Youth at the Helm (YATH)

The proposed project, "Youth at the Helm - Inspiring youth to board and steer the entrepreneur-ship", aims to leverage the power of mobile games to educate, engage and empower youth to become successful entrepreneurs. By leveraging technology to deliver entrepreneurship training, the game will also build digital skills among underserved youth. 

Games have the power to leave an impression on our brains that transcends the boundaries of the virtual world and we are committed to leveraging this power to provide powerful learning experiences. The game will support underserved youth in fostering entrepreneurship and learning skills that are relevant for the future of work. The project will aim to provide entrepreneurial support to youth in a fun and engaging way. 

The pace of digital transformation – the application of technology to enterprise, government, social and cultural life - is speeding up in the developing countries. 

At the same time the current COVID-19 global health and resulting education and economic crises are escalating attention to digital and contactless platforms in response. The ILO suggests that 4 in 5 workers are affected by closures: global cuts in hours could be the full-time equivalent of 200 million or more workers; with the highest levels of reduction in Arab states. The job losses are particularly devastating among low and middle skills workers, including youth, and in the large informal sector. The shut-down of schools, business and public life amid the pandemic has only revved up the need for and move to digital, virtual, and remote learning solutions, skills and earning opportunities. Because they are pivotal to success in this changing economic landscape and post-COVID-19 marketplace, digital skills are rapidly moving from nice-to-have to must-have.

And yet, there is an absence of digital innovations that target underserved youth in building skills needed to stay apace with the changing job market. 

The project will focus on designing and launching a mobile game that:

• Educates:  The game will build skills and teach the art of entrepreneurship 
• Engages: Provides a platform for underserved entrepreneurs to play and network with each other
• Empowers: Games provide a safe space for players to see the long term consequences of their current actions and hence support them with the information needed for smart decision making. The project will leverage this "crystal ball effect" of games so that budding entrepreneurs can take a sneak peek into their future and get inspired by the potential of their entrepreneurial journey

The game will not only focus on improving hard and soft skills that are relevant to building businesses but also provide stimuli for behavioral shifts. 

• Build basic digital literacy through game play. 
• Providing essential business management skills through modular games associated with badges 
• Teach soft skills that are essential to entrepreneurship (time management, leadership, team building etc.)
• Inspire young women and men to build businesses from a place of collaboration, integrity and sustainability, so they can go further & faster, all while having fun. The game will highlight stories of role models that players can get inspired by. 

YATH serves a robust, fast-growing field of young, underserved entrepreneurs, who are typically between 18-34 years old. The game focuses on providing better opportunities to youth around the world who do not have access to entrepreneurship skills. 

The game will be piloted in US and Pakistan. In the US, we will partner with Street Entrepreneurs and Beacon DC to reach underserved, minority entrepreneurs in the Washington DC metropolitan area.  

The pilot game will focus on the basic concepts of entrepreneurship including coming up with a business idea, self-employment, revenue, profit and loss. It will simulate a small business operation and challenge players to make smart decisions to run the business successfully.  

In addition the game will highlight how entrepreneurs can leverage the on-going digital transformation for rapid growth and access to a global customer base. The digital skills module will teach basics of developing a website with no prior coding skills, selling products online, leveraging the gig economy etc.   

YATH directly contributes to the “good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship” mission, specifically within the dimension of "Equip workers with technological and digital literacy as well as the durable skills needed to stay apace with the changing job market".

YATH focuses on leveraging mobile games to prepare entrepreneurs for the future of work. 

Given that two-thirds of jobs worldwide are created by small and medium-sized businesses; YATH ensures that these entrepreneurs are equipped with in-demand skills that are necessary for creating opportunity and good jobs for entire communities. 

Given their interactive, iterative, and inspiring nature, digital games appeal to human psychology in a way most other communication tools don’t and their impact on our brains far transcends the boundaries of the virtual world. Furthermore, by including relatable stories and vignettes, YATH will provide an on-going learning experience to young entrepreneurs and a simulated pathway that can inspire them to visualize and achieve their goals, hence becoming their own digital role models. 

