The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), an initiative of Qatar Foundation (QF), has announced 12 finalists for the 2018 WISE Awards.

Each year, WISE Awards recognise and promote innovative projects from across the world that address global educational challenges. The chosen projects tackle pressing educational issues including girls’ education, early childhood education, refugee crises, cultural exchange, citizenship values, mother tongue literacy, youth employment, entrepreneurship in disadvantaged communities, deaf education, enhancing teacher motivation, and stimulating critical and creative thinking.

WISE CEO Stavros N Yiannouka said that each of the 2018 WISE Awards finalists has constructed an effective and tested solution to a global educational challenge. Whether it’s ensuring fundamental education for refugees or creating the next generation of leaders, each project is already transforming lives, and provides an inspirational model for others to adopt. This is vital to the mission at WISE which is centred on collaboration.

The 2018 WISE Awards Finalists 

Safe Space Club for Girls (Nigeria)
Technology-Based Deaf Education (Pakistan)
1001 Nights Life Skills and Citizenship Education Program (Canada)
Generation (USA)
Life Project 4 Youth (France)
Ghata (Lebanon)
TAK-TAK-TAK (Mexico)
African Children’s Stories (Australia)
Partners for Possibility (South Africa)
Action National pour l’Éducation de la petite Enfance en zone Rurale -ANEER (Morocco)
StoryWeaver (India)
One Village One Preschool (China)

The finalists were evaluated according to strict criteria. They must be established, innovative educational projects that have already demonstrated a transformative impact on individuals, communities, and society. They also need to be financially stable, have a clear development plan, and be scalable and replicable.

The WISE Awards winning projects will be announced in July 2018 and celebrated at WISE@NY in New York on 22 September. In addition to publicity and networking opportunities, each will receive US$ 20,000.

For more information about the 2018 WISE Awards, visit wise-qatar.org.

Cover image: A 2018 WISE Awards finalist from the Safe Space for Girls project during her campaign rehearsal