Polyglot
-
National Peace Corps Association > News > Polyglot > Win Awards for Your Ideas and Initiatives to Bring the World Home
Win Awards for Your Ideas and Initiatives to Bring the World Home
By Molly Mattessich on Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Photo credit: Megan Taddonio
“When I was in the Peace Corps, I had this great idea….”
What is your big idea? Now is your chance to share it with the Peace Corps community– and through one of the National Peace Corps Association’s competitions you could win cash, receive recognition in front of world leaders, get published in WorldView magazine, and win a free ticket to the 50th Anniversary Gala to be held this September.
As part of NPCA’s commitment to the “bringing the world home” goal of the Peace Corps, it is highlighting exemplary RPCVs and ideas that will make an impact on the world. These ideas come from the immersion experience in the developing world that is unique to Peace Corps volunteers, who learn what it takes at the ground level to improve people’s lives, transfer knowledge and understand cultural differences.
Here are the ways that you can win recognition and prizes for your accomplishments and ideas:
Global Community Project Competition
This year, NPCA created the Global Community Project Fund to support innovative and scalable projects addressing today’s pressing challenges led by members of the Peace Corps community. Projects may include microfinance programs, working with local communities to build and manage housing or clean water and sanitation, advocating for education of girls, coordinating media activities to generate awareness and action or other projects in the Peace Corps community and beyond.
The NPCA is accepting proposals for projects that improve livelihoods in ways that strengthen peace and enhance prosperity—the Peace Corps’ timeless two overarching goals. These proposals must:
- Have a direct and measurable benefit to a community of need
- Be replicable and scalable
- Involve a Peace Corps Community member
- Projects may be based in the United States or abroad
Prize: The most successful proposal will be awarded a $25,000 grant plus two tickets for the Promise of the Peace Corps Gala. Proposals are due June 3, 2011.
The Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service
This award is bestowed upon a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who continues to make a sustained and distinguished contribution to humanitarian causes at home or abroad or is an innovative social entrepreneur whose actions will bring about significant long-term change. The award was named to recognize the tremendous contributions of the first Peace Corps Director, Sargent Shriver, in the founding and development of the Peace Corps.
Prize: The winner will receive $1,000 plus paid travel expenses to Washington, DC to receive the prize at the Promise of the Peace Corps Gala, on September 24, 2011. Nominations due June 3, 2011.
The Peace Corps Community’s Enterprise Solutions to Poverty Essay Contest
NPCA is proud to partner with the SEVEN Fund to sponsor a global competition inviting the submission of essays that describe innovative ideas for fighting poverty and share their ideas on the following topic:
Solutions to poverty require innovative technology and communications, greater attention to women, increased job generation and the promotion of sustainable grassroots efforts. We invite authors to share their first person accounts of enterprise solutions to poverty and the topics above.
Prize: SEVEN and NPCA will award a grand prize of $5,000 to one essay. The best piece will be featured in WorldView magazine and the winning author(s) will be introduced at the September 24, 2011 “Conversations: The Future of the Peace Corps Global Leaders” panel. The author(s) will also receive a ticket to the “Promise of the Peace Corps” Gala in Washington, DC and will be publicly acknowledged in the program. The essay will be given top publicity on the National Peace Corps Association website and in NPCA and SEVEN Fund e-communications. Essays are due July 31, 2011.
We hope that you or someone you know will participate in one of these exciting competitions and receive acknowledgment for your next steps in changing the world.
I think with all the current information available we could have some Peace Corps programs for teaching in places without electricity how to make their own generators and/or solar panels to give them some light and the use of other electric appliances that could help in the areas where they live. Water pumps if necessary may be able to be run by the home made generators. At this point in time we have the knowledge to teach others who will use alternative power for their own good.
I would like very much to participate in this competition. I’ve written for World View as well as various other publications. Please send me details. When is the program in September?