Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) announces  call for applications for second edition of its flagship programme

By Golok Nanmwa, Jos

The Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN), has announced the call for applications for the second edition of it’s flagship programme, the Beyond School Community (BSC) Challenge for secondary school students in Nigeria.

Our Correspondent gathered that the The BSC Challenge is a national community development and entrepreneurship program designed specifically to engage young Nigerians in secondary schools (both private and public) to develop the critical entrepreneurial skills they need to make impacts in their communities. The program seeks to inspire students to improve their communities through innovative entrepreneurial actions.

The BSC Challenge provides a platform for teams of outstanding secondary school students to create community development projects that capitalize on people’s ideas and talents as the pillar for making social and economic impacts.

The participating students would critically think in order 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.

The BSC maiden edition which took place in 2017 had the following schools emerge 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.

The Association announces that the second edition of the challenge would incorporate a Youth Leadership Summit to increase awareness, impact and create a larger platform for successful teams.

Speaking at the flag off of the 2nd edition in Lagos, the President of MWFAAN, Segun Fatudimu said as the country with the highest population in Africa, “Nigeria needs to invest more in her human capital development so that we can create sustainable solutions to our economic challenges.’’

According to Fatudimu, ‘‘The question this Challenge poses to our young ones is: If you could solve one problem in your community, what would it be?’ We want them 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, ” he says.

The President further explained that ten Finalist teams will receive invitation to the Pitch competition and Youth Summit in Lagos, Nigeria. In addition, the top three winning teams will receive/share exciting cash prize of N400,000, mentoring and educational grants. There would 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, as well as urban areas within the age range of 13-18 throughout the country. To apply, interested students should download the application form online at www.mwfaan.org.ng/bsc and follow the instructions to the letter, identify one significant problem in a specific community and propose an innovative solution with social and economic impacts and then build a team comprising of 3 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 targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The association further asks the students to submit an online application and upload the certificates of the YALI learn courses before the deadline; Sunday, 25th March, 2018

All applications received will be duly scrutinized and judged by an independent panel judges and each participating team will receive a feedback regarding the outcome of their applications/ (and successful finalists would be mailed accordingly)

The association says more information on how to apply, can be found on the challenge website, mwfaan.org.ng . or mail [email protected] for enquiries and uploading of Application Forms.

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Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni Association of Nigeria (MWFAAN) Announces  call for Applications for Second Edition