By Khalifa Hemed
Published May 12, 2023
Continuing secondary school students are invited to apply for support from a new global fund that has just been launched.
The initiative of International Baccalaureate (IB), the Global Youth Action Fund is an award open to all secondary school students who have a project or idea they believe will make an impact in their community.
The Global Youth Action Fund, an award open to all secondary school students who have a project or idea they believe will make an impact in their community. IB says it aims to support students who have created and built projects and initiatives that have a social impact on their community. The award is open to students or student groups.
The grant funding is expected to shine a light on the impressive work young people are doing around the globe, both at IB World Schools and beyond.
“We want to create and offer opportunities which foster independent learning to all young people around the world. We know young people are concerned about the local and global challenges affecting their future, and we want to enable them to transfer that concern to agency and action to make the world a better place”, says Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of IB that says it reaches out to more than two million students in more than 5,600 schools across 159 countries.
Every project submitted must be aimed to support one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and will be reviewed on the following selection criteria:
1). Impact – Does the project demonstrate a clear positive impact on one of the SDG goals? Preferences will be given to projects with the most impact.
2). Stage of project – What stage of development is the project in (idea, in-development, scaling, established)? Preference will be given to projects that are further along in the development process and have the possibility of scaling.
3). Collaboration – Does the project involve or have the capacity to involve other students? Preference will be given to projects that get more young people involved whenever possible.
4). School support – Applications will require one teacher recommendation form. Preferences will be given to students who have a teacher recommendation that demonstrates their support of the project in addition to their confidence in the students involved.
Finalists will receive mentorship and online training on social entrepreneurship along with up to US$3,000 grant funding depending on project needs, to transform or develop further their powerful idea.
Applications for the Global Youth Action Fund are open from May 9 to June 20, 2023. Detailed information on the award are available at ibo.org website.
