UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education, 2023

The UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education honors outstanding and innovative contributions made by individuals, institutions, and organizations to advance girls’ and women’s education. It is the first UNESCO Prize of this nature and is unique in showcasing successful projects that improve and promote the educational prospects of girls and women and in turn, the quality of their lives.

Funded by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Prize has conferred annually to two laureates and consists of an award of USD 50,000 each to help further their work in the area of girls and women’s education. The Director-General of UNESCO awarded the Prize for the first time in 2016.

Program Details

• Organizer: UNESCO.
• Area: Education.
• Number of Prizes: 2.
• Duration : One time.
• Eligible countries: Open to all Nationalities.

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education Award

Laureates will receive USD 50,000 each. Nominations can be made by Governments of UNESCO Member States via their Permanent Delegations to UNESCO and National Commissions for UNESCO, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in official partnership with UNESCO. Nominations must focus on an established project or program of the nominee specifically advancing girls’ and women’s education. Each permanent delegation or NGO can make up to three nominations for any edition of the Prize. Self-nominations are not accepted.

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education Selection Criteria

The two Prize laureates will be selected by UNESCO’s Director General on the basis of recommendations made by the independent International Jury of the UNESCO Prize Girls’ and Women’s Education, consisting of five experts from all geographical regions. The nominations will only be considered if the project/program:

• has a clear focus on advancing girls’ and women’s education, and the promotion of gender equality in and through education, and contributes to one or more of the five priority areas of the Prize:
  1. Participation: Supporting girls to transition from primary education to lower-secondary education and to complete full basic education
  2. Literacy: supporting adolescent girls and young women to acquire literacy skills
  3. Environment: Supporting the creation of a gender-responsive and safe teaching-learning environment
  4. Teachers: Engaging teachers to be change agents with gender-responsive teaching attitudes and practices.
  5. Skills: Supporting girls and women to acquire knowledge/skills for life and work
• has already been running for at least two years and
• shows evidence that it may be replicable, scalable, and/or provide significant learning potential for initiatives in another context.
• Once it has passed the basic eligibility requirements, the project/program of the nominee will be assessed by the Jury based on the following three criteria: Impact, Innovation, and Sustainability

Similar opportunities

1. One Young World Summit Leading Scholarships;
2. Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa & Middle East;
3. Japan and World Bank Scholarship for Developing Countries.

Application instructions

Nominations must be submitted in English or French via the online application platform (using the apply button below), accessible only to National Commissions for UNESCO/Permanent Delegations to UNESCO and NGOs in official partnership with UNESCO.

The deadline to submit nominations is May 19, 2023 (midnight, Paris time). For more details on the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education, please visit the official page. To be the first to see latest opportunities, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.