Guidelines and Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

This global online challenge is open to all types of organizations (social organizations, private companies, and public entities) worldwide. We will consider all entries that:

• Reflect the theme of the challenge:“Preventing Violence Against Women” Entries must include systemic change solutions that help to prevent sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional abuse of women, and promote the creation of awareness in order to prevent gender-based violence.
• Are either at idea stage or undergoing the implementation stage.
• Have submitted a complete entry form before the deadline.
• Are submitted in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese.

Assessment Criteria

The winners of this Changemakers collaborative competition will be those entries that best meet the following criteria:

Innovation: This is the knock-out test. The project must describe a systemic or disruptive innovation that prevents and fights against gender-based violence. The innovation should be a unique model of change, demonstrating a substantial difference from other initiatives in the field and ready for large-scale expansion. The solutions we seek include but are not limited to:

• Providing a holistic view of violence, and understanding it as a problem that is present in all societies regardless of social class and purchasing power.
• Shedding light on the acts of violence that are accepted by the entire society and encouraging the filing of more complaints.
• Providing training and education to women in order to increase their personal freedom.
• Providing men, women, and children with the knowledge to stop current violence and prevent future abuses.
• Calling attention to the need to implement State policies and legislation against gender-based violence.
• Applying monitoring and efficiency assessment resources.

Many of these solutions are likely to come from women's associations, educational groups, and local grassroots organizations with a potential for growth and scale. All of them must be totally creative at their core.

Social Impact: It is important that the innovation offers a systemic solution that contributes to the prevention of all abuse against women and promotes awareness within the entire society. The initiative must provide evidence of its impact on the target population – women as well as men and children. Some innovations will have proven success at a small scale, while others will have benefited millions of people. Regardless of the level of demonstrated impact, it is important that the solution has a potential application at the global level. This will be judged by considering the solution's potential to be scalable and replicable, in addition to the entrant's ability to make a clear strategic plan to achieve greater goals.

Sustainability:For an innovation to be truly effective it must have a long-term plan for securing financial backing and community support. Entries should describe not only how they are currently financing their work, but also how they plan to finance their work in the future. They should also demonstrate that they have strong partnerships and support networks to address an ongoing need, and to aid in scalability and the maintenance of a clear financial strategy.

Competition Deadlines, Procedures, and Rules

Online submissions to this challenge will be accepted until March 15th 2010 at 6pm U.S. EST. At any time before this deadline, competition participants will be able to review and edit their entries based on the feedback received in the Changemakers online discussion. Participation in the discussion enhances an entrant’s prospects in the competition and provides the community and the judges an opportunity to understand the entrant’s project more completely.

There are four main stages in the competition:

Entry Stage, January 13-March 15, 2010: Entries can be submitted until 6pm U.S. EST on March 15th 2010 and throughout this stage anyone can vote and participate in the online discussion with the participants.

Voting, January 13-March 17, 2010: The Changemakers community will vote online to select the 10 finalists for the judges' review. The finalists will be announced on March 18th.

Judges Evaluation, March 22 - April 8, 2010: Experts in the field will assess the 15 finalists and decide on the three winning initiatives.

Panel of Judges, April 15, 2010: The panel of judges will interview selected entrants to provide advice and feedback on their projects.

Winners announced, April 16, 2010: The judges will select three winning entrants. One grand prizewinner will receive USD $5000 and will be invited to the 2010 Campus of Excellence event in Spain. Two runners up will also receive invitations to the event.

Participation in the competition provides the opportunity to receive feedback on your blueprint from fellow entrants, Changemakers staff, judges, and the Changemakers community. Showcasing your model will help potential donors to achieve a clearer idea about the sector and thus be able to take decisions that improve the impact of their investments.

Disclaimer - Compliance with Legal Restrictions

Ashoka complies with all the laws and regulations of the United States, including the Office of Foreign Assets Control, export controls, and laws against money laundering. All grants will be awarded subject to compliance with such laws. Ashoka will not make any grant if it finds that to do so would be unlawful. This may prohibit awards in certain countries and/or to certain individuals or entities. All those who receive the grants shall be in compliance with said laws. No recipient will take any action that would cause Ashoka to violate any laws. Ashoka will not make any grant to a company involved in the promotion of tobacco use.