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SDG Impact Projects

Every year 100 young leaders from over 30 countries collaborated to create over 20 impact projects addressing

UN Sustainable Development Goals. Below, you find information about selected projects, some of which are currently mentored by the University of Oxford in the follow-up of GLC 2020-2023.

The schools in India have enjoyed rich traditions in the ancient history of education. The Vedic-age “Gurukul” (schools) that opened their doors for admission to all strata of society, followed a structured curriculum in the teaching of religion, scriptures, philosophy, literature, warfare, medicine, astrology and gave importance to activities like yoga, meditation, mantra chanting and art that generated positivity.

Today, the schools in rural India are found struggling, with faculty inefficiencies, lack of infrastructure, and absence of value-based and holistic learning. 500 million people aged 15 to 24 years in India are enrolled in secondary, higher education, yet the literacy rate is only 69.3%. Lack of quality education in India has led to poor outcomes in the economy, politics, social well-being and the markets. While school enrolment rates are significant, there is a gap in digital literacy.
 The present project reviews the current status of schools in rural India by drawing a national picture substantiated with field observations and interviews [1] in the rural villages of Uttar Pradesh, India in order to examine the realities on the ground and to develop an understanding of the different contexts in which rural schools function.
 Through our project, Gurukul on Wheels (GROW), we aim to solve this prevalent and massive problem of education inequality worldwide. GROW is a distributed network of mobile classrooms with interdisciplinary expert teachers travelling across the country, to increasingly dissolve the urban-rural divide and fostering unity among students, while promoting cross-cultural learning.

Our project offers 3 prominent features:
1. Firstly,
Our diverse experienced gurus (teacher) offer multidisciplinary, holistic education through specialised masterclasses and elective courses.  
2. Secondly,
Inspired by the ancient Indian Gurukul system, we prioritise experiential learning both indoors but also outdoors in nature. Practical teachings take precedence over theoretical concepts, with ethical values, a strong moral foundation and the art of living.

3. Third:
Our mobile classrooms utilise solar-powered Vehicles, bringing electricity to remote corners on earth. Equipped with wifi, e-learning tools, and AI-gamification.

Reference:
[1] Mr. Pratham Singh (Professional cricketer and Founder of ASP Vidyapeeth, a non profit educational institution in Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, India) in discussion with the authors at New Delhi, India, December, 2023.

GURUKUL ON WHEELS (GROW): Digital Education Vehicles

According to the IEA report (2022), the transportation subsector is on the path of contributing about 90% of carbon emissions by the year 2070. Our project, tackling climate change by building reliance on public transport systems, is dedicated to confronting this challenge head-on. We recognize the critical decision individuals face between residing close to essential amenities and enduring lengthy commutes, often reliant on private transportation methods. This situation increases inequality and social costs, highlighting the urgency for effective public transport systems.

Our initiative aims to build trust and engagement in public transport, particularly in emerging cities like Accra, Ghana, where existing services often fail to meet the needs of regular commuters. Through the development of an open-source GPS-based application, we seek to revolutionize the reliability of public transport by seamlessly integrating real-time scheduling information and flexible routing options into the existing infrastructure. By empowering commuters with tools to anticipate arrivals and enjoy bespoke services, we aim to enhance the overall user experience and encourage a shift away from private vehicle reliance.

The core features of our app include gamification elements, strategic campaigns, and robust community engagement strategies to foster a sense of ownership and participation among users. In the short term, we anticipate immediate benefits for commuters, such as improved time management, increased convenience, and reduced stress associated with public transit.

Looking ahead, the long-term impacts of our project will include societal and environmental advantages. By leveraging data-driven insights, regulatory bodies can formulate targeted interventions to bolster PT infrastructure in high-traffic areas, thereby mitigating climate change effects. Ultimately, our vision is to catalyze a change in thinking towards sustainable urban mobility as a contributory measure to achieving SDG 13 –taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.

Tackling Climate Change by Building Reliance in Public Trans

The Challenge? Why does it matter?

