent International Jury of the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education, consisting of five experts from all geographical regions.
The nominations will only be considered if the project/program:
has a clear focus on advancing girls’ and women’s education, and the promotion of gender equality in and through education, and contributes to one or more of the five priority areas of the Prize:
Participation: Supporting girls to transition from primary education to lower‐secondary education and to complete full basic education
2. Literacy: Supporting adolescent girls and young women to acquire literacy skills
3. Environment: Supporting the creation of a gender‐responsive and safe teaching‐learning environment
4. Teachers: Engaging teachers to be change agents with gender‐responsive teaching attitudes and practices
5. Skills: Supporting girls and women to acquire knowledge/skills for life and work has already been running for at least two years; and shows evidence that it may be replicable, scalable, and/or provide significant learning potential for initiatives in other contexts
Once it has passed the basic eligibility requirements, the project/program of the candidate will be assessed by the Jury based on the following three criteria:
Selection Process
Nominations must be submitted online in English or French by the Permanent Delegation to UNESCO of the concerned Member State, or by an NGO in official partnership with UNESCO.
Permanent Delegations to UNESCO may access the online submissions platform through their official UNESCO account using the following link: http://unesco.org/gwe.
NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO can request access to the platform via the following link: http://www.unesco.org/gwe‐ngo.
It is possible for National Commissions for UNESCO to access and complete the online form. However, any nomination by a National Commission will need to be submitted by the Permanent Delegation to UNESCO of the respective Member State. An automatic notification message confirming the submission will be sent to the official e‐mail address of the Delegation.
If a National Commission or Permanent Delegation to UNESCO wishes that the candidate complete the online nomination form directly, UNESCO can create an account for each candidate. A request should be sent to [email protected] by the National Commission or Permanent Delegation before 20 May 2021. After completion of the online form by the candidate, the concerned National Commission and Permanent Delegation will receive a notification e‐mail and can review the nomination before the Permanent Delegation submits it to UNESCO.
Attention should be paid to presenting the project/program of the candidate in a clear and structured way, following the instructions given in the form, and respecting the indicated word limit. All supporting material (e.g. action plans, publications, videos) must be transmitted electronically through the online system.
Nominations must be submitted via the online platform by the concerned Permanent Delegations to UNESCO or NGOs by midnight of 26 May 2021(UTC+1, Paris time). Kindly note that each Permanent Delegation or NGO may not submit more than three nominations. Any additional nominations will not be taken into consideration.
For any question regarding the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education or the submission process, please contact the Secretariat of the Prize at the Section of Education for Inclusion and Gender Equality at UNESCO: Tel: +33 (0) 1 45 68 11 34 / 10 08; e‐mail: [email protected].
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How to Apply
Nominations are meant to be by filling the Nomination Form. The form is for information purposes only. The nomination form must be completed online in English or French via a platform accessible through the UNESCO website using the button below. Submissions using the paper version will not be accepted.
Begin your Registration
Have you read the instructions above carefully? Great. Now, below is the registration button, and the official page link for more info. Good luck.