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Announced by the United Nations in 2015, The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are recognized as one of the most powerful drivers of inclusive growth and sustainable development.
As the world sets out to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, SDSN Youth and NOVA Impact have partnered to launch the inaugural Global Youth Innovation and Global SDG Impact Awards.
These awards are a global call to action to recognize, showcase, and support the best and brightest ideas and solutions led by the SDSN Youth youth global community and the strongest commitments driven by the private sector and academia changemakers. These changemaker’s commitments and solutions are providing pathways toward realizing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our goal is to award ideas and commitments rigorously designed to test, learn, and scale solutions and build a worldwide community of learning, practice, and action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. That’s a big task. Join Us!
The world faces unprecedented challenges, and each year, we continue to fall behind on our commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals. The lack of progress and structural impediments are compounding and accelerating key challenges we face this century, from global poverty to rampant inequality, to a warming planet and mass biodiversity extinction, that will shape the ability of future generations to survive and thrive on this planet.
"In 2015, 10 percent of the world’s population or 734 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day."
"Current estimates are that nearly are hungry, or 8.9 percent of the world population – up by 10 million people in one year and by nearly 60 million in five years."
"In 2018 an estimated 6.2 million children and adolescents under the age of 15 years died, mostly from preventable causes."
"Before the coronavirus crisis, projections showed that more than 200 million children would be out of school, and only 60 per cent of young people would be completing upper secondary education in 2030."
"While women have made important inroads into political office across the world, their representation in national parliaments at 23.7 per cent is still far from parity."
"3 in 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking water services."
"13 percent of the global population still lacks access to modern electricity."
"Roughly half the world’s population still lives on the equivalent of about US$2 a day."
"16 percent of the global population does not have access to mobile broadband networks."
"Evidence from developing countries shows that of the population are still up to three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children in the richest quintiles"
"Half of Humanity – 3.5 billion people – lives in cities today and 5 billion people are projected to live in cities by 2030"
"According to latest projections, the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050. The equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles."
"Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased by almost 50 per cent since 1990."
"Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods."
"Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood, including 70 million indigenous people."
"Among the institutions most affected by corruption are the judiciary and police."
"Net Official Development Assistance flows by member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development totaled $147.4 billion in 2019."
These awards are a global call for applications and nominations for our more than 3,000 Youth network Members worldwide and initiatives in the private sector and academia that are building real solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals. The awards are designed to identify, uplift, and award outstanding innovation, initiative, creativity, and enterprise that can serve as a building block to begin a global movement to scale the Sustainable Development Goal impact.
The Global Youth Innovation Awards are a global call for applications for our more than 3,000 young people in the SDSN Youth global community who are building real solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals. To learn more about the award and application process, visit the Awards FAQ.
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The Global SDG Impact Awards are a global call for nominations to identify and recognize emerging private and academia sector initiatives and commitments to implementing the SDGs at local and national levels. Learn more about the nomination process by visiting the Awards FAQ.
Nominate Now
We will work collaboratively with the awardees to provide seed funding, mentorship and access to exclusive opportunities and benefits to help you pave the way forward toward realizing the SDGs by 2030.
Awardees receive up to $2,500 to test, launch and scale their initiatives. Please note that funding is only available for the Global Youth Innovation Award
The opportunity to collaborate and learn from SDG experts in various fields of sustainable development
A community of mentors and experts who will help refine your ideas and solutions, overcome challenges, attract investors, and achieve your objectives
A community of practice alongside philanthropists, community leaders, and impact investors with the ability to engage in grant-making and impact projects
Increased visibility in the SDG and sustainability space and the ability to showcase your solutions and commitments at premier SDG events and networks
A comprehensive suite of educational resources to learn and engage more deeply with the Sustainable Development Goals
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*The application deadline is now extended to June 15.
Applications and nominations must be innovative and have a measurable, positive impact on achieving at least one of the 17 SDGs. The initiatives must meet key pillars of impact centered around innovation, collaboration and execution through a systemic and transformative approach that can serve as a building block to scale SDG impact globally.
There will be two separate but interconnected evaluation and selection processes for the Awards. The 2-rounds of evaluation will be done by SDSN Youth Members in Round 1 and the SDG Expert Panel in Round 2, composed of leading SDG advocates in their fields.
Please refer to the Global Youth Innovation and Global Impact Awards criteria in the FAQ Section to learn more about the evaluation criteria.
In 2015, SDSN Youth was started to mobilize youth to the forefront of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by connecting young people to pathways of understanding, collaboration and action. Today, SDSN Youth has grown into one of the world's largest networks of youth leaders coordinating action at an unprecedented scale to accelerate solutions to the SDGs.
We have forged a global alliance and community where we support more than 3,000 youth in more than 127 countries around the world with the ideas and energy to create sustainable solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems as they embark upon their quest to accelerate solutions towards the SDGs by 2030.
Learn more about SDSN Youth here.
Learn more about Nova Impact here.
At NOVA, we help Next-Gen find clear pathways to engagement in the Impact Space through the alignment of time, talent, and treasure. We lead educational cohorts, provide strategic advisory, and connect Next-Gen with projects, mentors, investment and career opportunities and the community to facilitate collaborative impact.
Our community of 300+ includes seasoned investors, philanthropists, institutional families, Next-Gen inheritors, young professionals, non-profit leaders, and mavens in impact and beyond. We support our community in engaging with the Impact Ecosystem and are honored to partner with leaders like UN SDSN Youth.
We believe young people are the best positioned to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals
Youth community
leaders educated
Sustainable solutions ideated and incubated
Countries involved
Raised towards next-gen impact and causes
Impact members in
our community
Next-gen acts of generosity and giving for social change
Youth have everything that it takes to achieve Global Goals by 2030. But they lack the infrastructure and instruments to accelerate their impact in the community.
As a representative of Sustainable Business in Nepal, I believe the SDSN Youth Awards initiative be a big-ticket for innovators and entrepreneurs who are struggling to scale up their sustainable ideas and drive sustainability.
Learn more about Ajit’s work here.
I’m grateful to be a member of the Nova Impact community– a collective that has helped enrich my career, while fostering a deep network of individuals committed to cross-sector impact.
Nova helps identify intentional paths for young professionals like me to explore how we can activate skill sets, contribute across cause areas, and expand my knowledge on entity types, all while building authentic relationships with like-minded individuals. The organization has given me access to conversations and experience in the impact investing space that might not otherwise be possible.
Learn more about Emma’s work here.
"During the past five years, SDSN Youth has grown into one of the world's largest and most impactful networks of young people dedicated to sustainable development. It has forged a global alliance of students, young professionals, teachers and young leaders in their quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals."
Interested in working with, supporting us or have any further questions ? Feel free to contact us below and we will get back to you within 3-5 business days.
With your help, we can mobilize, support and uplift the next generation of one of the largest global youth movements to advance pathways and partnerships towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals on a local and international scale.
SDSN Youth and Nova Impact approach this work through the lens of SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals. Through multi-sector engagement in collaboration with youth, industry, academia, government, and NGOs, we take a transformative approach toward building bridges and working collaboratively to achieve the SDGs. Please feel free to reach out to explore future collaboration and partnership opportunities.
SDSN Youth is a program of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network - an initiative launched by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in 2012 to mobilize global expertise around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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