Ideation Workshop and the Final Ceremony for The Youth Innovation Challenge

Through The Youth Innovation Challenge, the UNDP’s Community Security and Arms Control Project (CSAC) has explored ways to engage young people in peace building processes. More than 130 young South Sudanese attended the presentation of the Youth Innovation Challenge for Peace in August. 124 ideas were submitted and 26 semi-finalist selected to participate in an Ideation Workshop which kicked off on Monday 5 December. During two intense days 55 participants presented their ideas to the judging committee. The Award Ceremony took place on Tuesday 6 December and these are the winners. 

The Youth Innovation Challenge for Peace was organized by UNDP’s Community Security and Arms Control Project to specifically recognize the strength of youth-led initiatives and the impact of home-grown ideas on societies emerging from conflict.

The participants received guidance and support for refining their ideas, structuring their proposals, and delivering effective presentations from UNDP’s Regional Innovation Advisor for Africa Mr. Mark Lepage and local open technology experts from Juba Hub (jHub).

During the lightning-round sessions each project had seven minutes to present their idea in whatever format they chose. Semi-finalists were judged based on a common set of criteria: clarity and presentation of their idea; creativity and originality of their idea; addresses the issue of engaging youth in peace; viability in the long term and financial sustainability; number of youth and general population who could benefit; implementable and realistic; scalable and replicable; and gender and social inclusion.

The overall winning proposal, taking home the top prize of US$10,000 was an individual submission from Mr. Kwaje called 64 Hands SACCO (savings and credit co-operative society), which combines social entrepreneurship with peacebuilding by providing South Sudanese small and medium enterprises access to a community-based source of financing. 64 Hands SACCO is designed to be propelled by youth drawn from all 64 tribes in South Sudan.

Kilkilu ana Comedy Extra placed second, with seed funding of US$6,000 to execute their vision of developing multi-lingual comedy performances to promote healing, understanding, and reconciliation. Their proposal focused on a pilot program to take place in IDP camps in and around Juba.

GOGIRLS-ICT Initiative won third place and will receive US$4,000 awarded to implement their proposed #TTOS-ICT project. The aim of the project is to engage, educate and empower women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) based fields through a philosophy of chain-based trainings. GOGIRLS-ICT Initiative focuses on mentoring and making meaningful social impact to address development challenges women and girls face in South Sudan which contribute to insecurity, like early and forced marriage, illiteracy, and unemployment.

The winning submissions will work closely with UNDP moving forward, with the ultimate aim of implementing their ideas on the ground in pilot programs.

1. To help participants to refine and reframe their innovative ideas;
2. To provide space for young minds to come together and collaboratively and present to the group and representative/s of the judging committee for final evaluation.
3. To select the three best ideas and award them in the award ceremony.

The Ideation workshop consisted in a two-day interactive journey and included games and exercises to enable a more conducive environment for innovative ideas to take shape. It was organized in a residential facility in the form of a hackathon. 

Introduction to Youth Innovation Challenge for Peace

Political conflict in South Sudan has contributed to numerous challenges that youth are facing today.  Youth in this young nation make up the majority of the population. More than seventy percent of the population are below the age of 30, and more than 50% are below the age of 18. In the country's most conflict-ridden areas, 70 percent of schools have been closed due to the fighting. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of young ones are facing an uncertain future.

The challenge, while taking into consideration the current context, is how youth can be supported to become agents of change for peace building.

Innovation challenges are defined as prized challenges that UNDP Country Offices organize to solicit innovative ideas and solutions to address development challenges which cannot be achieved through traditional solicitation processes.

UNDP advertised an innovation challenge for application from individuals and entities with out-of-the-box innovative ideas on engaging the youth in peace building and as agents of change in South Sudan.  We were looking for innovation ideas for youth developed by the youth.

Applicants were expected to engage in ideation and think of innovative ideas that can be tested on involving the youth in constructive ways in peace building. All we were looking for is ideas not funding proposals.

This innovation challenge process intended to increase awareness of South Sudanese regarding the use of social innovation processes for public good in collaboration with and guidance from UNDP.

Answers to Questions from Participants Introduction Workshop, 25 August 2016

Objectives:

1.     To generate ideas on engaging youth in peacebuilding

2.     To identify and award an innovative idea for youth engagement in South Sudan that is replicable, scalable and financially sustainable. 

Process:

Phase 1:

Interested individuals/ groups or organisations registered by sending an email to innovation.ss@undp.org, calling 0912581487 or passing by our office at UNDP Compound, Plot no. 21, Ministries Road, P.O Box 410, Juba – South Sudan, by 23 August 2016.

They were then invited for a social innovation workshop, which took place on 25 August 2016. During this workshop they had the opportunity to learn about innovation challenges and ask questions about the competition.

Phase 2:

They submitted their innovative ideas by 6 September 2016. A judging team was formed to evaluate the submitted entries. The team selected the best 26 ideas as preliminary ideas for innovation. 

Phase 3:

The selected 26 individuals/groups or organizations were mentored, and received technical guidance from UNDP. Each individual/team then developed and refined their ideas further by taking part in a one day social Ideation hackathon and working separately with the mentor/s.

Phase 4:

The pre-selected semi-finalist presented their ideas to the judging committee. An award ceremony was organized to announce the winner of the competition publicly. The three best ideas were awarded with the following prizes to implement their ideas. This prize is aimed at piloting the concept ideas presented.

1^st Prize:         USD 10,000

2^nd Prize:        USD 6,000

3^rd Prize:        USD 4,000

Phase 5:

In addition to the cash prizes for piloting, the winning teams will receive mentorship support by selected experts to implement their ideas through helping generate further funding or linking up with relevant projects where these ideas can be adopted.

Your people believe in you. Do you accept the challenge?