Bangkok--12 Mar--Singapore National
Digitally-led CSR initiative inspires youth changemakers to empower women and girls in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa through entrepreneurship
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2012, the Singapore National Committee for UN Women, MasterCard and academic partner INSEAD, are once again joining hands to launch Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World.
As with last year’s iteration, this year-long digital and social media driven initiative aims to inspire young people across the world to take action to empower disadvantaged women and girls in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East or Africa.
Project Inspire presents 18-35 year olds with a 5-minute platform to pitch their inspired idea to the world and win a US$25,000 grant. The grant must show creativity and sustainable impact in the lives of women and girls across Asia, Pacific, the Middle East or Africa. To qualify for the USD 25,000 Women’s Empowerment grant, the project must meet the following requirements:
- The program must enable disadvantaged women and girls to attain sustained livelihood through entrepreneurship.
- Beneficiaries must be women or girls in Asia/Pacific, Middle East or Africa
- Must be an existing women’s empowerment program
- Submissions can take form as 5-minute pitch video or 1-page written proposal
- Participants can be men or women from anywhere in the world
Georgette Tan, Group Head, Communications, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, said, “We are delighted to launch the second edition of Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World. Last year we created this project hoping to inspire a handful of young people. The response from creative and dynamic youth from around the world was impressive. This year we hope to spark action from even more youth who truly want to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.”
Trina Liang-Lin, President, Singapore National Committee for UN Women, said, “The economic empowerment of women is key towards achieving gender equality. It is an area which the Singapore National Committee for UN Women has placed great importance in the past decade. With the focus of Project Inspire 2012 on social entrepreneurship, we look forward to innovative ideas from young changemakers around the globe that could amplify our work and mission in the region.”
Last year, over 450 video and written submissions were received from teams representing over 50 countries. During the Grand Finals, 10 shortlisted finalists presented to a live judging panel of business leaders, social entrepreneurship experts and established NGO officers for a final pitch for the grand prize grant. The competition was eventually won by Paolo “Bam” Benigno Aquino IV, last year’s great winner with The Hapinoy Program, which is the program working to help women micro-entrepreneurs in Southern Luzon, Philippines.
Additionally, MasterCard also released its annual MasterCard Index of Women’s Advancement (MIWA) today, February 29, 2012. If you are keen on leveraging results from the Index, please contact the team at
[email protected].