Deadline: October 15th 2023 | EcoHeroes Initiative For Secondary Schools Students In Africa
| Title: | EcoHeroes Initiative For Secondary Schools Students In Africa |
| Organisation: | EcoHeroes Initiative |
| Fund/Benefit: | $400 |
| Deadline: | October 15th 2023 |
| Eligible Countries: | All African Nations |
A UNEP-accredited non-governmental organisation, Green Growth Africa Sustainability Network (#GreenGrowthAfrica), formerly known as the International Support Network for African Development, is dedicated to innovation, development, and implementation of “greened” socio-economic development solutions to address Africa’s development challenges. Dedicated to the realisation of a socially inclusive economic growth and development path that is low-carbon, climate-resilient, and resource-efficient; maintains and enhances biodiversity and ecosystems, Green Growth Africa runs an international network of professionals, researchers, and students from various fields. The “EcoHeroes Initiative” is being implemented by #GreenGrowthAfrica to provide African youths with the action competences they need to address environmental and social issues in their communities. This initiative aims to do this by helping them acquire and apply the knowledge and skills they learn in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and the arts classes. The EcoHeroes Initiative aims to create a new generation of environmentally conscious workers who are adept at coming up with answers to modern-day problems.
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The EcoHeroes Initiative (previously known as the Environmental Education Programme, EEP) uses a “co-creation and learners’-centered approach” for effective student participation, ownership, and leadership in the entire scope and lifecycle of the programme in order to provide practical and practice-oriented environmental education to African youth. The EcoHeroes Initiative makes use of the youth’s energy, innovation, technological know-how, fortitude, and exploratory spirit to identify environmental issues in their area, conceptualise and apply STEM concepts learned in school, and then put into practise creative solutions that address both environmental and socioeconomic needs in Africa, particularly in their local communities.
Students in secondary schools in Africa are invited to apply to the 2023/2024 EcoHeroes Initiatives to identify environmental issues in their neighbourhoods and create solutions that are focused on sustainable development in these three thematic pillars: sustainable energy, sustainable transportation, and climate change.
Benefits
Each chosen group will get
- Technical advisers from both local and international expertise will serve as mentors and advisors, helping to improve and aid in the implementation of the project.
- Critical thinking, practical project implementation, online webinar presentation, and training to build capacity.
- Training in education for sustainable development for coordinators of teachers.
- Schools that have never benefited from the EcoHeroes Initiative, formerly known as the Environmental Education Programme (EEP), will receive funding of up to 200 USD for the implementation of each project concept.
- Participation medal for the team of students
- Certificate of appreciation for teachers who coordinate lessons and letter of recommendation for teachers who excel.
- Possibility of discussing project results with other secondary school students around the world.
- Take advantage of #GreenGrowthAfrica’s and its partners’ widespread exposure and media coverage.
- The top three “EcoHeroes” Clubs with the most inventive and significant initiatives will receive additional financial prizes after the projects are finished. These prizes will help the clubs continue to operate after the projects sponsored by the EcoHeroes Initiative are finished.
Selection Standards
- Student teams must be from secondary schools in one of the African nations, and EcoHeroes Clubs and teams from earlier cohorts of the EcoHeroes Initiative are both welcome to apply.
- A team made up of at least ten (10) students and a coordinating teacher will represent each secondary school. Girls should make up 50% of the team, with same-sex (boys-only/girls-only) schools exempt from this rule. Nevertheless, depending on the scope of their project, more kids and teachers may participate.
- Each team is required to discover any environmental requirements or difficulties in their immediate neighbourhoods, then brainstorm and come up with potential solutions.
- Only project concepts that fall within the three subject categories of sustainable energy, sustainable transportation, and climate change will be taken into consideration. The concepts for the projects must also demonstrate and allow for creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, communication, and other green skills.
- The project must be finished within 3 to 4 months.
Application Methodology:
- Before submitting your application, we advise you to read our blog, which features the noteworthy and diverse award-winning projects of previous EcoHeroes Initiative cohorts around Africa.
- Teams that meet the requirements and are eager to apply are welcome to do so.
- Provide a statement of support from the school’s administration stating that they are in favour of the school’s team participating in the initiative and that the school is dedicated to maintaining and growing the “EcoHeroes” club after the project financed by the EcoHeroes Initiative has been completed. The letter should also mention whether or not the school has access to electricity, internet, a projector, and a camera for high-quality, succinct video recordings.
- Create a pitch deck for the project concept developed by your team and upload it with your application.
- Create a work plan explaining the strategies for the project concept that your team will submit as part of your submission.
NOTE
- Each student team will be obliged to share the results of their project through a local outreach, which might be to other students in their schools, individuals in their local communities, among others, after the projects have been chosen and completed with the assistance of an Expert Advisor. Additionally, #GreenGrowthAfrica will host international webinars for knowledge exchange where students may present the results of their projects, new skills, and lessons discovered.
- Each student team will become a part of the school-based environmental club “EcoHeroes club” after the projects and mentorship are over. This club will be able to accept additional students to continue the project and engage in long-term education for sustainability. The clubs must be run and maintained by the schools. Green Growth Africa will offer technical assistance, monthly/quarterly meetings, as well as share potential prospects with the clubs, even though it won’t be in charge of running and funding the clubs.
- Each school will submit a work plan detailing the activities the EcoHeroes club will engage in following the end of the project supported by the EcoHeroes Initiative 2023/2024. The plan should encompass club activities for at least three months. These should be low-cost or free initiatives, such as polls, discussions, outreach programmes in the community, school sanitation initiatives, tree-planting campaigns, and recycling campaigns, among others. Although there is no set format for the work plan of tasks, it should be succinct and unambiguous. The work schedule should include describe how the club will be run following the completion of the EcoHeroes 2023–2024 initiatives.
For more information, visit EcoHeroes Initiative.
