Ashoka Changemakers Together Towards Tomorrow Challenge
Are You Ready to Lead the Change?
Join our global innovation challenge: Together Towards Tomorrow, a collaboration between Ashoka and HSBC, which invites changemakers from around the world with initiatives that unite people across generations to activate young people as leaders. We're on the hunt for innovative solutions that promote equitable collaboration, connecting young minds with their inner purpose. Is your venture centered on a solution that fosters social connections between generations, amplifies youth leadership, and shapes an alternative future? We want to hear from you!
Who are we looking for?
Enabling youth leadership for social impact:
Solutions that enable young people to take charge, actively identifying their strengths and passions. With this self-awareness, they lead the charge in effecting positive change within their communities.
Promoting equitable intergenerational collaboration:
Solutions that promote equity by fostering intergenerational social connections, mutual learning and empathy, ensuring that young people have an equal opportunity to lead and effect change. This inclusive approach allows young people to access the collective wisdom and resources of all generations, amplifying their impact and sustaining their commitment to changemaking.
Fostering agency in young people:
Solutions that foster agency among youth by catalyzing them to take ownership of their ideas, actions, and impact. As a result, young individuals develop the confidence and autonomy needed to lead changemaking efforts, ultimately becoming lifelong changemakers.
Evaluation Criteria
Remember, we are looking for innovative and creative ideas at all stages of development, which means your initiative could be in its first year of implementation or a fully baked one! Each of the below 5 criteria will be considered equally in the evaluation of each application.
Connection and Commitment:
Your initiative engages deeply with your community whilst valuing the voices and servicing the needs of young people.
Activating Young Changemakers:
Your venture enables young leaders to drive meaningful change and create a brighter future.
Impact:
As a standard working practice, you measure the impact of your initiative whilst prioritizing continuous learning and skill development.
Innovation:
Your venture actively pushes boundaries and explores new possibilities to address complex challenges.
Operational Viability:
Your organization was created with a focused plan for secure long-term sustainability and adaptability in diverse local contexts.
Bucharest Summer University 2024 (Scholarship Available)
The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), the Bucharest University of Economic Studies Students’ Union (USASE) through the Students’ Senate, the Association of Faculties of Economics from Romania (AFER), with the academic mentoring of the The Faculty of Business Administration in Foreign Languages (FABIZ) gladly invites you to take part in one of this summer’s most interesting educational experiences: Bucharest Summer University.
The 18th edition of the international summer school, held annually in Bucharest, gathers students from all over the world to discuss different topics in the economics field. The courses will take place between 11th and 25th of August 2024.
Together with speakers and professors from top universities and companies around the world, more than 40 participants will spend 2 weeks in the campus of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, including one extended weekend to explore particular destinations across the country.
This year’s topic is Digital Transformation For New Business Models.
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Global Call 2024
Background
The UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) Italy launched the Global Call in 2020, marking it as UNIDO’s flagship annual event recognizing and awarding companies with innovative solutions to global challenges. Since its inception in Rome, Italy, the event has spanned continents, with subsequent events in Bonn, Shanghai, and Beijing. Over the years, Global Call has attracted over 2000 applications from 108 countries, fostering a dynamic global network of innovators committed to driving positive change through technology and collaboration.
Achievements
The Global Call initiative has led to the initiation of 17 follow-up actions tailored for the winning enterprises. Particularly significant achievements include that these enterprises have participated in collaborative UN efforts such as COP 28 and UNEA-6. At COP 28 in 2023, selected winning enterprises from the Global Call 2022 participated as speakers to showcase their innovative climate-resilient solutions and share relevant experiences. At UNEA-6 in 2024, notable accomplishments were observed as four winning enterprises from both the 2022 and 2023 Global Call participated in organizing a technology matching conference with Nigeria.
