Dear Zindians,

This is a different type of competition on Zindi. You can use the Zindi leaderboard to validate your models. But to win a prize you need to submit directly to the USAID platform at https://competitions4dev.org/forecastingprize.

To make your final submission to USAID

• Follow https://competitions4dev.org/forecastingprize and click “Enter Now”. You will need to create an account.
• There are 4 tasks that need to be completed, each time you finish one task the next task becomes available. Please read each task carefully as they include terms and conditions.
• In task 3 you will be required to upload up to three models (You can submit up to 3 of your best models). For each model, you will be asked to provide narrative answers to the questions on the site. These answers will be used by USAID to better understand the elements of a successful model. You will need to upload your predicted values, your model and reference any additional datasets used. Take note that your predicted values/ submission file is structured slightly differently to the submission file on Zindi.
• The final task is to fill out a survey.

This challenge closes on Sunday on Zindi.

If you are considering competing for the prize on USAID we recommend that you start the application process soon. You need to submit your solution and all 4 tasks to USAID by Sep 8 2020, 03:00 PM (UTC) to be considered. Please take your time filling out the application carefully and properly to be considered for the prizes.

You can start reaching out to others on the leaderboard to see if you would like to submit together to USAID.

If you are in the top 10 at the close of the challenge Zindi will reach out to you to see if you would like to work together with a Zindi data scientist to submit to USAID in collaboration with Zindi.

All the best and we hope to see a Zindian in the final selection by USAID!