One-third of all food produced globally is wasted, with a staggering 44% of total waste comprising food, of which 66% is compostable. This alarming trend stems from various factors, including the significant contribution of food waste to methane production, accounting for half of the world's methane emissions. Moreover, one in three people worldwide suffers from food insecurity, exacerbating social inequalities and humanitarian crises. Additionally, food waste exacerbates soil infertility and health issues while contributing to water scarcity and carbon emissions, particularly through scope 3 carbon issues. Furthermore, the presence of plastics mixed with food debris poses a significant challenge, as it cannot be efficiently recycled, further compounding environmental degradation. Addressing these interconnected challenges requires holistic approaches that integrate sustainable practices throughout the food system, from production to consumption, to mitigate waste and its multifaceted impacts.

Actions & Impact?

ACTIONS: Individuals can contribute by segregating waste and learning composting techniques, reducing the amount of organic material that ends up in landfills. Corporations can play a role by developing viable composting equipment to manage organic waste efficiently. Restaurants can repurpose leftover food to minimize waste. Communities can establish composting zones and community gardens to further composting efforts locally. Governments can implement policies to limit the collection of wet waste through circular economy initiatives. NGOs and governments can collaborate to supply excess compost to farmers, supporting sustainable agriculture. Technology can aid in waste management with innovations like smart trash bins that utilize carbon credits to incentivize proper disposal practices. Together, these actions can significantly reduce food waste and its environmental impact.

IMPACT: Efforts to reduce food waste offer a multitude of benefits across various sectors. By diverting organic waste from landfills, we can mitigate methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas, by up to 63%, contributing significantly to climate change mitigation. Additionally, redistributing surplus food helps alleviate hunger and poverty by overcoming food shortages. Initiatives promoting community gardening foster social engagement, while providing organic produce enhances health and well-being. Moreover, composting enriches soil fertility, reducing production costs in agriculture. Efficient recycling methods for other waste streams further minimize environmental impact. Additionally, embracing carbon-negative practices can earn carbon credits, incentivizing sustainable waste management and supporting broader environmental conservation efforts.

Love Food, Hate Waste!

NutriLink is a groundbreaking project committed to tackling the urgent challenge of nutrition disparities on a global scale. In a world where access to vital nutrition information is uneven, we've designed a comprehensive one-stop platform. The core challenge we address is the stark inequality in nutrition awareness and healthy practices, especially within marginalized communities. People with limited access to nutrition education face higher health risks, perpetuating cycles of undernutrition and poor health.

Our approach involves strategic community empowerment initiatives and a tech-enhanced platform. By collaborating with donor agencies and local governments, we aim to elevate living standards and actively engage 100,000 individuals in community nutrition initiatives. The NutriLink app serves as a Nutrition Knowledge Hub, providing essential insights to empower individuals in making informed dietary choices. Through gamification, we incentivize users to accumulate points for purchasing healthy food, with earned points contributing to charitable donations.

The potential impact of NutriLink is significant. In the short term, we foresee the active involvement of 100,000 individuals in community-based nutrition initiatives, leading to enhanced nutrition awareness among 10,000 marginalized individuals. The long-term goal is to cultivate a culture of well-being, resulting in sustained behavioral changes and contributing to increased lifespans, ultimately reducing undernutrition threats.

NutriLink represents responsible leadership in action, upholding values of accountability, justice, integrity, and humility. Our vision aspires to make nutrition a fundamental right, championing inclusivity and accessibility. By prioritizing evidence-based decision-making and fostering sustainability through community-centered initiatives, NutriLink seeks to create a world where nutrition knowledge is accessible to all, empowering individuals to lead healthier lives. Join us in reshaping the narrative around nutrition and building a healthier, more equitable future.

NutriLink:One-stop platform enabling marginalized population

Create an immersive and interactive experience that allows users to visualize the climate impact of their actions, track their government’s actions in local languages, petition against harmful policies, or talk to experts to understand the implications of these climate actions.

Climate Action Tracker

We propose to address three critical areas within the scope of factors leading to gender inequality via our easy-to-use, multilingual, free app solution-1st - the gender based data gap that has led to the promulgation of gender-biased education resources, 2nd-the accessibility and affordability gap of education by women in war-torn areas, and people with disabilities and 3rd- the gap between skill-set existing amongst these invisible groups within women and job opportunities made available to them.
We envision women as “Right Holders” hence it becomes critical to address and rectify the existing gender data gaps in the curriculum as these perpetuate gender stereotypes amongst women. Second, our vision extends to the recognition of gender-specific skillsets and training that may be required for invisible groups within women (for example women in war-torn areas and women with disabilities) to secure a job of their dreams.
The platform we envision provides training and quality educational resources specifically catering to the needs and interests of each rightholder, with the help of AI-based solutions, formulating a holistic approach of fun-filled games-based training and creating an educational virtual reality that may especially be helpful for women with disabilities (less mobility).
We will also feature invisible women in history who have contributed magnanimously to STEM, politics, literature etc. from all walks of life on our platform as role models to create positive attitudinal changes.
We will be partnering with Coursera, LinkedIn learning and Khan Academy in a bid to provide free access to education We have come up with a subscription-model for our male supporters, the revenue generated thereof will be used to fund operations and support the women in accessing education opportunities in vulnerable situations. Empowering future women leaders with self-confidence, resilience, empathy, and purpose would be the larger impact of our proposal.

