‘Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World’ was a $25,000 grant opportunity aimed at supporting those working to create a better world of opportunities fof women and girls in the Asia Pacfic, the Middle East and Africa. It was organized by the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard. Entries of innovative, entrepreneurship-based projects on women’s empowerment were requested to be submitted either in form of a 5-minute video or a 2-page sized proposal.
The results of this grant opportunity have now been announced and the Grand Prize Winner is the Women’s Private Personal Marketplace in India which works to ‘facilitate women entrepreneurs in rural Rajasthan, India, to educate and sell hygiene products through a mobile application’
The Special Recognition Award was offered to LIFE – Livelihood Initiatives for Empowerment of Women in Sri Lanka which has been working to ‘help women in the resettled villages of Northern Sri Lanka enhance their entrepreneurship capacities on income-generating activities.
People’s Choice Award went to the Philippines-based Project Stitch which provides ‘provide support and livelihood to displaced women in the poor communities of Manila, Philippines, through sewing co-operatives.’
A number of finalists were also selected for this competition. All their videos have been made available at this link. Going through the experiences of these projects, one can get some interesting insights on developing women empowerment projects.
