Deadline: November 1, 2022
Applications for the SDG Innovation Challenge 2022 are now open.

Designed as a virtual, pan-African ideation space, the SDG Innovation Challenge is a powerhouse for young people from across the continent to come together and co-develop practical solution ideas to grassroots challenges while pushing the needle of sustainable development on a global scale.

Conceived in 2020, this innovation challenge calls upon participants to employ their design and complex thinking skills that solve problems in a measurable and qualitative manner. The COVID-19 pandemic left a debilitating imprint: according to the World Bank, COVID-19 has pushed nearly 40 million people into extreme poverty in Africa and harmed the economy and livelihoods in multiple ways.

About the Challenge
The SDG Innovation Challenge 2022 builds upon its precedents to create a bigger space for expanded outreach and wider horizons. Under the theme Transformative Solutions against Global Challenges – Accountability in Leveraging Youth Action to Create and Empower, the SDG Innovation Challenge converges young talent with three primary goals:

• to trigger fresh thinking by connecting innovators from diverse backgrounds and sectors.
• to develop fresh, practical approaches to furthering SDG impact through cross-boundary collaboration.
• to ignite transformative action towards sustainable development and improved livelihoods of communities across Africa.

Benefits
The SDG Innovation Challenge is where motivated young Africans come together to co-develop practical innovations that further sustainable development of their local communities. There are numerous reasons to participate; here are a few of them:

• Access to an unorthodox, dynamic, and diverse platform of youth activists, organizations, and legislators – Tap into a conducive online space to converge around practical SDG solutions!
• A much-needed opportunity to visualize and implement the SDGs at the grassroots level – Participate in the making of the future and jumpstart your involvement in the sustainable development agenda as an active, passionate global citizen.
• Immense networking potential – Build connections and be part of a community of practice around eco-systemic, collaborative solutions.
• A space to exercise your global citizenship muscle – Sharpen and hone skills in leadership, innovation, cross-sector collaboration, analytic thinking, interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and allied areas.
• Sourcing diversity of thought, background, and sector – Collaborate with people from a plethora of domains, be it engineering, design, civic policy, social justice reform, project management, finance, education, and many others.

Eligibility

• Open to participation from young people across Africa.
• Have a connection to this year’s challenge theme: Transformative Solutions against Global Challenges – Accountability in Leveraging Youth Action to Create and Empower.
• Have passion, drive, and commitment to improving livelihoods in your community and beyond.
• A genuine interest in sustainable development and desire to contribute to advancing the SDGs in your community and beyond.
• The motivation to work in an agile hackathon-like environment, to engage pro-actively, and to ideate extensively throughout the event.
• Desire to connect and collaborate with people from different domains and geographies.
• The ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.
• The commitment to take the idea to completion and remain engaged with the cause post the SDG Innovation Challenge.

Application
The registration follows a two-step process:

• First, you must register your group – this can be done by any one person in that group. You must have the names and email addresses of the young innovators you’ll be working with at hand since you will be asked to provide that information in the online registration form.
  Please note: Whether you’re looking for a group to enter the Challenge, you would want some more diversity of thought and talent in your group, or you ‘just’ want to meet like-minded, committed people who care about the SDGs: the pre-event connector space on Facebook is the space to be. It’s open for business, whatever your business might be.
• After completing the group registration, the registrant will receive an email with instructions for the second step, the personal registry, where each group member must provide additional personal information that is required to make the event a full success. Both steps are equally important, and only groups who have completed both steps will be considered for participation in the SDG Innovation Challenge 2022.

For more information, visit SDG Innovation Challenge.