DATA PROTECTION 

The information You submit through the Service will be held, used, and disclosed to others. When You submit Applicant Information to the Service, You are providing information to each of: Andrew Carnegie Foundation (the sponsor of the Program), Ashoka (the administrator of the Program as well as other programs), Ashoka (the host of the Service), which will process your information in accordance with their respective privacy notices and the joint purposes of administering, evaluating, publicizing, and delivering the Challenge.    

Challenge Partners process your data on the following lawful bases:

• Contract (for administering your application and grant management),
• Legitimate interests (for program evaluation, publicity, and communications),
• Consent (for marketing or where special category data is processed),
• Legal obligation (where required by law).

By agreeing to these Terms, you acknowledge that your application and related information will be shared with the Challenge Partners and their representatives, including contracted organizations supporting scoring and grant management, capacity building partners, program evaluators and assessors, for the purposes of assessing your application, managing the grant process, providing capacity building support, and evaluating the program.

Please take note that as part of your participation in the Challenge the following information will be made publicly available to other Challenge Applicants and the general audience, including:

Your username (which may be your full name if You elected to use it to create your username);

• Profile photo;
• Country
• City and state;
• Initiative title;
• Cover image for your initiative;
• Description of the initiative;
• Sector, theme or focus of the initiative;
• Stage of the initiative;
• School information;
• Project Category;
• Presentation video (if included)  

As You move forward in the Challenge and navigate in the Challenge Platform, You may also generate information that will become visible to others on the platform, including:

• Participation in other communities at changemakers.com that You are a member of;
• Video, photographs and audio recordings of your participation in Challenge events.

Exclusively in the review phase, in order to evaluate your Entry, the Challenge Jury for all review phases and the peers joining community review activities will have access to all the information described above.

You may also be required to provide further private details on your initiative or organization, as well as Bank account information, in case You are one of the Challenge awardees. None of this information will ever be disclosed by the Challenge Partners, with the exception of the third-party service provider that will execute the disbursement or if required to comply with the law. You are responsible for the accuracy of all the information You provide and the Challenge Partners are not liable for any errors made by You in this regard.

For additional information about the collection, use and disclosure of Applicant Information, please see the policies, disclosures, and term of use of the organizations who receive, use and share Applicant Information:

• Ashoka’s Changemakers’ Privacy Policy at  https://www.changemakers.com/privacy-policy and Terms of Use at https://www.changemakers.com/terms-service 

Each of the Challenge Partners may share your information with its third-party service providers exclusively for purposes related to the Challenge You applied to, or as otherwise provided in the Challenge Partners’ posted privacy policy.  

Ashoka may contact you to send you communications related to the Challenge (including future year’s programs or related alumni events), Ashoka initiatives similar to the Program and other related content where permitted under applicable law, including on the basis of Ashoka’s legitimate interests or your marketing preferences where consent is required. If you explicitly choose so, [The Partner], or its third-party service providers acting on its behalf, may also contact You, after the Challenge, to notify You of future opportunities offered by [The Partner]. Each Challenge Partner implements appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the Applicant Information within its own organization. Neither Partner is responsible for the acts or omissions of any other third party.

Applicant Information will be held and processed by the Challenge Partners during the duration of the Program and may be retained by the Challenge Partners for a period of up to 7 years or as required under applicable laws. Applicants can request access to, modification of, or deletion of any of their Applicant Information, to the extent permissible under applicable data protection laws, by contacting Ashoka via email at [email protected]. 

AGE REQUIREMENTS AND PARENT/GUARDIAN CONSENT 

The Program is open to individuals who are between the ages of 5 - 20 when applying, and not older than 20 by the end of Entry period, January 31, 2027 at 11:59PM. This age requirement supersedes any contradictory age requirement set forth in the Ashoka Terms of Service.

In Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, no Applicant, 18 and under, shall submit an Entry until their parent or legal guardian has consented to the submission of their Entry and reviewed these Terms, and in the United States, no Applicant, 13 and under, shall submit an Entry until their parent or legal guardian has consented to the submission of their Entry and reviewed these Terms and Ashoka’s Changemakers’ Privacy Policy at  https://www.changemakers.com/privacy-policy . By submitting an Entry, You affirmatively state that your parent or guardian has provided such consent and that You have provided an accurate email address for the Program Partners to contact your parent or guardian to inform them of your Entry and provide additional information about the Program and the Terms and Conditions which You have agreed to as part of your Entry into the Program. 

PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS AND AGREEMENTS  

Participants and their respective Entries must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Age: Applicants must be over 20 and under by the time of the application deadline.    
• Geography: Initiatives must be designed and delivered in either United States, Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa.
• Language: Entries must be submitted in English.
• Youth Leadership: The applicant must submit a youth-led idea and must apply with an adult if under 13 years of age in the United States, or under 18 if in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa.
• Employment relationship: Applicants cannot be employees of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation or Ashoka (or employees’ children and grandchildren).  
• Applicants selected as winners will be required to participate in the Summit convening in July 2027 (A total of 40 challenge winners across all four countries will be invited to attend).
• Seed Grant Awardees and Final Winners will be required to report on grant spending and impact (for more details read the “CHALLENGE GRANT” section below).

By submitting an Entry, the Applicant agrees to be bound by these Terms and by the decisions of the Challenge Partners, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Challenge. Prizes are awarded in the sole discretion of the Challenge Partners and without warranty of any kind from the Challenge Partners or any of their affiliated companies, express or implied, without limitation, except where this would be contrary to applicable law or regulation.  

