WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Jan 10, 2013) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is now accepting submissions to the contest phase of the Countering Trafficking in Persons (C-TIP) Campus Challenge -- a technology contest where students can submit new ideas and innovative ways to end modern slavery at www.challengeslavery.org.
USAID launched the contest on November 28, 2012 and is accepting submissions from students until January 31, 2013. USAID will award one first place prize of $5,000 to the top entry, and $2,500 to one or more runner-up entries. Additionally, winners will be invited to showcase and discuss their ideas with USAID and various implementing and donor partners. The contest asks students to address how technology can be part of a potential solution to the various challenges related to human trafficking, whether concerning slavery in product supply chains, trafficking in conflict and crisis-affected areas, child sex tourism, building a global counter-trafficking movement, ending forced child labor, countering the business model of human traffickers, or raising awareness among potential victims.
"USAID is especially eager to engage today's students who are growing up in a world where real-time information and good ideas are no longer the privilege or property of an elite few but actually are accessible and belong to everyone with a phone in their pocket," said USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Sarah Mendelson at a Challenge Slavery event at Arizona State University. "Students are uniquely qualified to help stimulate change -- for example, each day more and more students are taking a stand suggesting innovative ideas to tackle human rights violations such as protesting the conscription of child soldiers, ending forced labor, and stopping sex trafficking."
USAID seeks submissions from university students and groups of university students from all over the world. The entry can be a 5-minute video, a website, or a concept paper that outlines an idea for harnessing technology and innovation to develop creative solutions to prevent human trafficking, enable victims to escape from traffickers, and assist survivors.
Entries may address adaptation of technology for new use or could involve a concept for developing new technology. After the submission period closes on January 31, students can vote for the best entries via the online platform at www.challengeslavery.org. The top ideas will be submitted to a panel of judges composed of USAID, Campus Challenge partners, as well as technology and general development advisors. The panel will judge submissions based on impact, feasibility and innovation. The winners will be announced in March 2013.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States.