Entries Open: UNESCO Prize for Global Citizenship Education ($50,000)

The UNESCO Prize for Global Citizenship Education offers a remarkable global platform aimed at enhancing the visibility and acknowledgment of projects and initiatives related to GCED worldwide.

Launched in 2024 with the backing of the Republic of Korea, the UNESCO Prize is unprecedented in its nature. It will be conferred biennially and honors exceptional contributions to the promotion and advancement of GCED across two distinct categories:

Global challenges that threaten peace—such as rising violence and conflict, the deteriorating impacts of climate change, and the growing prevalence of discrimination and hate speech—are often rooted in deep-seated societal inequalities and injustices. Global citizenship education (GCED) plays a vital role in transforming educational practices to tackle these challenges and their underlying causes, thereby fostering more equitable, healthy, and peaceful societies. If implemented widely, GCED has the capacity to influence the attitudes, skills, and priorities of future generations in a manner that supports peace.

In order to address inequalities and injustices and collaboratively work towards solutions, GCED cultivates cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional skills that enable individuals to comprehend the interconnections between global, national, and local developments.

• Youth-led organizations
• Other: individuals, institutions, non-governmental organizations, and various entities.
• An international jury will evaluate and select the two most outstanding projects, one from each category.
• Each prize recipient will receive an award of 50,000 USD.

Implementing GCED involves uniting various stakeholders from different levels and types of education, both formal and informal, to ensure that every learner has access to an education that:

• is rooted in principles of respect for human rights,
• fosters the ability to address inequities and injustices,
• promotes inclusivity and reconciliation,
• prevents violence, bullying, hate speech, and discrimination,
• fosters critical thinking, and
• encourages collaboration across groups and disciplines to identify common solutions to local, national, and global challenges.
• Through the Prize for Global Citizenship Education, UNESCO recognizes exceptional contributions in this field worldwide.

Call for nominations for the inaugural edition in 2025

• The first cycle of the Prize will showcase and reward remarkable GCED initiatives.
• The UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights, and Sustainable Development (2023) provides a framework for GCED efforts, emphasizing that peace is not merely the absence of conflict or violence, but a positive and participatory process shaped by the actions of all individuals.

Who Can Apply – UNESCO Prize for Global Citizenship Education

• To apply for the category “Youth-led organization”: The applicant must be:
• An organization that is led by individual(s) aged between 18-30 years old

To apply for the “Other” category: The applicant can be either an:

• Individual,
• Institution,
• Non-governmental organization, or
• other entity.

The initiative must be: 

• Relevant to GCED
• The initiative should have been implemented for at least 1 year with evidence of concrete activities
• The project and its organization should not be affiliated with, or receive any funding from, UNESCO
• Be nominated by either a UNESCO National Commission or an NGO in official relation with UNESCO
• TO APPLY VISIT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE
• The 2025 call for applications is open until 1 September.