Why Games: 

• Games have the 3 iS: Given the interactive, iterative, and inspiring nature of digital games, they appeal to the human psychology in a way most other communication tools don’t and their impact on our brains far transcends the boundaries of the virtual world. 
• Crystal Ball effect: With regards to skills for the future, games offer a safe environment to simulate the effects of everyday decisions and depict their long-term consequences. 
• Universal coverage: We are approaching a world where smartphones as low as $20 are spreading to all places — even areas where basic conditions like proper sanitation are luxuries. This boom opens a window of opportunity to use simple mobile games to inspire people around the world towards preparing for the future of work. Games are popular across borders and age groups & therefore present a unique platform to reach the masses in a fun & engaging manner.
• Measuring learning progression: Video games, with knowledge tracking functions, create individualized learning plans for the learner versus a one-size-fits-all. 

Designed for low-end smartphones and minimal connectivity, the YATH game will engage players through a dynamic and culturally relevant back story. In-app questions capture and track user knowledge acquisition and social normative responses. To ensure inclusive access and sustainable impact, the game will be been developed to be compatible with low-end smartphones. Most GRID games are small in size and do not require internet connectivity for gameplay.

GRID's approach towards behavior change is innovative and engaging. Harnessing the capacity of smartphones for behavior changes provides a low cost alternative to the heavy and expensive community level interventions. GRID is mainstreaming games in the social sector, not only in the US but also globally. By creating context-vigilant games (in local languages) for low-end smartphones, GRID has opened up the possibility of using games to educate, engage and empower people in all aspects of their lives irrespective of where they live. With total downloads of more than 15000, GRID is able to inspire people around a wide-range of social issues. 

GRID's own experience with games demonstrates their  effectiveness as behavior change tools. We have created games on reproductive health (MoHiM, Nari Paila & SurrEndo) on compassion for animals (KritterKneads), climate change (EarthFenders), and Coronavirus awareness (Coronacombat). Our reproductive health game, Nari Paila was launched in Nepal and had more than 10,000 downloads within the first ten weeks, exceeding it’s target reach by 3000. 32% of Nari Paila players are females of whom 71% are under the age of 24.  

Our Covid19 awareness game, CoronaCombat, is another example. We created the game in 9 days using our internal funds and launched it on April 10th. The game received immense attention, including a shout out by Chelsea Clinton on Twitter, as well as media coverage by ABC News. Since it's launch, the game has reached more than 1000 people with no marketing budget. CoronaCombat was translated into Urdu through a grant provided by American Pakistani Foundation. 

The project will aim to provide entrepreneurial support to underserved through a mobile game. The game will teach entrepreneurial, technical and soft skills through interactive gameplay. By leveraging technology to deliver entrepreneurship training, the game will also build digital skills among underserved youth. The game will build human and social capital through two channels:

Human Capital: The game will challenge its players to earn badges related to soft and business skills. Gameplay will not require internet connectivity. 

Social Capital: The game will provide an interface which will facilitate peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange. The platform will incentivize idea exchanges, and collaboration through in-game rewards and allow players to  access on demand, whenever they have an internet connection.

The project will focus on designing and launching a mobile game that:

• Educates:  The game will build skills and teach the art of entrepreneurship 
• Engages: Provides a platform for young entrepreneurs to play and network with each other
• Empowers: Games provide a safe space for players to see the long term consequences of their current actions and hence support them with the information needed for smart decision making. The project will leverage this "crystal ball effect" of games so that budding entrepreneurs can take a sneak peek into their future and get inspired by the potential of their entrepreneurial journey

The game will not only focus on improving hard and soft skills that are relevant to building businesses but also provide stimuli for behavioral shifts. The game will have the following learning objectives:

• Providing essential business management skills through modular games associated with badges 
• Teach soft skills that are essential to entrepreneurship (time management, leadership, team building etc.)
• Inspire entrepreneurs to build businesses from a place of collaboration, integrity and sustainability, so they can go further & faster, all while having fun. The game will highlight stories of role models that players can get inspired by. 
• Build basic digital literacy through game play. 

