GDN Next Horizons Essay Contest 2014
in partnership with the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
on
The Future of Development Assistance
The world has changed radically since the emergence of official
development assistance and since the aid agency was invented. How should
aid change? Aid is by no means the only source of financing for
development in today’s world. Yet for the poorest countries, aid is a
vital source of government finance. Aid helps fund critical social
services and may catalyze other sources of development funding, such as
private investment. In the lead up to 2015, when many significant
financing commitments for development will be made, there is a need to
be smart about where and how aid is deployed, based on an understanding
of how aid can be most valuable in a given country.
In order to help bring attention to the need for scholarship
and fresh ideas in this area, and to encourage broad participation, the Global Development Network (GDN) in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announces an international essay contest. The contest invites essays on the future of development assistance.
The
primary objective of the contest is to invite fresh thinking related to
the future of aid that can inform the ongoing discourse on development
assistance and to make this thinking available to policymakers and key
stakeholders.
Up to 20 winning entries will be chosen, and receive $20,000 each. An
independent panel will make the final selectionsof the best and most
potentially consequential submissions, based on criteria defined. Select
winning ideas may be promoted by GDN and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
The competition is open in three languages. Guidelines are currently
posted in English. The French and Spanish versions of the guidelines
will be available as of 17 July, 2014.
Essays in English, French and Spanish can be submitted as of now on
this platform. However, dedicated platforms for submissions in French
and Spanish will also be available as of 17 July, 2014. The closing date
for submisison is 15 September, 2014 (14:00 hrs GMT).
| ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA | |||
- Age: Entry is open to all adult individuals over 21 years of age.
- Staff: Current employees, contractors and agents of the Global Development Network and, as primary funder for this round, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, together with members of their immediate families (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and those living in their same household are ineligible to participate in the contest.
- Countries: Residents of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar and Sudan are ineligible to apply. This program is void in these countries and where prohibited or restricted by law. The verification of the citizenship and residency of short listed and qualifying authors will be verified wherein authors will be requested to submit proof of residency and citizenship. The identification proof will be treated as strictly confidential by GDN and will be used for purposes of the contest only.
- Restricted individuals: Individuals included on the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List, available at http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx) maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control are not eligible to participate in the contest.
- Reviewers and Translators: Reviewers, selection committee members and translators for this contest are not eligible to participate.