Registration and Submission Requirements
Proposal Attributes
We encourage the teams when developing the projects to take in consideration the following attributes:
Significance: proposals should be specific enough to capture the complexities and nuances of the idea while, at the same time, revealing how the idea will impact a large number of people and/or businesses and countries.
Originality and creativity: teams should present a solution that is original and creative; submissions should present ideas that are not fully captured by the international development research and literature.
Feasibility: teams should include a brief “roadmap to adoption” that explains the feasibility of the solution and addresses any obvious challenges and roadblocks; all submissions should be actionable and measurable; they should have a theoretical grounding but also be practical--rather than just theoretical. Teams are encouraged to tie their submissions to a particular country or a group of countries in Africa.
Clarity: teams should present their idea in a clear and concise manner.
Registration
Eligibility
Youth between the ages 18 and 35 from around the world are invited to participate.
Team Composition and Registration
This is a team initiative. Teams must consist of two to five members and may be formed across different schools, institutions, companies, countries, nationalities, etc. Please register your teams on our website prior to submitting your proposal. You will then receive access to resources and research materials that will help you develop your idea. In addition, you will receive all relevant updates and information on the competition and upcoming events.
Deadline
The proposals will be reviewed and offered feedback on a rolling first come, first served basis, starting June 1 2020. If you need our support in identifying new team members and finalizing your ideas, please contact us and send the summary of your idea (petkoski@wharton.upenn.edu) by June 20, 2020.
The final deadline for submission is September 15, 2020 but the sooner you submit your idea the better.
We encourage proposals that address four broad issues
Start-ups
Expanding the activities of new and existing startups to address COVID-19 challenges in Africa.
2. Community-Based Projects
Incorporating the experience and capacity used in addressing critical health care issues in poor communities in US metropolitan areas to address the challenges raised by COVID-19 in Africa
3. Technology and Big Data
Utilization of technology, AI, blockchain, and big data in the search for innovative responses to the COVID-19.
4. Policy Making
Innovations in improving government and other policy making entities’ responses to the COVID-19.
Submission Requirements
Full Proposal
If you have a developed idea and team, you can submit a ‘Full Proposal’, which will ask for:
Title and team name
Short abstract (1000 characters)
Explanation of problem and context (2000 characters)
Explanation of your solution (5000 characters)
Why is it relevant?
What is new about it?
By whom, what, how, and when would it be implemented?
What is the expected impact?
Are there similar examples? If so, where and how? Please elaborate. (1000 characters)
What are challenges you might face and how can they be addressed? (1000 characters)
Each team will be allowed to submit charts/graphs/pictures via a link to a Google Data Studio or Tableau Public page. This is, however, NOT a requirement for the application.
Summary Note
If you have an idea but you need our assistance in identifying additional team member(s), you can submit a ‘Summary Note’ , which will ask for:
1000 word DRAFT capturing your preliminary idea and is sufficiently clear to generate interest from potential, new team member(s).
Profile of team members you are looking for.
Overall
General formatting guidelines:
All appropriate information must be cited.
The submission may be in English or French..
Submissions that do not meet the format requirements listed above will not be reviewed.
For further details, please see this document.