Summary of ToC:

• Inputs: 
  • Needs Assessment
  • Game development
• Outputs: 
  • Downloads
• Outcomes:
  • Enhanced entrepreneurial skills measured through in-game knowledge checks
• Impact: 
  • Enhanced labor force participation
  • Increased number of young entrepreneurs

15k through existing GRID games but 0 through YATH. 

In one year: YATH downloads: 20,000 in one pilot country

In five years: YATH downloads: 100,000 across 5 different  countries

The potential outreach for YATH is immense. Think Pokemon Go for building entrepreneurship skills among underserved youth; a game that had youth around the world chasing a shared goal. YATH has the potential to mobilize youth on a large scale and have them playing together to learn entrepreneurial skills. 

In our first year, we hope to reach 20,000 women in one pilot country, most likely Pakistan. 

Over five years, we hope to expand the reach to 100,000 across 5 different countries of which at least 3 will be emerging markets. 

As an organization, we currently reach more than 15000 through our games. GRID is able to inspire people around a wide-range of social issues by harnessing the capacity of smartphones for behavior change.  We are now at a critical stage in our growth and expect to grow in three key directions: 

1. Creating more games that cover a wide spectrum of social change issues.

2. Create games with real-life linkages to information and action. We want to create partnerships to link game rewards to real life actions and information. 

3. Building evidence base around effectiveness of games. 

These strategies will allow us to not only build better games but also reach people who need them the most!

We foresee the following barriers:

Concerns around inclusion: There are concerns around the reach of mobile games since there are areas with smartphone penetration. While we fully acknowledge this concern and encourage hybrid (digital + face to face) approaches of raising awareness in this case, we do know that smartphone penetration will continue to rise and it will be a lost opportunity to not act until there is 100% coverage. 

Conversion of apps to new countries: We are committed to scaling up our game to new regions. With expansion comes risks associated with investments in research, development, and testing of the games. We will proceed cautiously, but continuously learning from our experiences.

In order to ensure inclusive international access and sustainable impact, GRID games are developed to be compatible with low-end Android phones and do not require internet connectivity to run. The games are also developed at one-fifth the cost of comparable commercial games and are available for free downloads, hence providing a long-term scalable solution for meaningful behavior change. Once the game is developed, it can be scaled up across different regions and adapted to different contexts in a cost effective manner. 

Cost effectiveness: 

The existing market place includes actors that are using traditional methods like pamphlets, brochures, and comic books, however video games offer a unique solution that provides the necessary privacy and lead to greater social impact due to its interactive and iterative nature. Our solution is also cost-effective, as it only requires the one-time cost of game development and making it available on the phones of the recipients but the benefits will be visible over the long-term as beneficiaries continue to play the game over time.

GRID is a social impact gaming studio that tackles global problems with a global team. With a core team of 7 members and an extended team of 5 others, our group of 12 is diverse in gender, ethnicities and experience. More than 65% of our team is female (8 women, 4 in core team and 4 in extended team), we are spread across 4 different countries (USA, Pakistan, Australia and Greece) and we come from different professional backgrounds including graphic designers and software development professionals with extensive experience in app development, international development practitioners and marketing experts.

At GRID, we aim to leverage the universal language of video games to inspire social change. We have created games on reproductive health (MoHiM, Nari Paila & SurrEndo) on compassion for animals (KritterKneads), climate change (EarthFenders), Math learning (Gumbers & Calculasia) and Covid19 (Coronacombat) and are currently working on games on financial literacy, opioid crisis and entrepreneurship (YATH). 

