UN Competition for Projects in Democracy and the Opportunity to Travel to Belgium
Applicant criteria
- Both
Opportunity criteria
Opportunity description
Are you a civic tech innovator? Are you interested in democracy? Don’t miss the opportunity to show your ongoing or recent project to influential technologists, lawmakers and fellow activists in Brussels, the capital of Europe.
The CivicTech4Democracy in cooperation with the European Union invites activists across the world to participate in the competition with their projects using digital tools to bring democracy closer to people. Democracy is a core value of the European Union, and digital technologies have brought so much change to how citizens engage in political action. Through this competition, the Union wants to celebrate the dynamism and creativity of activists.
Participation rules:
[1] Your video presents an ongoing civic tech initiative or an already completed civic tech project that took place after 2010
[2] Your video answers the following questions:
- What was the problem?
- What was your goal?
- How did your civic tech solution help to address it?
- How did people benefit from your project?
[3] Your video’s soundtrack or captions/subtitles are either in English, Spanish or French
[4] Your video’s format and sound quality is adequate
Selection:
Three winning projects will be designated via online votes on the website, as people will be able to watch the videos and vote for their favorite projects. Only votes on the website will be tallied, and “likes” on social media will not be taken into account. Three more winners will be picked by the jury composed of prominent civic tech and democracy experts. Projects will be assessed on criteria such us: effectiveness, usefulness, originality, sustainability etc. and the jury’s decision is final which can’t be appealed.
Prizes:
All six winners will be invited to Belgium to receive their EU Award, present their projects on a global stage, and meet foremost European Civic Tech experts, democracy specialists, and international donors. The Awards Ceremony will take place during a special event in Brussels, on September 14, 2018, on the eve of the International Day of Democracy. The six winning projects will also be presented in detail in the first EU Civic Tech handbook, and will be awarded a participation certificate issued by the European Union.
About the CivicTech4Democracy:
The CivicTech4Democracy global online competition is an initiative designed and managed by the “Supporting Democracy” technical assistance project. ‘‘Supporting Democracy’’ is a funded technical assistance program working with EU Delegations to strengthen the role of local civil society in advocating and monitoring democratic accountability. The core team is based in Brussels and works with a large international pool of thematic experts and a backstopping team.
About the European Union:
The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political union between 28 European countries that together cover much of the continent. The EU remains focused on making its governing institutions more transparent and democratic. Decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen.