UNESCO Prize For Girls’ And Women’s Education 2023

The governments of the UNESCO Member States and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in official collaboration with UNESCO are advised to nominate up to three people, institutions, or groups that have made remarkable achievements to support girls’ and women’s education.

The UNESCO Award for Girls’ and Women’s Education recognizes exceptional innovation and contributions made by people, institutions, and organizations to enhance the education of girls and women. It is the first award of this kind from UNESCO and will be special in that it will highlight innovative initiatives that enhance and advance the educational opportunities for women and girls and, as a result, the standard of their lives.

The International Jury, which was made up of five specialists in the field of girls’ and women’s education, made recommendations to the Director-General of UNESCO who then chose the two winners of the first award. In June 2016, two excellent initiatives from Indonesia and Zimbabwe received the Award for the first time at a formal event in Beijing, People’s Republic of China.

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education Requirements

 In addition to these three criteria, the project/programme should:

• Have already been running for at least two years
• Show evidence that it may be replicable, scalable and/or provide significant learning potential for initiatives in other contexts
• Contribute to one or more of the five priority action areas of the Prize:
• supporting girls/adolescent girls to transition from primary education to lower secondary education and to complete full basic education;
• supporting adolescent girls and young women to acquire literacy skills;
• supporting the creation of a gender-responsive and safe teaching-learning environment, free of school-related gender-based violence;
• engaging female and male teachers to develop gender-responsive teaching attitudes and practices and be change agents; or
• supporting adolescent girls and young women to acquire knowledge and skills for them to adequately transition from school to work and lead a fulfilling life.

Date, Procedure, Location For The UNESCO Award For Girls’ And Women’s Education Interview

The two Prize winners will be chosen by the Director-General of UNESCO based on the recommendations provided by the five-person international jury, which is independent and represents all regions of the world, for the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education. The Jury will evaluate the nominee’s project or program using the following standards:

1. Impact: The project/programme’s impact should be qualitatively and/or quantitatively measureable, and deliver tangible results relative to the invested resources. This can include demonstrable changes in: (1) attitudes, beliefs and practices toward gender equality; (2) girls’ educational participation, attendance, completion and learning outcomes; and/or (3) other relevant parameters to advance girls’ and women’s education.
2. Innovation: The project/programme is stimulating, and/or drawing on, innovative approaches advancing girls’ and women’s education. This includes new ways of working where “business as usual” has failed, and transformative “out-of-the-box” thinking and actions. The project/programme can demonstrate innovation in terms of: (1) the themes covered; (2) the methodology employed; (3) the channels used to create change for girls and women; and/or (4) other aspects.
3. Sustainability: The project/programme has taken steps, ideally from its design or implementation phases, to ensure it will have a lasting impact beyond the project lifecycle. This may include efforts to ensure the: (1) continuation of local action; (2) institutionalization of project components; and (3) generation of further initiatives as a result of the project/programme.

How to Apply