2020 Advancing Development Goals International Contest for Graduate Students “The Challenges of Social Inclusion”

Deadline: 23 March 2020

Applications are now open for the seventh edition of The Geneva Challenge – Advancing Development Goals Contest, which in 2020 will address “The Challenges of Social Inclusion”.

The 2020 Advancing Development Goals International Contest for Graduate Students aims to present innovative and pragmatic solutions to address the challenges of social inclusion.

While significant advances have been made in reducing extreme poverty around the world, many more efforts are needed to tackle social inclusiveness.

This year, geneva challenge will distribute five prizes, one per continent. The five finalist teams will be invited to come to Geneva for their project showcases and the award ceremony end of September 2020.

Highlighted below are some pressing issues and challenges related to social inclusion:

• Employment
• Education and Training
• Financial Inclusion
• Social and Political Inclusion
• Gender Equality
• Community Driven Resilience Development
• Inclusive Health Systems and the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities
• Infrastructures, New Technologies and Digital Inclusion

Prize Information

• Five prizes will be distributed; one in each of the following categories:
  • Universities located in Africa
  • Universities located in Asia
  • Universities located in Europe
  • Universities located in North America and Oceania
  • Universities located in South America
• The winning project will receive a cash prize of CHF 10’000.
• The two teams in second place will receive CHF 5’000 each.
• The two teams in third place, CHF 2’500 each.

Eligibility Criteria

• Participants of the ADG contest 2020 must be enrolled as graduate students at the time of their registration for the contest.
  • Geneva challenge consider “graduate students” to be anyone enrolled in a post bachelor level university programme with a maximum duration of 2 (two) years, or anyone who can prove to be studying towards acquiring a masters level degree.
• Participants must gather in teams of 3 (three) to 5 (five) graduate students. In the submitted analysis, they should contribute with an interdisciplinary approach or from at least 2 (two) different disciplinary perspectives.
  • No participation on an individual basis will be admitted.
  • The participants can be enrolled in a same graduate programme or can collaborate with students from other programmes from the university they are enrolled in or coordinate with students from different universities and institutions worldwide.
  • The category in which the team will be placed for the contest will be based on the continent of the universities predominantly represented within the team.
    • In case, there is an equal representation of continents within the team, the team decides in which category they wish to compete.
• All team members must provide a scanned copy of a document that serves as proof of enrolment as a graduate student before the registration of the team can be confirmed and validated.
  • Any official document issued by the academic institution the student is affiliated to is accepted as proof of enrolment as long as it contains:
    • The name of the student;
    • The program he/she is enrolled in;
    • An issuance date up to three months before the registration date
    • Validity beyond the registration date.
• Exceptionally, they might accept the registration of students who are transitioning into graduate studies, as long as they have already been accepted in a graduate student programme at the time of the registration.

For more information, visit https://graduateinstitute.ch/geneva-challenge/2020