Youth should submit cross border start up concepts for funding- Germany Agency

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German development agency has called upon youth in East African member states to submit their innovative cross border concepts for funding.

Through a statement released Monday, GIZ stated that ending extreme poverty by 2030 and raising the general standards of living in East Africa requires a stronger youth voice and participation in EAC processes.

“Youth must stop expecting change in governance to come easy, they must work towards the change they need, inventing new solutions through technology, benchmarking standards with other more developed nations and creating better sustainable policy advocacy structures.”

In 2016, GIZ and East African Community created Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA), a new innovative tool where youth can access startup capital for their innovative cross border new concepts and it has so far provided over USD 1 million to various projects through technical and financial support proposed by different stakeholders in East Africa.

“We strongly urge youth to submit their cross border start up concepts for funding consideration,” GIZ statement reads.

The Agency claims that East Africa can be turned into an industrial upper income region by improving the key determinant of the region’s competitiveness ‘which is its human talent; the skills, knowledge and experience of its youth.’

However, they state that the youth movement has failed to have a bigger impact on EAC integration process mainly because of a lack of an organised structure that can collect their views and opinions regularly, lack of a self-financing model for its activities and weak leadership succession plan.

GIZ is one of the funders for the ongoing East Africa Leadership Summit (YouLead), in Arusha, Tanzania organised by the EAC Secretariat under the department of Political Affairs in collaboration with MS-Training Centre for Development Cooperation under theme: “Youth Political and Economic Inclusion: Scenario for Sustainable Regional Integration.

The Project

The East African Community Secretariat (EACS) in collaboration with the Regional Dialogue Committee (RDC), in partnership with GIZ proposes the Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA) - an initiative which incubates small-scale regional integration projects, proposed and implemented by civil society, private sector and other interest groups in East Africa. It is cross border in nature, with projects expected to involve at least two EAC Partner States. Technical and financial support is provided for professional planning, implementation and marketing of IIDEA projects.

IIDEA projects puts into action and showcases the success stories and impacts of the EAC Common Market Protocol. This could include provisions such as the free movement of citizens, labor, goods, capital and the rights of establishment and residence of citizens in East Africa.

What fields apply

Health, Education, Agriculture, Trade, ICT, Art and Culture and Security.

How to Apply?

Interested Eligible Applicants are invited to submit their innovative project proposals in the required standard application and budget forms attached to iidea@eachq.org with a copy to eac-germancooperation@giz.de