Most social impact innovation competitions ask for solutions to pre-defined problems. Solving for Humanity gives you the chance to go deeper, using data and your own experiences to make a case to the United Nations for what humanity’s priorities should be and how we should measure "success” in human development. In our era of unprecedented complexity and uncertainty, this strategic input by young leaders is critical. We hope you’ll join us in solving for humanity.

No — Solving for Humanity embraces the principle of youth leadership, and we are 100% run by youth for youth. Our major organizer is the youth-led network South-North Scholars, which is independent of the United Nations. While we benefit from the guidance of experts at the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and while the Global Top 3 teams will present their proposals to HDRO, it’s important to note that the United Nations and the Human Development Report Office do not review or endorse the views, proposals, or actions of any particular SFH participant, external expert, judge, or South-North Scholars member.

All young leaders (below 30 years old) around the world are invited to participate as part of teams of 2 to 5 participants. We welcome older professionals with more experience to join our Global Judging Committee.

No, there is absolutely no fee to participate in Solving for Humanity at any stage.

Yes. You can either name your team members or we can match you into global, intercultural teams of other young leaders based on your thematic interests (this is a great chance to get to know peers around the world, from Japan to Ghana).

Everyone whose team submits a proposal that we verify as meeting all requirements in the Proposal Guidelines will receive a Solving for Humanity Certificate of Completion by email after July 21. Click here to register your team today.

A proposal is a 3-page document (or 5 minute video) where your team will combine global datasets and your own lived experiences to make your case for two important things: the top priority obstacle we need to address for human development, and your vision for success in addressing this issue.

For a detailed list of requirements, see our Proposal Guidelines and our optional proposal template.

Solving for Humanity is inclusive of participants with diverse communication styles. If you feel it better expresses your ideas, you can choose to submit a video of up to 5 minutes instead of a written 3 page proposal. The only requirement is that all substantial content be in English.

The Global Youth Vote is your chance to use social media and word of mouth to activate your school, community, and regional youth networks to make your voices heard on what you think should be humanity’s priorities. Each proposal that passes our preliminary completeness screening will be given a unique spot on our global platform, where people can visit and vote for the proposal. The results of the Global Youth Vote determine the proposal’s Youth Score, which is 50% of the final score of each proposal. As this is a democratic method and the proposals with the highest number of votes get the highest Youth Score, we encourage you to be creative and proactive about securing votes in your community and beyond.

If you are chosen as one of the Global Top 3 teams, your proposal will be shared with the UN Human Development Report Office. Your team will be invited to attend a virtual symposium where you will deliver a 10-15 minute presentation and engage in dialogue with the Director and staff at the UNDP Human Development Report Office. To help you prepare, our youth-led organizing team at South-North Scholars will connect you with experts from top NGOs, agencies, and consulting firms who will mentor you to help develop your presentation.

Not at the moment. Unfortunately, as a relatively young initiative run by volunteer young leaders, we do not currently have the budget to award seed funding or prize money. We are seeking collaborations that enable us to offer a nominal monetary prize to acknowledge the important labor youth put into developing world-class proposals, and we will update this section if things change.

It’s important to note that we are not a typical hackathon or startup competition — instead, we offer something more unique: the chance to engage directly with the United Nations as a valued thought partner and elevate your global profile as a young leader, which is enormously helpful to win funding from all kinds of sources.

We’re so grateful for your interest in helping as many young leaders participate in this unique opportunity. Please visit our Instagram and LinkedIn via the buttons at the top of the screen, where you’ll be able to reshare our posts. If you're a youth network and want to get in touch to work on custom co-branded posts, please reach out at team@southnorthscholars.org!

Please reach out to us at team@southnorthscholars.org with a brief description of your network and link to your website or social media, and we'll set up a meeting.

We would be honored to receive your important feedback and work with you to co-promote the competition as a valuable opportunity for your network members.

We are seeking professionals and experts, whether early career or late career, to volunteer 1 hour of your time as an expert speaker (between June 19 - July 19) or serve asynchronously on our Global Judging Committee (July 22 - August 6).

Your perspective, career story, and feedback during our expert sessions are incredibly valuable to teams.

To serve as a judge, please click here to fill out this form.

Between June 14 and July 14, we plan to organize side events and moderated panels where organizations can describe their work and engage with some of the world’s top young talent. We would be honored to work with your organization.

Please get in touch at team@southnorthscholars with a brief description of your interest (e.g. potential topic) and we will follow up to discuss.