Empower Women to Education and Jobs

Education systems are constantly lagging behind in terms of preparing today's youth for the future. Requirements change faster than ever before but the educational systems lag behind in addressing these rapidly changing needs.

New skills emerge rapidly, but current systems fail to appropriately create the incentive and communication channels such that the flow from industry needs can rapidly manifest in actual changes to what students learn in school.

We propose a two-part solution that addresses these concerns both from a technological point of view and also from a system incentive point of view. The symbiosis of these two elements is what constitutes the encompassing solution which is not only technologically sound but also recognises the incentive structure of all relevant stakeholders.

Open Source Data Platform
(1) Student Skills (2) Market Need (3) Adaptation Rate
→ objective data to inform trade-offs

Incentive structure: why will stakeholders report & act?
- Employer: professional org req, taxes, benchmarks
- Schools: automate, allow+reward experimentation
- Education boards: international benchmarking
- Governments: employment outcomes reporting

Goals
- Short-term. Partnership with teachers association & ministry of education in a specific country looking to change curriculum → a modern and adaptable curriculum
- Medium. Education Roundtables, Benchmarking
- Long. Countries all around the world continuously and cheaply adapt to changing demands

Ed Canopus

While much of rural India lacks access to quality education in general, this has been particularly exemplified in the last few years by the reliance on online learning. 946 million (96%) of rural Indian population lacks access to computers (1) and around 700 million (71%) people in rural India lacks access to internet (2). Tech-to-Teach aims to bridge this gap to empower local communities, by developing e-learning centers in communities to transform the learning experience and prepare the children for the digital future.

At the heart of the project lies close cooperation with businesses The businesses would provide the digital devices which are not needed by them. The devices would be data formatted and installed with an off-line e-learning tool (like Kolibri). The curriculum would be developed for children between the age of 10 to 18, having a focus on both hard skills (math, science etc.) and soft skills (language, entrepreneurship, communication etc.). The devices would then be transported from Tech-to-Teach hubs to respective learning centers in rural areas. The teaching via the apps would be in gamified form to improve classroom engagement, moving from traditional learning methods to a more enriching learning experience.

The project is driven by the fundamentals of sustainability and an equitable future, by maximizing resource utilization to provide basic opportunities via education to everyone. The tangible impacts would be realized in the local economy where proliferation of tech knowledge would open local employment opportunities for the children, boost their confidence, and improve their soft skills (e.g., language). Furthermore, this project opens an important dialogue between the different stakeholders to collectively address important challenges at the most grassroot level and directly or indirectly impact other sustainable development goals (e.g., Gender equality, escaping poverty to name a few) by utilizing strengthening global partnerships (SDG17).

Tech-to-Teach: End-to-end offline-education model

Mental Health App "ConnectUs"

As of 2018, Generation X occupies 51% of the decision-making roles globally, and constitutes 75% of the EU's MPs. Across the EU, older generations have higher attribution to skepticism and lesser perception of the consequences of climate change compared to younger generations (Poortinga et al., 2019). Climate change is an issue with inter-generational impact, thus, decision made today will have a longer term impact on the future. As a result, it is imperative for decision-makers to understand the importance of their climate decisions, and for younger generation feel that adequate measures are taken so that it does not lead to extreme actions.

