In partnership with On Think Tanks (OTT), Southern Voice is hosting a pitching competition for young think tankers from the Global South. The goal is to encourage cooperation between young policy analysts and researchers inside think tanks from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Young scholars have until May 31 to apply. People from the Global South who are under 35 and connected with academic institutions (both government and non-government) or research groups think tanks, or universities are eligible to apply.
About Southern voice
Southern Voice is an open platform for think tanks. It contributes to the global discussion on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The “knowledge asymmetry” and “participation deficit” that now exist in the development discussion are its ultimate goals. Researchers from the Global South produce, support, and disseminate evidence-based policy analyses to achieve this.
About Youth Think Tankers (YTTs)
Young Think Tankers (YTTs) are early-career researchers and policy professionals who work in think tanks and other research/policy organizations to support a range of societal issues. Young think tankers from the Global South seldom collaborate, according to a recent survey of Southern Voice’s YTT network. The percentage of respondents who had either worked with peers inside their continent only sometimes or never rose to 77%. The YTTs agreed that further collaboration would increase the effectiveness of their research and benefit the Global South as a whole, and they expressed strong enthusiasm for doing so.
About the pitching contest
Southern Voice, in partnership with On Think Tanks (OTT), is launching the call for
proposals for an exciting pitching contest for YTTs from the Global South in
September 2023. The key theme of this event is fostering collaboration among
young think tankers from the Global South. It aims to bring to the forefront
concrete proposals on how to enhance these types of partnerships and provide
them with an effective networking platform to ensure impact. Applications are invited
from young think tankers based in the Global South, with a deadline of 31st May
2023 (by 12 midnight GMT).
Selection Process
- Received applications will undergo an internal evaluation process and the top
proposals will be selected for the next phase. - The selected participants will be
informed by the end of June 2023. - The facilitators will organize a feedback session for the selected participants before the contest.The purpose of this session will be to prepare them for the final pitching round and also to provide useful feedback on their submitted proposals. Finally, at the pitching contest, the participants will make 3-minute pitches before a group of distinguished judges in a virtual event.
- The pitches should feature practical and applicable solutions to increase and improve collaboration among the young think tankers of the Global South.
- Three winners shall be selected from among the presented pitches and results will be announced in the SV newsletter and also via emails to the participants.
Application Process
Shortlisted participants will be invited to a virtual event in September where they will present their three-minute pitches. It should feature practical and applicable solutions to improve collaboration among young think tankers of the Global South.
Three winners will be selected and invited to showcase their ideas at the Southern Voice Conference to be held in October 2023 in Kenya. All travel expenses will be covered by Southern Voice.
Don’t miss this opportunity to network, share your ideas, and contribute to the future of the Global South! Apply today!
The purpose of this form is to register candidates for participation in the contest, which is to be held virtually in early September. Early-career research/policy professionals (35 years and younger) from the Global South are eligible to take part. Three winners will be selected and invited to showcase their ideas at the Southern Voice Conference to be held in October 2023 in Kenya. All travel expenses will be covered by Southern Voice,
Eligibility
Young think tankers must fulfill the following criteria:
● up to 35 years old
● affiliated with research organizations, think tanks, and policy wings of
government/legislatures, universities/other academic institutions, policy
network organizations or any such development research institutions of
government/non-government nature from the Global South (see list of
countries in Annex pages 5 to 10).
The challenge
- Imagine you are appointed as the UN Youth Envoy, who is also the presiding officer of the newly established UN Office for Youth. As a mandate of the resolution A/RES/76/306 passed by the General Assembly, your office has to promote meaningful, inclusive, and effective engagement of youth and youth-led and youth-focused organizations in the work of the United Nations.
- You are interested in including the voices of the youth from the Global South. However, you discover through a recent study by Southern Voice that there are currently not many avenues for collaboration available to the young think tankers from the Global South.
- This inspires you to think about how to enable these collaborations among Southern Young Think Tankers (YTTs). Hence, you will need to prepare a proposal to the Secretary General of the UN.
- Provide your unique and practical solution to improve the present state of
collaborations among young think tankers. - You can register your participation in the contest by filling out the form.
- Your proposal should be concise and compelling, of maximum 1200 words.
- You can take into consideration the following guiding questions while drafting your proposal:
1) How can collaboration among the YTTs of the Global South be transformative for the United Nations?
2) What needs to be done to increase and improve collaboration among YTTs across the Global South?
3) How can the UN Office for Youth support these efforts
Benefit
The winners
The three winners will get the opportunity to showcase their ideas at the Southern
Voice conference in November in Kenya. Southern Voice will fund their travel. They
will also be invited to become the steering group for improving networking
opportunities among early career policy professionals of the Global South to
promote the ideas suggested throughout the pitching contest.
Recognition for other shortlisted participants
Some shortlisted participants will also get the opportunity to publish their ideas with
support and guidance from the organizers.
Timeline
- Call for Applications 18th April 2023
- Submission of proposals by the candidate’s 31st May 2023
- Shortlisting of candidates by SV-OTT 30th June 2023
- Feedback session(s) July 2023 (TBC)
- Virtual pitching contest 7th September 2023 (TBC)
- Southern Voice Conference October 2023
To Apply
Before filling out the form, please read the detailed description carefully
To apply click on form
Inquiry
To view past participants’ testimony click the links Testimony 1, Testimony 2, Testimony 3
For more questions about the contest, please refer to the FAQ
To contact them email info@southernvoice.org
For more information visit YTT
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