The Ford foundation, as part of their efforts to empower young Nigerians, has partnered with The Future Project’s The Future Awards Africa (TFAA) on the Ford Foundation Prize for Youth Employment. The award seeks nominees who have positively demonstrated, drive and action by individuals actively tackling youth unemployment with positive impact in their communities. The nominees will be selected from each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria of which successful applicants will be interviewed in selected cities. These cities are: Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, Ibadan, Kano and Lagos.

The call for nominations will run for one month starting from August to end September, 2015.

“We are delighted about this partnership with The Ford Foundation,” said Mfon Ekpo, Executive Director of The Future Project. “The goal of the Ford Foundation in West Africa is to improve governance systems and livelihood opportunities. This dovetails with the goal of The Future Africa Awards, which is to inspire the entire continent of Africa through the works of her citizenry.

This award is designed to recognize and support young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 33 involved in a social program or projects that contribute to fight youth unemployment in Nigeria,” she concluded.

The competition will select six finalists, one from each Nigerian geopolitical zone, from which the final winner will be picked at the awards. A documentary on the winner will also beselected, and  the final winner will be endowed with a $5,000 prize.

For more information and to nominate a candidate for The Ford Foundation Prize for Youth Employment, visit www.thefutureafrica.com/awards, send an email to [email protected], or send an SMS to +234 802 222 6712. Nominations close September 2015.

The Future Awards Africa is supported by Ford Foundation, Microsoft, the US Consulate Nigeria, the Canadian High Commission Nigeria and The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Official Media Partners are Time Magazine, Silverbird Television, Africa Magic, Ventures Africa, and Y! Africa. Official Online Partners are Premium Times, BellaNaija and 360nobs, and official bloggers for 2015 are Omojuwa.com, Olorisupergal, Ameyaw.com and NigeriaNewsDesk. Country partners are Information Nigeria and Pulse.ng.

Follow @TFAAfrica to keep up with the latest news on TFAA. The official hashtags for 2015 are #ImagineAfrica and #TFAAS2015.