This is why, during the Global Leadership Challenge, we have introduced Dialogues for Future, facilitating inter-generational dialogue on climate change. Where dialogues on climate change through:
1. Workshops for communication trainings
- Com. training on NVC, Socratic dialogue, other
- Science based inputs on climate change facts
- Community building
2. Database of resources including how-to videos and blueprints for comm. and political engagement
3. Facilitated Dialogue Sessions between certified climate change debaters and decision makers

This would in turn benefit generations through:
1. Short-term:
- Participants of Gen Z/ Y: Acquire climate knowledge, build communication skills, address perception gap among generations
- Participants Gen X/ Boomers: Awareness of climate change influence on them (economic, health, etc.)
2. Long-term:
- Foster intergenerational understanding and build a sense of responsibility; unify people of different generations to achieve a common goal; together act/ convince decision makers to fight climate change.
- Establish a community of climate-enthusiasts, affiliates and stakeholders around the world for future initiatives, enriched with know-how through the climate database.

We are looking to bridging inter-generational differences by breaking up generational echo chambers and foster engagement through productive, respectful dialogue, promote empathy across generations, and address vulnerability e.g. fear of change/ future; we are also looking to empowering individuals to drive change by showing them a path of action and give voice to engaged youth, and share feeling of purpose and belonging, encourage to tackle ‘wicked problems’ and acting instead of feeling hopeless.

Dialogues for the Future

Public and private sector procurement accounts for 20-30% of global GDP each year. The tremendous purchasing power is capable of shifting demand towards new products and services with a lighter carbon footprint. Our group plan consult with organization to implement SP framework, create prioritized product list, implement procurement e-platform, and conduct trainings to help organizations improve their SP practices. In the long term, we aim to make SP mandatory for all procuring entities. Market power will become the invisible hand to shift the production of products and services to be more sustainable. Price of sustainable products will drop as more options become available on the market.

Building Green Market through Sustainable Procurement

Feelings of loneliness peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 60% of the young population reporting high levels of loneliness. Those who were most affected were young people and older adults. Loneliness significantly impacts mental health and has been linked to depression, anxiety, and substance use. Therefore, generating wide-ranging societal mental and physical health burdens on already strained healthcare systems. As a result, many countries have already begun to address the issue of loneliness by instituting Ministries of Loneliness as a part of their mental health agenda. This proposed InterGeneration is an evidence-based platform that fosters dynamic, reciprocal mentorship between youth and older adults through 1:1 guided sessions to increase protective factors of mental health, specifically meaningful social connections and educational engagement, thereby addressing loneliness at its roots. Significant research supports the role of mentoring relationships as a means to reduce symptoms of depression and loneliness and improve the overall quality of life. While traditional mentorship programs are largely unidirectional, InterGenerations structured mentorship sessions involve the bi-directional sharing of skills and perspectives between youth and older adults and a matching algorithm based on users' context and priorities. This platform could partner with institutions such as schools, community centres, and retirement facilities. We see this project as enabling younger mentors to gain confidence, skills and access to networks. While for older mentors, this will allow them to give back to society while gaining skills and a sense of purpose. All at the same time, capitalising off the currently underutilised value of meaningful intergenerational relationships.

InterGeneration

The RISE project addresses the critical mental health challenges faced by Indigenous Arctic communities, driven by the understanding that mental health is a pivotal aspect of overall well-being, particularly in regions with extreme environmental and social stressors. Indigenous populations in the Arctic face unique mental health challenges, exacerbated by factors like isolation, climate change, and cultural erosion, making access to culturally sensitive mental health services essential.
Our initiative focuses on creating a comprehensive online platform that centralizes mental health resources and facilitates collaboration among healthcare professionals. This digital resource aims to bridge the gap in mental health services, ensuring that care is both accessible and culturally informed. To complement the online platform, RISE also envisions conducting in-person training workshops for local healthcare providers. These workshops are designed to enhance the skills of local practitioners, ensuring they are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to offer effective, culturally appropriate care.
The impact of RISE is twofold: firstly, it seeks to empower Indigenous communities by advocating for their rights to accessible and culturally relevant healthcare. Secondly, it aims to strengthen the mental health service framework within these communities, enhancing the quality and reach of mental health care. By focusing on culturally-informed care and community-driven solutions, RISE aspires to create a more inclusive and equal healthcare environment. This initiative not only addresses the immediate need for improved mental health services but also contributes to the long-term resilience and sustainability of Indigenous Arctic communities.

RISE: Responsible Indigenous Support & Empowerment

Horizons of Hope tackles the pressing issue of mental health (MH) among teen refugees in Southern Italy, where 40-50% experience MH disorders, and there's a scarcity of provision and resources. MH is integral to well-being, societal contributions, and political integration. The project implements outdoor retreats, engaging 13-17-year-olds in nature-based activities to enhance mental resilience. With a circular mentorship model, former participants become facilitators, fostering leadership and a continual cycle of learning. The long-term impact includes resilience, social skills, and lifelong well-being for participants, while promoting integration, understanding, and economic contribution in the local community and society at large.