In order to ensure inclusive international access and sustainable impact, GRID games are developed to be compatible with low-end Android phones and do not require internet connectivity to run. The games are also developed at one-fifth the cost of comparable commercial games and are available for free downloads. Once the game is developed, it can be scaled up across different regions and adapted to different contexts in a cost effective manner. Previous GRID games have been introduced in 5 different languages across 15 different countries. 

The GRID team has extensive experience in dealing with technical and contextual issues involved with the design of serious games. 

We will consult with entrepreneurs when coming up with the learning objectives of YATH:

• Mariam Nusrat: Founder of GRID (to draw on GRID’s own experiences and shed light on what it means to be a young woman of colour running a business as a sidepreneur)

• Kevin Miller: Principal of Miller, Beam & Paganelli, a certified small business located in VA, USA which has been providing consulting services in the areas of acoustics for more than 20 years.

For YATH, we will leverage our network with:

Beacon DC: BEACON is a community-led campaign to make Washington, DC the most influential and supportive city for women entrepreneurs. Since 2016, they have connected women entrepreneurs to each other and to the resources they need. 

Street Entrepreneurs (SE): A US based 501c(3) that harnesses the power of small business founders to create positive change and cultivate equitable communities. SE does so by creating access to knowledge, connections, and capital.

Furthermore, we have several partnerships focused on funding, content development and implementation of our games.Key partners include: 

Georgetown University Institute of Reproductive Health (IRH): Content and implementation partners for Nari Paila, a game that raises awareness on reproductive health. The game was funded by IRH as part of a USAID project. 

George Mason University: Development of "SurrEndo" - a game that build empathy for Endometriosis patients. The partnership with GMU was aimed at funding and evaluating this game through the Public Health school. 

UNICEF Pakistan: With UNICEF Pakistan, we have an MoU around our menstrual health game MoHiM. MoHiM is being integrated into UNICEF’s activities to promote positive hygiene practices around MHM in Pakistan.

American Pakistani Foundation: Our COVID19 awareness game CoronaCombat was translated into Urdu through a grant provided by American Pakistani Foundation. 

FLOC DC: GRID has an on-going partnership with FLOC DC where FLOC students are involved in the development of GRID’s game StereoWiped, a game that aims to wipe racial, gender and cultural stereotypes to promote tolerance and diversity.

Value Proposition: Making behavior change interactive, scalable and fun through digital games, on a global scale. 

Key GRID activities:

• Serious games development, with a focus on behavior change among the bottom billion
• Thought leadership in the serious games space 

Customers & Beneficiaries:

GRID's beneficiaries are often people around the world that are aspiring for positive behavior change, while our customers are social impact organizations and donors who are implementing programs to support behavior change in social sectors. E.g: Our game Nari Paila's consumers/beneficiaries are young adolescents in Nepal while our customer was Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health who had an on-going reproductive health awareness project in Nepal. 

Revenue Generation:

• Fee for development of games
• grant funding, 
• innovation competitions, 
• potentially in-app purchases and advertisements (to be explored in the future)

GRID will employ three strategies to expand financial growth:

(i) Continue partnerships with organisations working in the social sectors to fundraise and ensure GRID games reach the bottom billion. 

(iii) Partnerships with private sector: GRID games are tackling behavior change among the bottom billion and hence creating a niche market for the private sector. For instance, through our menstrual health game MoHiM, we are not only raising awareness and mainstreaming the conversation around menstruation but also tapping a new niche of customers for feminine care products. Through private sector partnerships, we will pursue a model where the game can be used to boost sales of pads using real-life game mechanics. As the player progresses along the game, she will be able to gather game rewards that can be traded for discount coupons on the sales of Always pads. Conversely, codes found on products (pads and soaps) can be used to "unlock" different game features.  

(iii) Explore revenue generation options through game features such as in-app purchases, advertisements and donation buttons. 

As a female-owned tech start-up, collaboration is critical to our growth. 

