IREX is excited to announce the launch of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant application, a unique funding opportunity for Fellowship Alumni! Through a partnership with D-Prize, a non-profit organization that works to distribute and scale proven technologies to benefit people in extreme poverty, up to two Fellowship Alumni will be selected to receive grants of up to $20,000 USD each to pilot a new initiative to catalyze change and distribute a proven poverty intervention wherever extreme poverty exists.
Requirements
- The Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant is open to all Fellowship Alumni from all tracks, sectors, and levels of expertise who want to launch or scale a social enterprise in communities throughout Africa.
- The Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant is intended to support Fellowship Alumni to deliver a proven poverty intervention at scale. The grant is not intended to support prototyping a promising new solution.
Mandela Washington Fellowship Catalyst Grant Challenges*
Agriculture
- Quality Inputs Challenge: Can you provide smallholder farmers with high-quality inputs and training proven to increase their harvests?
Education
- Teaching at the Right Level Challenge: Can you teach basic reading and mathematics skills to primary school students in a resource-limited classroom?
Energy
- Solar Lamp Challenge: Can you sell solar lights to rural or slum-dwelling households in need?
Health Access Challenges
- Child Immunization Challenge: Can you direct 500 caregivers (parents or other guardians) to bring their infants to health facilities for routine immunizations that otherwise would not occur?
Livelihoods
- Poverty Graduation Challenge: Can you provide business coaching, capital, and social support to lift people out of ultra-poverty?
- Reading Glasses Challenge: Can you distribute non-prescription reading/ working glasses to those in need?
Public Services
- Government Transparency Challenge: Can you improve transparency and report data on the public service performance?
- Road Safety Challenge: Can you reduce road fatalities by mobilizing the public with a proven public transportation safety campaign?
Application Timeline:
Timeline
- Round 1 Application Deadline: November 18, 2024
- Round 1 Decision Notifications and Round 2 Application Invitations: December 2024
- Round 2: Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni applicants invited to Round 2 will be required to submit a plan a few weeks after the invitation.
- Final Round: Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni applicants’ invitation to the Final Round -Virtual interview by the selection committee.
- Winning ventures will be announced in March 2025.
Deadline: November 18, 2024