Global Call 2024 hosted by ITPO Korea
In 2024, UNIDO ITPO Korea will host the Global Call 2024 under the theme 'FOODTECH Innovation and ISID: Nourishing the Future’. Given the gravity of global food system challenges and UNIDO’s priorities aligned with the foodtech industry, the Call aims to identify companies with innovative technologies addressing critical issues in the global food system such as hunger and unequal distribution. UNIDO ITPO Korea, in collaboration with the UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion (ITP) Network and other pertinent divisions within UNIDO, envisions Global Call 2024 as a groundbreaking opportunity to significantly improve societal challenges across the entire food industry value chain.
Benefits of Global Call 2024
Winning enterprises will receive UNIDO awards or special awards from partner organizations, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea. Additionally, winning enterprises will enjoy benefits such as global promotion via UNIDO and media outlets, VIP networking at UNIDO events, tailored consultation by UNIDO experts, follow-up opportunities through the main office, and participation in the UNIDO Booth during the World FoodTech Expo (November 20-23, 2024, Seoul) along with the opportunity for idea pitching during the Expo.
SUPPORTING SURVIVORS OF MODERN SLAVERY CHALLENGE
Challenge Overview
Over 50 million people are trapped in modern slavery worldwide, with women and children disproportionately affected. One in three human trafficking victims are children under the age of 18. While survivors include individuals of all ages and backgrounds, exploitation is more prevalent among migrants and those with lower socioeconomic status. Eighty percent of survivors are re-victimized if they do not have a safe place to go. While many groups are working to educate about and mitigate the risks of modern slavery and forced labor, improved solutions to provide resources and access to support are needed for survivors to thrive in society.
Survivors of modern slavery face tremendous challenges in their efforts to rebuild their lives including alienation, lack of basic documents, and limited access to financial resources, shelter, and viable employment opportunities. Ethically designed and deployed technology, such as AI, has the potential to enable greater efficiencies, increase impact, and drive better solutions to the world’s most complex challenges. Yet, there is still a lack of support for scalable and tech-focused solutions and the organizations that provide services to survivors of modern slavery.
Organizations across the world are innovatively leveraging technology and scaling resources to support survivors of modern slavery as they rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society – resources such as bank accounts and credit, affordable housing, childcare, trauma-informed health care, and career placement. We know that effective change requires not just support for individual solutions, but support for a thriving ecosystem of innovators united in a common purpose.
Social Shifters Global Innovation Challenge
Take action on the issues that matter to you most.
Around the world, millions of young Social Shifters are taking on today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.
If you’re a young person (18-30 years) with an idea, project or business solution to an issue that matters to you and your community, your journey starts here.
The Sustainable
Development Goals
To enter the Social Shifters Global Innovation Challenge your idea must contribute to at least one of the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals.
ABOUTSOCIAL SHIFTERS
We exist to help the next generation of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs to make a difference in the world.
We operate on a non-profit basis, providing engaging learning experiences, practical mentoring, and a global community of support to move you, and your ideas, forward.
We’re here to help you to get your idea, project or venture off the ground, and to connect you with Shifters in every corner of the planet!
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT SHIFTERS GLOBAL INNOVATION CHALLENGE
Us@250 Fellowship Call for Applications
On July 4, 2026, the nation will mark the 250th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. To commemorate our nation’s founding we will celebrate its progress, spotlight the areas that hinder us from becoming a more perfect union, and spark conversations about the future of America.
New America’s Us@250 (pronounced “us at 250”) initiative seeks to accomplish this by employing three core themes in its work: pride in the nation’s progress from its origins, reckoning with historical and contemporary wrongs that have caused the nation to fall short of its ideals, and aspiration for an inclusive democracy governed by the principles of equality, fairness, and opportunity.
What is the Us@250 Fellowship?
The Us@250 Fellowship provides funding, resources, and community for those engaged in projects that seek to tell a more comprehensive American story; expand our concept of American culture and identity; create connections across differences; and model how an inclusive multiracial society might thrive. The fellowship will facilitate projects in civic engagement, narrative change and storytelling, and cultural education that foster public participation.
