D-Prize is a call to the world’s boldest entrepreneurs. Can you design a new social enterprise and solve one of the distribution challenges below? If selected, D-Prize will award you up to $20,000 to launch a pilot in Africa, India, or another other developing region. D-Prize will award 5-15 social entrepreneurs funding.
Eligibility Requirements:
- D-Prize is for anyone who can start a new social enterprise in the developing world and solve one of the D-Prize distribution problems.
- You must be committed, highly skilled, and ready to scale for the long term.
- D-Prize will fund some existing organizations, especially if your organization wants to pilot a new distribution-focused initiative.
- If you are over 12 months old, have already raised more than $100,000, and are not piloting a new distribution-focused initiative, D-Prize is unlikely to offer funding.
Challenges:
Girl Education:
OPTION 1: 14 million unintended teen pregnancies occur annually in sub-Saharan Africa, and girls are 5x more likely to be infected with HIV. A one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” class reduces these risks 28%. Can you teach “sugar daddy awareness” classes to girls in need?
OPTION 2: Fewer than 50% of girls in developing countries will finish high school because they cannot afford fees. A $250 scholarship can quickly change a young girl’s life. Can you create a fundraising website and raise money from developed-world donors?
Energy:
OPTION 1: 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa use kerosene lanterns to light their homes. Solar lamps are cheaper, cleaner, create cost savings, and increase household incomes by 30%. Can you sell solar lights to rural or slum-dwelling households in need?
OPTION 2: 3 billion people cook on traditional stoves, which cause chronic smoke exposure and are the cause of 4% percent of the global disease burden. A $13 modern stove provides cost savings and health benefits. Can you sell cook stoves and maintain long-term adoption rates?
Education:
OPTION 1: By 2030 Africa will need to fill an impossible 4.1 million teaching positions. “Flipped classrooms” and deskilled curriculum can be run by a facilitator, and reduce the need for expert teachers. Can you implement an effective curriculum to teach students in a resource-limited classroom?
OPTION 2: In sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of children remain illiterate even after five years of school. Testing and public scorecards increase accountability in poor education systems. Can you launch an organization that tests student and school performance, and makes the information publicly available?
Governance and Infrastructure
OPTION 1: Public services in developing countries are rife with corruption. Public reporting and scorecards creates real accountability. Can you improve transparency and report data on the public service performance?
OPTION 2: World Bank infrastructure projects see a high social ROI, yet only 19% of roads in sub-Saharan Africa are paved. New road projects often cuts corners and may not even be finished. Can you create a simple road-construction mapping and monitoring system?
Global Health:
OPTION 1: For $20, a child can be vaccinated against a range of infectious disease for life. Yet millions of vaccines are wasted. Can you create a simple management system that tracks vaccine supplies?
OPTION 2: Obstetric fistula, cervical cancer, club foot, and cataracts all have effective treatments. Yet identifying patients among large populations is difficult. Can you create a way to identify patients for early treatment?
OPTION 3: Misoprostol is a $3 drug that could prevent 100,000 maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhaging. Can you develop an organization to train birth attendants to administer misoprostol?
Custom:
Propose your own challenge! If you know of another proven intervention in need of greater distribution, we would like to hear it. The only requirements are to choose an already proven poverty solution that is in need of distribution to more people in the developing world.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the 2014 D-Prize