Responsible Leadership:
Horizons of Hope demonstrates responsible leadership through a vision focused on addressing little-known MH issues in refugee teens with curiosity, purpose, and creativity. The action plan combines team knowledge with research synthesis, utilizing skills in teamwork, shared leadership, adaptability, risk management, organization, budgeting, and programming. The project values empathy, humility, and resources, caring for teens' well-being, taking a culturally-sensitive approach, and developing human capital. Collaboration, care, and commitment underscore the project's approach.

Impact:
The short-term outcomes include resilience, social skills, coping mechanisms, confidence, and skill development for teen participants, with long-term benefits of lifelong well-being, empowerment, and advocacy skills. The impact extends to the local community and wider society, fostering integration, understanding, skills for teenagers, friendships, greater economic and cultural contributions of refugees, and promoting inclusivity and gender equality.

Collaboration - Care - Commitment:
Horizons of Hope embodies collaboration through a circular mentorship model, care by addressing the scarcity of MH resources for teen refugees, and commitment to continual learning, adaptability, and co-creating value for the well-being, development, and empowerment of participants.

Horizons of Hope: Refugees’ Well-being & Integration

The alarming surge in CO2 emissions due to wildfires and stubble burnings has reached unprecedented levels. In 2021 alone, 1.76 billion tons of CO2 were emitted, marking a 150% surge compared to the average annual emissions during 2000-2020. This surge not only exacerbates environmental concerns but intensifies socio-economic stress esp. in LDCs. Efforts to suppress wildfires are impeded, urging for sustainable solutions. As such, these emissions jeopardise human health, biodiversity and ecosystems except for contributing to greenhouse effect and climate instability. Moreover, the disproportionate impact on LDCs aggravates existing vulnerabilities, hindering sustainable development progress and perpetuating socio-economic disparities.

To address the conundrum, a community awareness program should be launched first to disseminate the effectiveness and sustainable use of biochar. Secondly, a biochar production network must be developed in collaboration with local farmers, forestry agencies, and environmental organisations through a Public-Private Partnership model. Lastly, community-led biochar production centres should be established to process forestry and agricultural residues, effectively mitigating GHG emissions.

Biochar production centres bring instant benefits by decreasing GHG emissions from forests and farms, improving soil water and nutrient retention for increased crop yields, and boosting households’ income. Over time, these centres expedite climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, enhance productivity and food security, bolster community resilience, eliminate chemical fertilisers, promote sustainable practices, and foster socioeconomic and environmental synergies for sustainable development.

In our quest for emerging ideas, we often overlook the importance of executing existing ones in innovative ways to articulate sustainability, i.e., economic viability, environmental soundness, and social acceptability.
This project focuses on reducing emissions from stubble burning and wildfires by utilising forest debris and stubble to produce biochar. Situating the plant near forests and farms minimises raw material costs and transportation distances. Leveraging local communities also safeguards social inclusivity, making the project eco-friendly and socially profound.

Enviro-Solutions

There is a marked shortage of clean energy investments in developing countries. Energy demand continues to accelerate, especially in Africa and Asia, due to income and population growth. Data availability is a key barrier to clean energy investment in these regions.
We develop an online platform that aggregates country-level data (starting with Africa and Asia) on technical feasibility, the policy and regulatory environment, economic viability, and research, thereby engaging stakeholders to catalyze investment action.

Short-term impact involves de-risking clean energy investments by providing investors with crucial data to make informed decisions. Long-term impact consists of securing wide-scale, sustainable financing for clean energy infrastructure projects (including traditional start-up investment avenues and international private equity options).
Ultimately, we accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy while achieving shared prosperity.

This project challenges an unequal status quo, which sustains power imbalances between developing and developed
countries. The project commits to a just and equal energy transition that leaves no society behind.

