Build the Civic Engagement Platform That Gets Nigerian Youth to Participate

Nigeria's 2023 election saw the highest youth voter registration in a decade — driven partly by social media mobilisation. But registration and voting are the minimum; deeper civic engagement — community participation, local government engagement, budget tracking, public service feedback — remains almost entirely absent among young Nigerians. The platforms that enable this in other countries either do not exist in Nigeria or are designed for adult, formal-sector audiences that exclude most young Nigerians. Your challenge is to design a civic engagement platform specifically for Nigerians aged 16 to 25 that makes civic participation feel relevant and rewarding, connects young people to local government processes they can actually influence, provides youth-led accountability on local development issues, and works on basic smartphones in all six geopolitical zones. Submit a platform design document (max 12 pages) including: the specific civic actions the platform enables, how relevance and reward are designed into participation, the local government connection model, how young people in different regions engage with different local issues, the basic smartphone design, and a plan to reach 500,000 active young civic participants within 18 months. Judging criteria: 35% relevance and reward design for youth participation, 30% local government connection model, 20% basic smartphone design and accessibility, 15% activation and scale plan.