Peer to Peer (P2P): Facebook Global Digital Challenge

The P2P: Facebook Global Digital Challenge is a joint initiative with EdVenture Partners that seeks to engage university students around the world in competitions where students create social media campaigns and offline strategies to challenge hateful and extremist narratives. This is a biannual competition that runs during the fall and spring college semesters.

Student teams are judged by 5 criteria:

  1. Target Audience Research
  2. Campaign Content
  3. Evaluation Metrics
  4. Project Cost and Success Analysis
  5. Sustainability and Scalability

Structure of the P2P Challenge

Over the course of one academic term, teams of university students work with advisors to research a designated peer group audience and design a strategy to best reach those peers. Online and real-world strategies are employed to develop connections with others and produce measurable results.

Teams receive a cash budget and Facebook ad credits to implement their campaign. The top three teams are flown to either Washington, D.C. in the United States or Brussels, Belgium in Europe to compete for prizes.

Global reach. Local impact.

  • Established in 2015
  • Prizes range from $1,000 - $5,000 for top three teams (1st, 2nd, 3rd place)
  • Honorable Mention teams receive an additional $500 Facebook Ad Credit to continue promoting their work
  • Honorable Mentions also allow Facebook to stay connected with youth through each campaign cycle. Many re-enter the following year, building on what they've learned
  • Over 600 P2P campaigns funded around the globe
  • Active in 75 countries
  • Engagement with over 6,500 university students
  • Reached over 250 million people

Ongoing engagement

  • 25% of campaigns continue beyond competition period, leaving a lasting impact on the communities they serve. Many go on to:
    • Receive grants for continuation of their work
    • Incorporate as a business, franchise, or NGO
    • Partner with leading regional and global NGOs to expand reach
    • Speak at conferences on peace, tolerance, students and social cohesion, allowing them to become thought leaders for their community

Spotlight on: P2P Finalists

SPRING 2019 WINNER

Postive Bangladesh

School: University of Dhaka

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Tagline: #SpreadPositivity

POSITIVE BANGLADESH is a social startup that offers the youth a platform to engage in creative activities and nurture positive thinking. In short term, the youth engage with their communities, setting the grounds for tolerance and coexistence, and provide them a sense of purpose and belonging, while transforming them into passionate individuals and agents for countering religious extremism and social stereotypes in the long run.

"The youth are often overwhelmed with energy to invest. The absence of the right outlet makes them susceptible to negative distraction. We fail to perceive the danger lower level of engagements poses; as it naturally creates isolation and social communication disorder, they become vulnerable to manipulation."

Dr. Mekhala Sarkar, Associate Professor Dept. of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health

FALL 2018 WINNER

Çocuk Gibi Bak | See Like A Child

School: Izmir University of Economics

Location: Turkey

ÇOCUK GIBI BAK is a social responsibility project intended to protect the futures of 1.7 million children refugees in Turkey by enlisting the compassionate support of university students, aged 18-25.

Through community partnerships and events, they emphasize the need for refugee children to feel accepted and encouraged in order to thrive happily into adulthood.

Çocuk Gibi Bak conducted 60 in-depth interviews and secured 10 community partnerships as a result of their efforts to engage their peers on this issue.

SPRING 2018 WINNER

Bonding Beyond Borders

School: KU Leuven

Location: Belgium

BONDING BEYOND BORDERS is an offline-online campaign to counter intolerance and prevent discrimination from developing amongst 12-30 year olds. Through interactive and fun card games, students develop a genuine understanding of each other’s daily situation. The card game, supported by digital content via our website, tells the stories of very different people. The game challenges students to get to know their unknowns, driving home the point that the better we know each other, the more we accept each other. This campaign took place in Belgium and Madrid, Spain.

Bonding Beyond Borders conducted in-depth interviews, online game surveys, and drew on existing research to develop their strategy of targeting teachers and professors from secondary schools and higher education.

"My experience with the game is that it is a very educational game. The students realize they have many prejudices and these prejudices are tackled throughout the game."

Teacher on Bonding Beyond Borders

Previous P2P Winners

2017 Winners

2017 Winners

FALL
Design Akademie
Berlin, Germany
Don’t Be Silent

 

SPRING
University of Dhaka
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Think Twice, Act Wise

2016 Winners

2016 Winners

FALL
Notre Dame University
Beirut, Lebanon
ACT

 

SPRING
Laal-u-Anar Foundation
Afghanistan
Islam Says No to Extremism

2015 Winner

2015 Winner

FALL
Turku School of Economics
Turku, Finland
Choose Your Future

EdVenture Partners (EVP) is an organization dedicated to developing innovative industry-education partnership programs. These experiential learning opportunities provide hands-on, real-world experience to students in addition to providing social impact and community outreach opportunities at colleges, universities, and high schools. EVP has designed and managed programs at over 800 schools in North America and internationally.

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