It all started with a simple, powerful idea: what if we gave young people the chance to lead?
What if we stopped telling younger generations what’s best for them and actually stopped to listen?
We might discover that young people are the experts in their own lives and experiences. They know their biggest challenges. They have the ideas and talent to create solutions - if only we give them the chance.
The Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge was founded to do just that. It began with inspiring words at the United Nations General Assembly and came to life with bustling events across 16 countries from Vietnam to Nicaragua.
More than 800 young innovators had the bravery to speak up about the issues in their lives at national workshops. They teamed up to design creative new solutions for education, skills, empowerment and pathways to work. The very brightest ideas progressed to the international stage, where a diverse panel of expert judges had the very difficult task of selecting our five global winners.
The following teams will each receive mentoring and $20,000 in seed funding to take their ideas to the next level and make a bigger impact for their communities.
This is what Generation Unlimited is all about - working in partnership with young people, for young people
- Fantastic Four:
Created by youth from the juvenile justice system in Thailand, this future social enterprise aims to create a job matching platform that will provide opportunities and support to youth-offenders to gain employment, support their reintegration into society and reduce reoffending. - Muntjatna:
A future social enterprise, created by a team of students from Sudan who themselves grew up in camps for Internally Displaced People. They aim to provide livelihoods for Internally Displaced People, especially girls, through the creation of an international online marketplace for locally produced goods and handicrafts. - The Red Code:
A future social enterprise, created for women, by women, in Pakistan. They aim to improve menstrual hygiene management amongst women of lower income and disadvantaged groups through awareness raising and the creation of self-sustaining, micro-entrepreneurship schemes to make reusable, cloth pads. - Andrometa Speakout:
A peer support initiative developed by school pupils in the Republic of North Macedonia to tackle bullying. Young people can ask for help anonymously through an app on their mobile; meanwhile other young people can volunteer as peer supporters. - Amigo Solutions:
A technology platform designed by youth in Zimbabwe to provide easy access to quality educational materials with a mission to provide affordable materials to every student, especially those with visual impairment.
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