The Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) is inviting applications for the second edition of its flagship programme, the ‘Beyond School Community (BSC) Challenge’ for secondary school students in the country.
The BSC Challenge is a national community development and entrepreneurship programme designed specifically to engage young Nigerians in public and private secondary schools to develop the critical entrepreneurial skills needed to make impacts in their communities. The programme seeks to inspire students to improve their communities through innovative entrepreneurial actions.
Participating students would be required to answer the question: ‘If you could solve one problem in your community, what would it be?’
This forms the bedrock for the challenge as the students, guided by advisors and supported by their schools, take an overreaching idea and a hands-on entrepreneurial approach that empowers people to collectively tackle community development-oriented challenges.
At the maiden edition of BSC in 2017, the following schools emerged as first, second and third place winners respectively: New Frontiers Change Agents, Gateway Excel College, Benue State; Team Go Green, Baptist Boys High School, Ogun State; and Team VIM from Chrisdom Schools, Kaduna State.
“Nigeria needs to invest more in her human capital development so that we can create sustainable solutions to our economic challenges,” Segun Fatudimu, President of MWFAAN, said during the flag-off of the second edition of the scholarship scheme in Lagos.
“We want them (the participating students) to identify problems within their communities and propose solutions that have both social and economic impact.
“We need to foster collaboration among our future leaders and empower them to develop skills that will transform their lives and our nation.”
According to Fatudimu, 10 finalist teams will receive invitation to the pitch competition and youth summit in Lagos, while the top three winning teams will share a cash prize of N400,000, and will also receive mentoring and educational grants.
There will also be a Teacher Prize to be given to the most outstanding and committed teacher amongst the competing schools.
The competition is open to secondary school students in rural and areas throughout the country within the age range of 13 to 18.
To apply, interested students should download the application form online at www.mwfaan.org.ng/bsc and follow the instructions to the letter.
Participating students are expected to identify one significant problem in a specific community and propose an innovative solution with social and economic impacts and then build a team comprising three students in the age range of 13 to 18 and select a teacher as an Advisor.
Furthermore, the participants would then take YALI Learn course online and upload at least a member’s certificate as a team with the help of the advising teacher. It is imperative that the proposed solution significantly addresses at least one relevant target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Interested students are to apply online application and upload the certificates of the YALI learn courses before the deadline, Sunday March 25, 2018.
All applications received will be duly scrutinized and judged by an independent panel judges and each participating team will receive feedback regarding the outcome of their applications.
More information on how to apply can be found on the challenge website, mwfaan.org.ng. Emails can also be sent to [email protected] for enquiries and uploading of application forms.