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Young people can play a big role in helping improve the lives of children in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific Youth Innovation Challenge allows young people (aged 24 and under) to share, develop, and test their ideas to address the challenges around universal health coverage, violence against children, and social protection for families.

Expanding opportunities so that all children can reach their full potential is not only a “good” thing to do, it also makes good economic sense. Promoting the cognitive capital of children by finding new solutions to the barriers they face is an important contribution to the long term economic growth of your country.

This Challenge is held in parallel with the 3rd Asia Pacific High-Level Meeting on Child Rights (HLM3) hosted by Malaysia in November, 2016. Bringing together heads of state and senior Ministers from throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Bootcamp semi-finalists will get the chance to pitch to senior government officials at HLM3.

Challenge questions

1.     Universal Health Coverage - How can we help families share feedback and opinions on the quality of health services that they receive?

2.     Bullying - How can schools and young people actively discourage bullying on social media?

3.     Violent Discipline - How can we change perceptions amongst parents so that physical punishment is seen as socially unacceptable?

4.     Sexual Violence - How might we help parents teach their children the difference between touching that is acceptable, and touching that is not acceptable?

5.     Social Protection - How can we encourage new parents to identify and adopt positive parenting behaviors and activities?

6.     Nutrition - How might we better educate mothers on the importance of proper early childhood nutrition, especially time spent breastfeeding?

For detailed information on these challenge questions, visit http://www.hlm3challenge.com/challenges/

What need to be submitted?

What is the challenge to be addressed (select from above) – 500 words max

What is the solution (your idea) – 1000 words max

Submit your ideas here

What can you gain from participating in the Challenge?

·       Attend the Innovation Bootcamp in Malaysia fully funded: Shortlisted participants get to attend our fully-funded Innovation Bootcamp in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with other changemakers across the Asia-Pacific region. If you are shortlisted, your local UNICEF country office will fund your trip to attend the bootcamp.

·       Pitch to senior government officials: Top ideas from the  Innovation Bootcamp will pitch to senior government officials at the Third Asia-Pacific High-Level Meeting on Child Rights (HLM3)

·       Get seed funding to take your idea forward: Winners will receive seed money to implement their solutions in their home country and support to implement your idea.

·       An opportunity to improve the lives of children and invest in your country's long-term economic growth

·       Learn through online training and mentorship: Join a program that provides structure and guidance to developing your idea into a winning social innovation.

Participants should…

• Be 24 years old or younger
• Have good English comprehension and communication skills (English is the official language of all Challenge-related communication).

Participating Countries

• Timor-Leste
• Sri Lanka
• Nepal
• Papua New Guinea
• Pakistan
• Bhutan
• Cambodia
• Thailand
• Lao PDR
• Malaysia
• Mongolia
• Bangladesh
• China
• Indonesia
• Philippines
• Myanmar
• Vietnam