Highlights

2009 Call for Proposals
Share Your 2020 Vision for the Youth Enterprise, Employment, and Livelihoods Development Field

What is Your Vision for this Field in 2020?

How are Your Initiatives and Ideas Turning that Vision into Reality for Young People to Have Greater Access to Entrepreneurial and Employment Opportunities?
Overview
Making Cents International invites you engage in this participatory and demand-driven learning event by submitting a proposal to present at the Global Youth Enterprise Conference, which will take place September 29-30, 2009 in Washington, DC.

Deadline: All session proposals must be received by email, mail or fax before April 17, 2009. Early submission is encouraged.

Who should submit: Practitioners, policymakers, funders, educators, youth leaders, members of the private sector, and other professionals involved in youth enterprise, employment, and livelihoods development.

Benefits for presenters: The organizations whose proposals are selected will become presenters at the conference. They will receive recognition in electronic and print marketing materials; be invited to disseminate information on their programs and projects at their sessions; enjoy visibility and increased credibility within the industry; be able to participate in unique networking opportunities; and contribute directly to the growth and development of the youth enterprise, employment, and livelihoods development field. The content of the sessions will be recorded, synthesized and shared with the broader youth enterprise, employment, and livelihoods development community after the conference via a publication disseminated to over 20,000 people around the world. Please visit the following websites to read the 2007 and 2008 post-conference publications: http://www.youthenterpriseconference.org/2007GYMC.asp (2007) and http://www.youthenterpriseconference.org/2008GYMC.asp (2008; coming soon).
Conference Tracks
For those of you who submitted proposals and participated as presenters in the last two Global Youth Enterprise Conferences, you’ll notice a new format for this year’s conference. After an extensive global consultation with stakeholders in this field, it became apparent that there is great diversity of opinion on the themes this year’s conference should cover. In response, the 2009 conference is being structured around five functional tracks:

Track 1: Project Design and Implementation
Track 2: Policy and Advocacy
Track 3: Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment
Track 4: Partnerships
Track 5: Cross-Cutting

You and your organization may submit more than one proposal, but each proposal must be prepared and submitted separately. Each proposal must also meet the criteria described in this document. You will receive an email confirming receipt of each proposal you submit. Please click here to download more detailed information on each track before you prepare your proposal submission.
Three kinds of session categories: choose one!
Submitters must choose one of the following three types of break-out session formats that best fits the information they wish to present:

Option 1: 2-Hour Breakout Sessions: What Do We Know for Sure? Two-hour breakout sessions are to share proven learnings, results, outcomes, and findings of programs/projects/policies that have been implemented for a significant amount of time and ideally have been evaluated. Presenters will design their sessions to impart concrete and practical information that will be useful to other practitioners, funders, and educators who are interested in applying the key points to their programming or policymaking.

Option 2: 1-Hour Roundtable Session: Tools You Can Use Today. The roundtable discussion is an opportunity for facilitators and participants to present and interact with conference participants on a very specific tool, approach, methodology, or curriculum that has been field-tested and relates to one of the conference’s tracks with a smaller group of conference participants.

Option 3: 1.5-Hour Facilitated Working Group Session: Ideas in Development to Achieve Our 2020 Vision. The Facilitated Working Groups will highlight new ideas, provocative questions, innovative approaches, and unique research activities, which may not have evaluations or have even been implemented yet, but which hold promise for driving this field forward. The Working Groups could serve as an opportunity to elicit feedback on a methodology being developed; a “think tank” to discuss a pressing question; a platform for mobilizing support, participation, or action on a certain initiative; or simply an information exchange related to a geographic region. Proposals are particularly welcome on topics such as achieving scale and sustainability, microfranchising, microinsurance, technology, South-South collaborations, and urban development. The intent is to provide a space for open and informal dialogue around innovations in the field. Ideally, the Facilitated Working Groups will be proposed with the intention of them continuing after the conference.

Note: Individuals and organizations may submit a maximum of one proposal per track. Each proposal should be for a self-contained session (i.e. Making Cents will not be identifying moderators).
Selection criteria
The conference is designed to be an interactive event that fosters learning and encourages the exchange of meaningful information and ideas. In the 2007 and 2008 Global Youth Enterprise Conference evaluations, participants strongly noted that they are interested in learning about:

• The decision-making processes and critical analyses that have been involved in various instances of programming and policymaking;
• What kinds of things happened during the project/policy design or implementation phase that didn’t necessary go as planned and how an organization addressed it; and
• Concrete information they can utilize in their own programming.

Presenters in all types of sessions should address the following questions in their minds as they develop and lead their sessions:

What do you want your peers to get out of your session, and how does your session contribute to building the field?

Proposals are selected using the following criteria:

• A completed session proposal has been submitted, and the primary presenter has complied with all application instructions, deadlines and requirements. (Incomplete submissions will not be considered.)
• The subject of the proposed session is clear and relevant to the selected conference tracks and session type.
• Learning objectives and key points are clear, and the plan for meeting these objectives are clearly outlined in the application.
• The proposed presenter clearly demonstrates how he/she will take an analytical, and not a descriptive or marketing, approach towards addressing his/her proposed topic.
• The proposed session includes the use of creative or collaborative techniques and formats that engage the audience and promote a participatory environment.
• The proposed session offers tips, guides and/or tools for tangible, concrete, and practical “take-aways” related to the subject matter.
• The proposed presenter(s) are qualified to present on the subject of the proposed session, as demonstrated in a description of the experience he/she has on the topic and in presenting or facilitating sessions.
• The proposed session is educational and is not a promotion of a product, service or organization.
• The proposed session offers distinct, valuable, and applicable lessons to share.
• Youth have significant roles to play in the development and/or execution of a session.

Proposals must be written in English.
Timeline
Deadline for Proposal Submissions: April 17, 2009
Questions with Proposal Submitters: May 11-20, 2009
Notification of Selected Proposals: May 20-29, 2009
Confirmation and Registration Deadline for Invited Presenters: May 31, 2009
Presenter Orientation Meetings - virtual: June-August, 2009
Final Presentations and Session Material Due: September 1, 2009
Proposal submission template & presenter policies
Please click here to download the Proposal Submission Template and Presenter Policies. Please use this template when developing your session proposal, and please note all submitters need to confirm their acceptance of the Presenter Policies by signature before submitting their proposal(s).

Please click here to access a document that contains the complete Proposal Submission Guidelines, Proposal Submission Template, and Presenter Policies.

Questions?
Please click here to access the Frequently Asked Questions document. If you have additional questions, please contact the Conference Manager at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +1 202-783-4090.