It’s a mobile app that rewards users with cash for their winning solutions promoting good governance. And so far, My Gov, My Part is topping the public voting for ideas submitted to the Making All Voices Count’s Global Innovation Competition.
Making All Voices Count aims to bring global attention to “creative and cutting-edge solutions” that advance open government. It has the support of the U.K. Department for International Development , U.S. Agency for International Development, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Open Society Foundations and Omidyar Network.
The initiative focuses on 12 countries: Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. That said, applicants could come from anywhere around the globe but their ideas must benefit any of the program countries.
If you want to vote on eligible submissions, do it on or before Jan. 30, 2014.
From the roster of 196 applicants, 30 will proceed to the semifinal round. It doesn’t mean though that the top 30 vote getters will become semifinalists. Rather, the list may include some of the popular ideas as determined by the public voting and the so-called Global Innovation Competition Committee wildcards.
“To increase the chance that applicants with a great idea or concept who come from a less ICT-enabled community are represented in the semi-final or final rounds, wildcard winners may be designated for those rounds,” competition organizers say.
The semifinal round will involve a peer review — semifinalists will assess the entries of other semifinalists and rank them on the strength of their ideas — and an evaluation by the competition’s jury based on the proposals’ innovativeness, scalability and potential for impact. The 10 finalists will then attend the Global Innovation Week from March 31 to April 3 in Nairobi, Kenya, where they will go through “intense mentorship” from technology, civil society and governance experts and make make a final pitch for their proposals.
“Invitation and attendance to the Global Innovation Week is a prize in itself as it opens a world of networking and possibilities to the finalists,” the competition website asserts.
Aside from expert mentorship over six months, the winner and two runners-up will receive cash grants, 65,000 pounds (around $106,000) for the former and 35,000 pounds each for the latter. The rest of the finalists will take home 5,000 pounds.
What do you think is an innovative idea to promote good governance? Let us know by leaving a comment below, and read our previous #innov8aid.
About the author
Eliza Villarino
Eliza Villarino currently manages one of today’s leading publications on humanitarian aid, global health and international development, the weekly GDB. At Devex, she has helped grow a global newsroom, with talented journalists from major development hubs such as Washington, D.C, London and Brussels. She regularly writes about innovations in global development.