Us@250 Fellows will be actively engaged in the work of renewing, reimagining, and realizing the promise of America as we approach our 250th year as a nation.
What’s in It for You?
- An honorarium of $10,000, paid in installments;
- Regular engagements with the fellowship cohort to share best practices, workshop ideas and drafts, and facilitate new connections and collaborations;
- Educational and professional development opportunities, including access to New America’s expertise and networks, and in-person and virtual panel discussions and seminars; and
- Connection to the constellation of organizations, programs, and individuals working to protect democracy or mark the nation’s semiquincentennial to increase the awareness and visibility of your work.
International Undergraduate Summer Camp 2024
International Undergraduate Summer Camp
A 2-week program that brings together the brightest minds from across the world to learn from and share cutting-edge life science research and innovations. Summer camp activities include lectures and courses from world-renowned scientists, hands-on laboratory experiments, and a range of fun and exciting cultural exchange activities, all organized by Westlake University School of Life Sciences
The 2024 program will be taught by leading and internationally-renowned professors from top universities and institutions. Students will be selected to attend for their outstanding academic and leadership potential, and we hope that the program will inspire you to become a future pioneer in the field of life sciences.
The summer camp is tuition-free and open to undergraduate students in their junior (3rd year) or senior year (4th year) who are majoring in biology or life sciences related fields.
2024 ERNEST SOLVAY FUND
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The Ernest Solvay Fund offers financial support to initiatives in 3 areas:
1.STEM education. This concerns Science (mainly chemistry, physics and earth sciences), Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Digital education is also included.
2.Scientific progress. Medical and pharmaceutical fields are not included.
3.Sustainable development (in relation to climate change, resource use and the circular economy)
Applications for support can be submitted by completing the online form in the language of the form (see link above).
In autumn, the Fund's Management Committee will meet to select initiatives that are in line with the Fund's objectives.
The results of the selection of this call will be known on November 20'th 2024.
Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Youth Fellowship Program 2024
The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Youth Fellowship Program is a seven-month capacity-building program designed to help youth leaders in CVF countries become active players in decision-making and policy discussions.
Championed and spearheaded by the Youth Climate Reality Leaders in the Philippines, the program aims to support the CVF by empowering a new generation of climate negotiators, policymakers, and lobbyists with the skills and knowledge to influence climate policy discussions across all levels.
The CVF is an international partnership of countries highly vulnerable to a warming planet. It is comprised of 68 countries representing some 1.74 billion people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jordan*, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine**, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, and Yemen.
Are you a young climate leader aged 18 to 30 with a passion for making a difference? This program is for you if you:
- are a citizen of a CVF member country
- can secure an endorsement from your country’s UNFCCC Focal Point/Head of Delegation for a COP29 accreditation badge
- are currently working or volunteering with a youth-led or youth-serving climate organization
- can attend the entire UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan from 08 to 25 November 2024
- have excellent written and verbal skills in English
- hold a passport valid until November 2025
The AYF Fellowship Program 2024
The AYF Fellowship is a 9-month live-in working program on Awaji Island, Japan at the home of the Awaji Youth Federation, Manabi no Sato. It provides selected Fellows with the opportunity to challenge themselves and hone their individual skills in a multicultural environment that reflects both the needs of the Japanese workplace and the opportunities that come with a flexibly structured and stimulating `learning by doing` structure.
Guided by the philosophy of `Turning your Imagination into Action`, AYF works under the umbrella of the Pasona Group towards sustainable business solutions for society`s problems. AYF Fellows have a special chance to bring a unique global perspective to a highly localized regional community on Awaji Island in Japan.
Projects
As a working internship, the AYF Fellowship will require participants to be involved in supporting, developing, and creating initiatives to drive and deliver outcomes for AYF and the Pasona Group across several core areas.This will include supporting ongoing events and developing new events focused on wellness, inbound tourism, and culture.
As far as possible, project work will be divided to reflect the interests and activities of Fellows, and to support their work goals, so as to create an overall synergy and maximize time and effort.