Application Deadline: 18 April 2015.
The Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) has launched a writing competition, as part of its global campaign on addressing gender inequalities in energy access.
Dubbed #standtall, the campaign and competition aims to inspire young people to lead the transformation for inclusiveness and equality in the energy sector in West Africa by encouraging them to take part in the discourse and proffer solutions to topical gender and energy issues in the region.
The writing competition is organized in recognition that women are under-represented in the energy sector, particularly in the technical areas, as there are fewer female graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. And that since the technical sector is STEM driven the number of women eligible for technical roles in the energy sector is automatically smaller compared to their male counterparts.
As women lack the skills required in the energy sector they are, to a large extent, excluded from the technical and decision-making domains of energy development, thus limiting their capacity to contribute to energy expansion and to benefit from a very lucrative job market.
Basic Criteria
- You should be 16 – 32 years old.
- A resident of one of the ECOWAS Member States.
- An ECOW-GENetwork Member
Topics
Applicants are encouraged to be creative with their topics.
Topics should, however, be captioned as – #Standtall: and the writer’s chosen topic.
Winning articles are those that:
- provide an in-depth analysis of the issue of women being under-represented in the energy sector, particularly in the technical areas, and the factors behind this;
- identify possible ways by which this issue could be addressed;
- evaluate the likely outcomes from each of the alternatives identified;
- recommend, and provide justifications for a solution
Awards
1st position –US$ 500
2nd position –US$ 300
3rd position –US $ 200
Early submissions stand a better chance of winning…
- Five articles would be selected for the 2nd phase of evaluation (review and selection of the 3 winning authors by the Jury).
- The five lucky authors are those whose articles have received the highest votes, based on the number of likes and shares from the social media platforms.
Submission:
If you are already a registered member go to “Add post”
Submit Your Essay Now for the ECOWAS Youth writing contest on Gender and Energy
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the ECOWAS Youth writing contest on Gender and Energy