Australia DFAT launches MIKTA education in emergencies challenge

The government of Australia under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has launched the MIKTA education in emergencies challenge in an effort to identify approaches to tackle the challenges of education in emergency situations.

Emergency situations, ranging from tsunamis to armed conflict, currently disrupt the education of more than 75 million children across 35 countries. This instability prevents many of these children from receiving the education services they need.

This initiative invites both individuals and organizations to submit ideas that focus on reinventing the way education is delivered in emergency situations, especially for girls. Girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys in conflict-affected regions. The challenge calls for ideas that apply new technology and develop new business models.

The top entries will receive a share of AUD $2 million in addition to technical or thematic expertise support to scale and implement their ideas.

Ideas should be submitted on OpenIDEO before June 25, 2017. Visit the OpenIDEO web page to learn more about the challenge.