2025 RISK Award
"Children and youths as agents of change for DRR"

A brief analysis of the applications

Disasters don't discriminate, yet some people are more at risk! This statement is becoming increasingly true. Analyses of the numbers of victims and people affected prove: countries in the Global South are more affected than countries in the Global North, and vulnerable people, such as marginalised groups, children, young people, women, people with disabilities and more, suffer disproportionally. Data from UNDRR shows that over 1 billion children have had their lives disrupted by disasters since 2000, with more than 80,000 schools damaged or destroyed. According to UNICEF, approximately one billion children worldwide are at extremely high risk due to climate impacts, including climate-related disasters. To address this injustice, we are dedicating the 2025 RISK Award to the topic of "Children and youths as agents of change for DRR".

As announced, the call has been closed on 13 October (20:00 CET), celebrating the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. We received an incredible amount of 521 applications.

The applications can be assigned to different clusters. In total, 77 countries are represented. We received the most applications from India with a total of 52 proposals, followed by Kenya (45), Nigeria(34), Tanzania (33), Uganda (25), and Nepal (22). The range of the call can be seen on the following map.

Map Applications RISK Award 2023 by Country

43 applications were submitted by academic institutions, 11 by governmental institutions (local administrations, municipalities etc.), 425 by non-profits and NGOs, 28 by private sector actors and14 by other forms (such as associations, consortia etc.).

111 submissions build on already existing projects and want to scale them up, improve them, multiply them or make them more sustainable. 396 are starting a new initiative, 14 could not or did not want to be assigned.

Due to the high number of applications, the evaluation process will take some time. We want to ensure that every application receives fair attention. The final decision process by the jury is scheduled for later in March 2025. It is anticipated that applicants will be contacted and informed of their status in April the latest. The winner's awarding ceremony is expected to take place in June during the Global Platform for DRR, organised and hosted by UNDRR. We will announce the format in due course.

We would like to thank you again for the immense interest and wish all initiatives the best possible success.

Dates and deadlines
Start of the 2025 RISK Award application phase		1 July 2024
Online Seminar I - How to write a RISK Award proposal		24 July 2024
Online Seminar II - How to write a RISK Award proposal		25 September 2024
End of the 2025 RISK Award application phase		13 October 2024 (20:00 CET)
Announcement of the winner 2025		2-4 June 2025