Best Practice Prizes Eligibility Criteria and Nomination Process

Institutions or individuals who implement innovative solutions for child and youth development in practice, advancing quality education as invited to apply for the Best Practice Prize.

Nominees are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Achievement: The Prize candidate has demonstrated outstanding achievements in advancing learning and education.
• Evidence Base: The Prize candidate’s approach integrates lessons learnt from research and best practices, builds on existing and sound scientific evidence, and has the potential to generate results and evidence that might be useful for future projects in similar or different settings. The candidate’s concrete activities have been systematized and externally and independently evaluated; measures to promote the dissemination of results are in place.
• Sustainable Impact: The Prize candidate’s approach has been successfully replicated or scaled up or has the strong potential to do so. The approach is sustainable on the local level through direct beneficiary implication or from a programmatic perspective via strong business model, partnerships, knowledge transfer to third parties (e.g., government). The approach shows the potential to induce systemic change.
• Strategic Implementation: The organization has a clear results framework and theory of change backed by research evidence and manages resources accordingly. The organization has a sound M&E system and tracks relevant KPIs. Measures are put in place to not only collect, but also learn from data and adapt implementation.
• Overall Alignment: The Prize candidate’s approach aligns with the Foundation’s strategy.

In line with practice since 2009, the Jacobs Foundation Board of Trustees serves as Jury for the Best Practice Prize. Each of the three Best Practice Prizes laureates are endowed with CHF 200’000 unrestricted funding. As a follow-up, the Jacobs Foundation aims to provide support for promising concepts that would not otherwise be realized and to incentivize opportunities for increased collaboration and joint work among the finalists. Therefore, all ten finalists receive CHF 10K each to develop their concepts and submission of collaborative concepts among finalists are encouraged (but not enforced). Following expert and blind peer reviews, two concepts are selected to receive catalytic follow-on funding to implement their ideas (not exceeding CHF 150K/each).