Application Deadline: 19 August, 2013

The 2013 ONE Africa Award—a $100,000 USD prize—celebrates these innovations and progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the world’s blueprint to a better future, ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.

The ONE Africa Award aims to recognize, reward, and advance the exceptional work of organizations, founded by Africans and based in Africa, dedicated to helping Africa achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The $100,000 award will bring recognition to innovative African efforts to fight poverty and will incentivize more of such efforts (The award may be split into two prizes in order to award two smaller organizations better able to absorb a smaller monetary award.)

Award recipients can be exceptional organizations and other groups demonstrating commitment and success in assisting Africans in meeting one or more of the MDGs through innovative advocacy based programs.

– Qualified recipients may be engaged in direct services to achieve any of the MDGs but must demonstrate a strong advocacy component integral to the delivery and success of their programs.

– Qualified recipients may be advocacy/pressure groups and think tanks engaged in governance activities such as the monitoring of flows of resources and/or holding governments accountable to commitments to MDG attainment.

2013 Award Criteria

The 2013 ONE AFRICA Award will award best practices by an African organization or individual addressing social development issues through innovative advocacy in promotion of MDG attainment.

Organizations will be graded in 5 categories and will be awarded between 1-10 points in each of these categories:

1. Extent to which the organization has designed and implemented an innovative advocacy program that employs new approaches to impact in a given sector(s).

2. Ability to demonstrate and communicate specific indicators of progress and impact linking work to a given sector(s) in a clear results-oriented framework.
3. Demonstration of the ability to replicate efforts of the organization to take intervention to scale.

4. Demonstration of strong internal and constituency accountability mechanisms (i.e. community leadership consultations and involvement in programs to demonstrate the interventions are relevant to the majority of the poor in the target community and empowers them in a sustainable way) along with transparency of operations.

5. Extent to which the organization has employed creative partnerships to achieve its goal(s) and ensure coordination with other development actors. These partnerships may include public and/or private sector players.

BONUS: For the 2013 prize, organizations that demonstrate specific projects, initiatives and plans to accelerate the attainment of the MDGs in their country in these last 1000 days of the MDGs will receive up to 5 bonus points in the scoring of their applications. The successful organizations will clearly demonstrate results already obtained through these efforts.

The eligible organizations must be founded by citizens of the African Union’s member states and be registered and based in a member state of the African Union. Evidence of success in previous projects as well as funding support for previous project activities must also be included.

Shortlisted applications will undergo a due diligence process in September.

ONE will informally review the award winner’s project activities and progress a year following the receipt of the award.

Visit the One Africa Award Official Webpage