UN Environment is calling for applications for the Young Champions of the Earth Prize 2019. The deadline for this opportunity is the 31st of March 2019. Winners will receive US$ 15,000 of seed funding, US$ 9,000 in funding for communication of their work and many more benefits like attendance in a high-level UN meeting and mentoring services.
To be eligible for the applicants must be Young Champions of the Earth Prize 2019 between the ages of 18 and 30 on 31 December 2019. People who work at certain UN Agencies and their families are excluded from the process. Only one application per person per year is possible. If you have already applied in 2018, you can apply again this year.
The Young Champions of the Earth Prize 2019 recognizes young people who want to change the world for the better and have innovative and inclusive ideas for doing so. In total, seven winners will be chosen, one from Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, West Asia, and two from Asia and the Pacific.
To apply for the Young Champions of the Earth Prize 2019, you have to fill out an online form on the homepage. Here, you have to give information about your big idea and your biography. Furthermore, you need to address the sustainability of your idea (environmental, social and financial) and how you would spend the grant money on the implementation of idea. You also need to explain, how you already tried to implement your idea and why you think you are the right person to do so. Finally, you need to give contact details of someone who is willing to give you and your project a recommendation.
Your application will be judged based on the following criteria:
When you apply for the Young Champions of the Earth Prize 2019, make sure that you thoroughly answer all the questions in the application form and leave no important information out.
Sustainability on all levels is of core importance for the UN Environment. Make sure you demonstrate that you thought about all dimensions of your big idea and not only about the environmental one. Inclusivity is also of core importance.
Refer back to the Sustainable Development Goals in your application, as you know that the UN agencies endorse these strongly.
As the reference you give is very important, chose wisely. Chose someone who is really on board with your idea, but can also be considered as a good judge. Someone in a high position who barely knows you, but has a big name, might not be a good choice. Similarly, your colleague who loves the idea but is on a similar level as you might not be either. Chose someone who can judge you and your work as a senior, but is also passionate about it.
For further information please see this link.
Best of luck with your application.
Do not miss this article about how to write a winning proposal for Youth Projects:
Eva is based in Germany and has worked for nearly a decade with NGOs on the grassroots level in Nepal in the field of capacity development and promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. Before that, she worked in South America and Europe with different organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in geography and her field of research was sustainability and inclusion in development projects.
On-farm tree planting for households and institutions in Nepal
Objective
The objective of this project is to increase local fuel wood supply to ensure future supply to households and institutions of Darchula in Nepal.
Project Description
The project will be implemented in Darchula in Nepal. County with a goal of demonstrating climate change mitigation measures using on-farm tree planting in establishing woodlots for households’ and institutions. Most of over 2,000 households of Ex-Forest squatters settled by the government in a section of the expansive and fragile ecosystem of Solio ranch and the public schools established to serve these Ex-Forest squatters in Solio ranch predominantly source firewood and charcoal from the api Mountains.
Himilya Mountains are one of Nepal’s major water catchment areas, surrounded for the most part by intensive, small-scale agriculture. Habitat on the lower slopes has been severely damaged in recent years. Forest destruction and degradation is the major threat to the site, through agricultural encroachment, poaching of valuable trees and forest grazing of livestock.
The Nepal Forestry Master Plan indicates that wood resources need to be increased in farms while most rural people indicate that they would plant trees in their farms. This is in response to studies by Foresty on wood-fuel demand in developing countries which have concluded that for many years to come, a large proportion of people will continue relying on biomass energy on account of its availability, renewability, and cost.
Increasing supply of fuelwood from on-farm sources in the project area will be a major contribution towards bringing sustainable supply of fuelwood in tandem with demand of fuelwood among households and institutions in the project area. This is important considering that on-farm wood resources are 90% available for energy while only 35% of plantation wood can be accessed for energy. The increased tree cover and on-farm fuel-wood availability in land that is increasingly being opened up for cultivation and settlement at the expense of natural vegetative cover will greatly reduce widespread deforestation, de-vegetation, land degradation and destruction of the Aberdare water catchment forest.
Activities
The following project activities will be implemented in the next 12 months:
• Facilitate establishment and refurbishment of fuelwood production and selling centers
• Provide BDS services to fuelwood production entrepreneurs to make their businesses profitable and sustainable
• Provide technical support to entrepreneurs planting trees at buyer’s place
• Train households and institutions on production, management and utilization of trees for fuelwood production
• Conduct Awareness campaigns directed at target groups to inform them about benefits and availability of fuelwood production
• Advocate and lobby for formulation and/or enforcement of fuelwood policies & regulations.
Project Outputs
• At least 30 entrepreneurs (30% of which are women) have improved technical and management skills for production and marketing of tree seedlings.
• 2,000 households have planted trees for fuelwood production, with a total area of 600 hectares.
• 3 Fuelwood production and selling centers established and each center producing and selling at least 10,000 seedlings per year
• 5 Fuelwood producers & Marketers (30% of which are women) trained on management of trees for fuelwood production, marketing and business management knowledge and skills.
• 2 million fast maturing trees raised and planted for energy production on small scale farm holdings and institutions in the project areas.
Women’s education at rural villages at outskirts of chennai. Funds required 9841877447