To the extent permitted by law, each Applicant agrees to hold the Challenge Partners, their subsidiaries, parents, affiliates, agents, directors, officers, employees, representatives and assigns harmless from any injury, damage, expense, or loss caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Challenge or use or acceptance of any prize awarded, except to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of a Challenge Partner. The Challenge Partners are not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing or posting of any materials related to the Challenge, in the administration of the Challenge or in any announcement relating to the Challenge.  

The Challenge Partners may, acting reasonably, disqualify any Applicant whom they believe has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Challenge, including by cheating, deception or other unfair practices or annoys, abuses, threatens or harasses any other Applicants, Challenge Partners, or their employees, agents or associated parties. 

CHALLENGE PRIZE 

The value of each awardee’s prize will then depend on its various merits and needs and will be determined at the sole discretion of the Challenge Jury. Each of the winners of the Challenge will receive an investment, which may be up to $10,000 as a prize as described below:

• Early Entry Seed Grant (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa): All participants with eligible entries submitted by October 10, 2026 will be considered for an Early Entry Civic Seed Grant. Twenty-five (25) participants per country will be selected by the Challenge Partners to receive a $50 Civic Seed Grant.
• Early Entry Seed Grant (United States): All participants with eligible entries submitted by November 17, 2026 will be considered for an Early Entry Civic Seed Grant. Up to Six Hundred (600) participants will be selected by the Challenge Partners to receive a $100 Civic Seed Grant.
• Participants will also have the opportunity to join support sessions to solicit feedback from Ashoka on how to strengthen their applications before the final Challenge deadline of January 31, 2027.
• Grand Prize Winners (Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa): In each country, 10 (Ten) Winners will receive $250 USD Civic Promise Award, Ten (10) finalists from each country, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa will receive $1,000 USD Civic Impact Award , and two (2) finalists from each country will receive $5,000 USD Civic Leadership Award. Ten (10) winners will receive an invitation to participate in the Carnegie Challenge for Civic Leadership Gathering (which is all-expense-paid trip for each winner, and if the winner is under 18 years of age, one (1) parent or legal guardian in July 2027 in Kenya).
• Finalists and Grand Prize Winners (United States): 12 (Twelve) Winners will receive $500 USD Civic Promise Award, Ten (10) finalists will receive $1,000 USD Civic Impact Award, and two (2) finalists will receive $10,000 USD. Ten (10) winners will receive an invitation to participate in the Carnegie Challenge for Civic Leadership Gathering (which is all-expense-paid trip for each winner, and if the winner is under 18 years of age, one (1) parent or legal guardian in the United States in July 2027). 

In the event that circumstances necessitate canceling the in-person event, referred to above as the Carnegie Challenge for Civic Leadership (as determined in the sole discretion of Ashoka), a virtual event will be held and no all-expense paid trip will be provided to the winners.

The awardees(s) agree(s) upon receipt of the prize to use the funds exclusively to support the furtherance of the awarded Entry and the purpose of the initiative as outlined in the Entry only. The awardee(s) agree(s) to regular and appropriate monitoring and evaluations by the Challenge Partners, as well as to provide progress reports as may be required by the Challenge Partners. 
 

Seed Grant Awardees and Grand Prize Winners agree to commit to the Conditions of Association and Reporting Requirements of this Challenge, which may include:

• Signing a funding agreement with the Partners
• Complete progress updates and impact reporting (to be confirmed with each winner) and expenditure updates.
• Publicity and communications requirements, such as acknowledgment in annual report, accounts and publicity.

The Challenge Partners expressly reserve the right to make any changes to the Awards details described above in their sole and absolute discretion.

The receipt of the prizes may be subject to different taxes, such as income tax, social security, and indirect taxes, depending on the winner’s country of tax residence and the country where the Challenge is implemented. It is the winner’s responsibility to comply with all applicable laws, including tax laws. In this respect, the prizes granted as gross amount, and any applicable tax will be due and payable by the winner, except if the applicable law explicitly provides for the liability of the donor. 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 

Applicants who submit an Entry that contains the Applicant’s intellectual property retain their individual rights to their work and any derivative works.

By submitting an Entry, You certify and warrant that the Entry is original to You or that You have obtained all rights, permissions, consents, and licenses necessary to submit the Entry to the Program and to grant the rights set out in these Terms. You agree not to submit any Entry that (1) infringes any third-party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; or (2) otherwise violates applicable law.  

By submitting copyrighted material, You certify that You have obtained the necessary permissions from the copyright owner in writing.  You assume responsibility for any associated penalties and costs incurred as a result of a copyright violation related to this material.

Nothing in these Terms shall be considered or is intended to confer or transfer to a party any ownership right or interest in any intellectual property (such as trademark, design, symbol, etc.) of another party.  

COMMUNICATIONS RIGHTS  

These Terms grant the Challenge Partners the right to share your Entry information (including without limitation your name, likeness, and the name and details of your project) that was submitted for public view with journalists, via social media, on Challenge Partners’ website, or in Challenge Partners’ publications. The Challenge Partners may use, reproduce, distribute, transcribe, translate, promote, broadcast, exhibit, publicly display material You have provided or made available for public use in your Entry.  

JURISDICTION  

These Terms are subject to change at any time in the sole discretion of the Challenge Partners; any change will be published on https://www.changemakers.com/en/carnegie-challenge-civic-leadership .   The terms and administration of the Program will be governed by the laws of United States and the relevant court of New York shall have jurisdiction.

NO RECOURSE TO JUDICIAL OR OTHER PROCEDURES: To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in regard to the judgment of the Awards Jury are hereby excluded, and each Applicant expressly waives any and all such rights. 

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