GreenEconomix: Minimizing Barriers, Maximizing Impact

Young professionals in the global workforce (20-34 yrs) are most eager to prove themselves resulting in high levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression due to burnout. The symptoms exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to continue in the post pandemic world. The stigma of mental health causes huge gaps in the prevention and treatment of such diseases. In fact, there is the prevalent toxic view that "burnout is an inevitable psrt of success" despite chronic burnout causing 26-35% higher risk of early mortality. One of the consequences on our society ist the global GDP loss of 1T$ due to productivity loss from anxiety and depression.
Icebreakers addresses the above described issues impacting the situation as follows. In the short term, peer-support through buddy system tackles 25% rise in anxiety and depression (pandemic-induced) while addressing 40% prevalence of loneliness in young professionals.
In the long term, celebrating self-care change stories via community meetings demystifies the toxic beliefs about mental health, mitigates stigmatisation, and reduces threshold for seeking care in young professionals.

Icebreakers

• Gender stereotypes that are internalised in the
minds of girls which prevent them from being
independent decision makers to the extent that
they surrender to their futures being determined
for them. We are specifically targeting
stereotypes that cannot be tackled through
receiving school education.
• Internalised empowerment of women ensures a
life-long of correct choices.
Creating a reference of life skills in the form of
an App called “For Life” for women aged 11-18.
Two categories of life skills will be central to our
project: Empower girls to 1) deal with difficult
situations 2) identify & utilize opportunities
● Magazine format in areas with limited access
to technology.
● A list of emergency contact list for each
country.
● Mentor/mentee pairing

● Short term outcome: The App will be
available for free in one developed
country and the magazine distributed
monthly in one developing country.
● Long term Outcome: Reach at least 5
more countries by 2030.

‘For Life’: Empowering Girls for a Bright Future

With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, the primary challenge is that an alarming majority of countries around the world have yet to adapt their educational curriculums to meet the demands of the future.

The lack of Industry 4.0 integration into the educational curriculum of nations around the world creates a significant gap in the labor market and its readiness to meet the demands of the future.

This issue greatly affects countries in both the developed and developing ends of the spectrum, thus, there is a clear need for proactive steps to be taken for the young workforce to be ready for the needs of the future.

The venture is implemented in 3 phases per partner country:

Phase 1 National Assessment (1 year)
We identify gaps in the national curriculum

Phase 2 Proof of Concept Stage (2-5 years)
Based on these gaps, we develop interventions for schools at the local level as part of the pilot stage. We work with local schools first in order to build a solid case for scaling up to the regional-national level.

Phase 3 National Integration (5-10 years)
Once we have a solid case utilizing our impact data, the dialogue can begin on integration on the national level.

The primary goal of the program is to equip students and recalibrate existing national frameworks to adapt to the needs of the future - by working directly with the government, Octavia aims to build lasting systems that will create systemic change in the countries where we will operate in.

Octavia

Common Mental Disorders are a significant global problem affecting 1 billion people annually, but they disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries, where up to 90% of the burden of disease occurs. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated mental health issues, with a 25% increase in prevalence, particularly among vulnerable populations such as senior citizens and young adults. In Africa, there is a severe shortage of mental-health workers, with only 1.6 per 100,000 population in 2020, compared to 45 per 100,000 in Europe. Additionally, stigma surrounding CMD’s and affordability prevents many people from seeking care, leading to a downward spiral of poverty and poor health outcomes.

To address these challenges, we developed Ubuntu, a multi-faceted community-based intervention aimed at tackling the problem from both ends in our target country: Nigeria. Through the use of SMS broadcasts containing educational content on common mental disorders, we aim to raise public awareness and knowledge on a national scale, normalizing vulnerability and encouraging positive health-seeking behaviors. We will also scale up task shifting initiatives, training laypeople, community matriarchs and nurses to act as mental health workers in rural community hubs, where 60% of the population lives. This will not only increase the effective mental health workforce, but also promote intergenerational and bidirectional knowledge and support exchange, building capacity for future generations and protecting the most vulnerable.

In the short term, we aim to reach a potential 30 million people over the course of a year, while also linking them with trained, empathetic community-based mental health workers. In the long term, our goal is to break the cycle of poverty and mental health issues and create societies that can reach their full socioeconomic potential, free from stigma and the devastating consequences of suicide and mental health disorders.

Ubuntu = (Zulu) ‘togetherness/humanity to others’

Frontline communities in a lot of developing countries lack timely access to climate risk information and urgent environmental notifications, what makes them vulnerable to extreme weather events, resulting in food and water insecurity, conflict, migration etc. Around 21.5 million people have been forcefully displaced annually since 2008 by weather-related events and around 1.2 billion climate migrants are estimated by 2050. Tackling the issue of lacking climate information could have a fruitful impact where it is desperately needed.