1. Validation: Being recognized as one of the Solvers for Solve's 2020 Global Challenges provides us with the validation that is critical when we are forging new partnerships. The visibility and prestige attached to the Award will benefit us in our next stage of growth. Our key means for growth is through collaborations with partners. We identify organizations that are working on the same issues and are interested in using our games to enhance the impact of their programs. We then explore opportunities to either have them directly fund game development or co-apply for grants that align with our joint priorities. Being a Solver will allow us to forge new partnerships. 

2. Opportunity to collaborate with other game-changers: Given that we are creating games that enhance the work of organizations in our focus areas, we see collaboration opportunities with most fellow Solvers. In particular, we would like partnerships that enable us to embed with real-life linkages to information and action in our games. 

3. The Solve prize will allow us to develop YATH. We are able to develop games in a phased-in manner and therefore align them with the availability of resources. We will define the scope of YATH based on the funding available through Solve and external partners. 

We are currently looking for collaborators who can help us in the following ways:

• Developing game content to focus on entrepreneurship and digital literacy skills
• Translating and localizing the game into other regional languages to scale its reach
• Incorporating linkages to real-life resources 
• We are interested in partnering with researchers who can help evaluate the impact of the game as well as grassroots organizations that can enhance our outreach. 

If we were to receive the Andan Prize for Innovation, we would utilize that funding to create a dedicated module of YATH focused on the needs of refugees and how they can leverage remote work opportunities.

If we were to receive the Innovation for Women Prize, we would utilize that funding to create a dedicated module of YATH focused on the needs of female entrepreneurs and how they can leverage remote work opportunities.

In developing countries in particular, the opportunities offered by women entrepreneurs help grow markets and increase employment prospects. Currently the global labour force participation rate for women is 50 per cent, compared to 77 per cent for men. Furthermore, the participation of women in entrepreneurship has traditionally been significantly lower than that of men.  Today women own and manage over 30 per cent of all businesses, but tend to be concentrated in micro and small enterprises. 

There is an absence of digital innovations that target underserved women entrepreneurs. 

The game will be launched in Pakistan, targeting women between 18 - 35 years of age. 

The team will evaluate the needs of young women in Pakistan by conducting a needs assessment and collecting data on the 3 BIGGEST challenges for young female entrepreneurs in Pakistan. This will be done through an online survey with 5-10 universities/youth serving organizations in urban cities of Pakistan. The GRID team will provide on-ground support.

Games have the power of the three "I"s, they provide an interactive and iterative learning platform to inspire behavior change. The goal is maximized enjoyment and engagement through capturing the interest of young women and inspiring them to gain skills that will enhance workforce participation and prepare them for the future of work.

If we were to receive the GM Prize on Good Jobs and Inclusive Entrepreneurship, we would utilize that funding to create a dedicated module of YATH focused on enabling working-age adults to build the skills and resources they need to access well-paying jobs in a changing marketplace. 

The module will equip youth for a “four S” journey: Skill, Search, Signal and Screen. Games are the universal language of youth; YATH uses this language to talk about youth employment.

Phase 1 – Skill: This phase will help youth gain the essential skills for job hunting and addresses the “knowing how to job-hunt” challenge. In this phase the player will play mini games that will build her skills for job hunting; such as where to look for jobs, how to build a CV or how to ace an interview. 

Phase 2 – Search: Phase 2 challenges the player to play a matching game. Youth will see a map of her city (in US or Pakistan), where they match anonymous youth profiles to job postings, both dummy and real. 

Phase 3 – Signal and Screen: The last phase will have actual local vacancies and gamifies the ‘real’ application process. Youth can play some job-specific mini tests, that combined with their player profile, can signal skills to employers and help them pre-screen.

If we were to receive the The Gulbenkian Foundation Award, we would utilize that funding to create a dedicated module of YATH focused on upskilling and greater digital literacy of young adults. We will collaborate with The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to find partners in Portugal who can support us in creating a Portugese version of the game, ensuring that the game content is context-vigilant and piloting the game in Portugal.