United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the government of Canada, invited Kenyan youths to apply for the Mombasa Plastic Prize competition.
The Prize aims to encourage innovation and awareness among strategic stakeholders in Mombasa County on possible ways of curbing the solid waste menace.
According to the organisers, the winning team will take home a prize of Ksh3.5 million, while the first runners-up will bag Ksh2.5 million.
The third-placed team will be rewarded Ksh1.2 million.
"This prize builds on the work of the Afri-Plastics Challenge, funded by The Government of Canada, which aims to reduce marine plastics in sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement," reads a statement from the organizers.
The initiative is one of the programmes adopted to solve the problem of marine waste in coastal towns and cities.
Mombasa generates over 850 metric tons of waste daily, with 20 per cent of it being plastic.
Little has been done to manage the waste in terms of recycling or reusing hence necessitating interventions.
Youth adults aged between 18-25 living in Mombasa County are eligible for the competition.
How to Apply
The applications should be channelled through their website;
Home.
Interested persons should be well-versed in the competition's goals.
Applicants are required to fill out an online form which includes a short video of about three to five minutes as an introduction to be sent through a Google account.
The video should briefly explain the applicant's motivation towards offering waste management solutions.
Further, the video should capture an imaginative idea outlining how to tackle solid waste in marine bodies. Notably, the winner will be selected based on the level of creativity in the proposed idea.
The candidates will also be required to prove instances where they were involved in problem-solving in their academics or at the community level.