Thats why we came up with the concept of an hybrid solution that provides area-specific, actionable climate information to vulnerable communities using a three-fold communication system that is being translated into the respective local language. As a first step, the solution will convert complex digital meteorological data into actionable information provided to communities as weekly updates. People lack not only the information, but also the ability to read them in a way that is applicable to their respective challenges. Thats why easy language and quick application to farm and household decisions is crucial. In a second way, the system will provide a predictive model meant to alert the local community of upcoming short and medium-term climate risks (extreme temperatures, severe storms, wildfires, mudslides, water shortage) and will give them information, how to mitigate these risks. Lastly, it should give urgent updates and natural disaster warnings, so people will be somehow able to prepare for floods etc.

In the short term, the solution will have an impact on individuals access to critical climate information, what will enable them to take informed farm-level (when to plant, when to process farm products, when to irrigate etc.) and household-level decisions (what kind of clothes to wear etc.). In turn, this will offer them autonomy, agency, and the capacity to devise adaptation strategies and build resilience in the face of adversity.
In the long-term, a general increase in food security, improved rural livelihoods, increased social cohesion and reduced climate-induced socio-cultural and economic grievances should occur. This aims to promote climate, social, gender and racial justice, as well as peace.

Climate Info-powerment - build resilience to climate risk

Challenge - Currently, a significant number of people worldwide are working on climate actions. However, in the majority of the population, there is widespread climate despair, and the difference between climate mitigation and climate adaptation thoughts is hurdling the progress of effective transformation to net zero. The existence of borders between communities and nations are preventing effective synergies on climate initiatives of different scale. Effective social dialogue has proved very challenging in many places and industries where a majority of revenue is coming from the old practice of unsustainable extractions. The potential of people's action power remains hidden.

Action - We propose to create a peer-to-peer platform that addresses these issues called Climate Xchange. People from different parts of the world could have equal access to this place. A climate mitigator and climate adaptor are being matched on the basis of different backgrounds. They meet regularly online for a period depending on the scale of problems that they are currently facing. Additional information on empowering climate action and question sets are being used to guide the process of knowledge exchange, responsibility sharing, and collective action on common interests. Once the matching period ends, generation from the peer is shared globally.

Impact - This platform will build the feeling of climate action that is currently lacking among the general public. In the short term, there will be a large number of pairs being formed on the Climate Xchange platform, and their collaboration process could generate many invaluable insights on climate action, which could, in turn, significantly enlarge the synergy among climate action projects of adaptation and mitigation in different parts of the world under different contexts. In the long term, a global network of Climate Xchanger is being created, and their experiences are being shared, scaling the climate actions.

Climate Xchange

Consumer polling shows that many people are interested in adjusting their consumption behaviours in order to lower their environmental impact. However, many consumers are unaware of how best to make these changes, and what options are available. Worse still, a large amount of apps, platforms and websites already exist to drive individual sustainability, but these tools are disbursed and have low user numbers, making them less effective and confusing consumers.

This is where Green Map comes in. In an environment of too many options and too few users, Green Map will help consumers make climate-friendly choices in an efficient, accessible and intuitive way.

Green Map is an easy-to-install extension, which can be added to one’s browser and apply to apps such as Google Maps. When added, Green Map will allow Google Maps’ 1.5 billion monthly users to simply click on a button and overlay a map of sustainable consumption options, revealing greener choices.

At first, a given business's status as 'sustainable' will be determined using existing sustainability rating systems, like B-Corp. Green Map will also highlight farmer's markets and second-hand stores, which in their nature contribute to a green economy and locally-sourced consumption.

Green Map will have strong sustainability impacts, both at the level of the user and the business. In highlighting sustainable consumption options and helping millions of users to prioritize climate-friendly behaviours, Green Map directly meets the challenge of UN SDG 13 (Climate Action). It also provides exposure for green businesses, increasing the visibility of sustainable consumption and contributing to a greener economy.

In an environment of too many options and too little app engagement, Green Map provides a feasible and accessible way for consumers to make climate-friendly choices, within an app that they already use.

It's time to map out a green future together.

Green Map

SAGO FOR INTERGENERATIONAL GENDER EQUALITY

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