Angry about abstinence-only education?
Feel like gender issues for women and girls aren’t addressed enough?
Concerned that family planning isn’t a priority?
Want more sexual and reproductive health services internationally?

Would you like $750 to organize a campaign or series of events on your campus this Fall to address these international family planning, gender and reproductive health and justice issues? Take action and start a campaign to protect and promote international reproductive health and family planning and women’s empowerment at your school with AID’s "Innovators for a Sustainable World" project!

What is "Innovators for a Sustainable World?" This is a unique initiative where you can propose innovative campaigns around global sexual and reproductive health and family planning issues, document your experiences on film, and work to create substantive change at your university. Your efforts and your campaign film will be promoted on AID’s website to inspire other reproductive rights and justice advocates to initiate similar campaigns.

How does it work? AID will select up to 8 winning ideas and provide you with: $750 grant Trip to Washington D.C. to meet family planning and reproductive health experts, video production experts, and Congressional staff in January. Video camera for students to document their campaign. Training and leadership development skills on how to implement your campaigns, how to build coalitions, how to film and edit campaign videos, how to use new media, and how to promote U.S. leadership and funding for international family planning and adolescent sexual health. Ongoing support and assistance on your campaign from AID staff.

Each campus group will return to their school, conduct the campaign, and create a short film or video toolkit showing how others could replicate their campaign idea on another campus.

The 8 video toolkits will then be put up for a nationwide vote on the AID website. The students with the most innovative and successful campaign will win an additional $500. Other campus groups and individuals can then apply for a $200 mini-grant to bring the winning campaign to their campus.

Are you ready to be an agent for change, to take action to promote family planning and reproductive health? To submit a proposal, click HERE

The deadline for applications is January 4, 2009!
Applications must be available for a weekend retreat January 30th to February 1st.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Phase 1 – December 1, 2008 - January 4, 2009: Submit your 1-2 page proposals online HERE.

Successful proposals will contain the following important characteristics:

1. Will the proposed campaign connect global to local issues in developing their family planning or reproductive health campaign and film?
   
2. Is the campaign replicable on campuses around the nation?
3. Does the proposal provide a brief description of how the funds will be spent and a clear action/implementation plan?
4. Does the campaign have clear, measurable results that students can measure? Does it link to change on campuses and/or nationally on local and international family planning and reproductive and sexual health issues?
5. Does the campaign involve large numbers of students as participants?
6. Will the campaign generate campus and local media?
7. Does the campaign lend itself to video activism?

Phase 2 – January 5, 2009 to February 1, 2009: A selection committee will screen the proposals and pick 8 finalists. The proposals will be judged based on the effectiveness and creativity of the campaign, the proposed technique and craftsmanship of the film-making, and the potential for the campaign model to be replicated in other campus or community environments.

The finalists will be invited to a retreat in Washington, DC from January 30th to February 1st. There they will learn even more about reproductive rights and justice; women’s empowerment; international family planning, and adolescent sexual rights and receive a special training on how to prepare a short multimedia toolkit. They will also receive their mini-grants of $750 each to implement the proposals.

Phase 3 – February 2, 2009 to June 1, 2009: The 8 finalists will return to their campus to plan and implement their campaigns, which will include a day-long training for students to equip them to run campaigns and to advocate for US leadership on international family planning and sexual and reproductive health programs. During the planning and implementation process, the students will film, photograph and otherwise document the steps they took and the results they achieved with their campaign. The footage will be made into a short film (no more than 3 minutes) by each of the finalists .

Phase 4 – June 2, 2009 to August 1, 2009: The films will be displayed on the AIDemocracy website and AID will coordinate a public vote on the top film for others to emulate. This film will serve as a toolkit to inspire and inform other students on how to implement a similar campaign on their campus. The winning entry will win another mini-grant of $500 to continue their great work on their campus, and their video toolkit will serve as the model for future campaigns.

AID will also host a videoconference at this time between the contest winner, the other campaign winners and emulating campuses as well as youth activists in other countries who are working locally on reproductive justice issues.

Phase 5 – September 1 to December 1, 2009: AID will provide up to 15 mini-grants of $200 to students who seek to use the video toolkit to launch similar campaigns on their campuses.

Click HERE to apply now!

Questions? Contact melanie@aidemocracy.org

**At this time, we are only able to offer this opportunity to students who attend school in the United States**