Proposal Guidelines
What you’ll need to present
your innovative ideas to the UN.
Here is how to prepare your team’s Solving for Humanity proposal to submit by Monday, July 24, 2023.
What is a proposal?
In short, a proposal is a brief written memo or video in English that outlines your team’s innovative ideas on two topics:
Our highest priority obstacle: What do you think is the most important obstacle to progress in human development?
Your vision: What requirements should we have for successfully solving this problem?
Don’t worry, we’ll explain more below in our step-by-step guidelines! They contain all the requirements you will need to include so you can submit your team’s proposal by Monday, July 24, 11:59 PM GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
How do you decide the top proposals?
After proposals are due on July 21, Solving for Humanity will combine two equal methods to calculate a final score for every proposal that meets all requirements on this page. This score determines which teams will be invited to our virtual symposium to present to the Director and experts of the UNDP Human Development Report Office.
An online youth vote (50%): Every proposal will be given a place on our website where young people around the world can vote for which proposals they believe are most important. You can share your proposal on social media to activate your audience at school, in your community, and even in your country. This is your chance to make your voice heard.
A Global Judging Committee (50%): Every proposal will be read by at least 2 judges in our Global Judging Committee, consisting of professionals and graduate students, which will score each proposal based on factors like:
How accurate and persuasive is your usage of different data sources to support your arguments?
Does your proposal incorporate the lived experiences of your team or community to provide a unique perspective?
Do you demonstrate depth of understanding of the obstacles to human development in your chosen theme when explaining why the obstacle you chose should be our highest priority over others that are also arguably important?
If you have any questions about these criteria, please contact us at team@southnorthscholars.org.
Okay, where do I submit my team’s proposal?
We’re excited to announce our Proposal Submission Form is now open until July 24! You will find the button at the bottom of this page once you’ve reviewed the Proposal Guidelines.
Through Solving for Humanity, you will explore some of the most complicated problems humanity faces today. To keep things manageable, we created three Challenge Themes below that reflect key global challenges outlined in the latest Human Development Report 2021-22 released by the United Nations.
Each team will submit a proposal related to one Challenge Theme (it’s okay if it is not the one you started with).
Therefore, your team’s proposal must identify 1 key obstacle and your vision for success relevant to the Challenge Theme your team plans to submit under.
Step #1: Choose your challenge
Anthropocene
the human-nature relationship and the resulting planetary pressures, such as climate change or biodiversity loss, and inequalities in physical and social impacts across world regions
Systems
transitions of economic and technological systems, such as the renewable energy transition or digitalization, driven by new forms of economic collaboration and technologies like AI
Institutions
the political, social, and cultural institutions that shape our values, norms, and ideas of the “good life”, including the global institutions that grow or limit the agency of communities and people
Step #2: Answer two questions
Your team will submit your proposal as either a written memo of up to 3 pages, or a video up to 5 minutes long.
All proposals must have clear answers to the two questions below:
Our highest priority obstacle: Considering your team’s lived experiences and data, make an argument for what your team sees as the most important obstacle to human development within your team’s Challenge Theme. Why is this an obstacle to human development, and why do you see it as the most important obstacle to solve?
Your vision for success: Imagine a future where the obstacle you identified has been solved. Explain at least 1 condition or requirement that any potential solution must have for you to regard it as a successful one. Why is this condition or requirement the most important to you?
Step #3: Explore and use data
Solving complex problems, whether through the United Nations or in your local community, requires understanding and making convincing arguments using data. This is your chance to practice this valuable career skill.
Your team’s proposal must use at least 3 data points (such as a statistic or a chart) to support your arguments.
We have just two requirements for these sources:
At least 1 of your data sources must be from the UNDP Human Development Report Office. You can find a list of HDRO sources in the Resource Database.
At least 1 of your data sources must be from somewhere other than HDRO. To get you started, we have great suggestions for data sources in our Resource Database for each Challenge Theme! You can also find other data sources on your own, but ensure they are reliable and high-quality (e.g. published by a UN agency or national agency) or our judges may not find them to be credible.
Step #4: Format your written memo or video
Proposals are evaluated WITHOUT REGARD to whether they are written (memo) or filmed (video). Your ideas and arguments are what’s important! Choose what best fits your team’s ideas and technology capabilities — just pay attention to the requirements below.
If you’re writing a memo proposal
Language: All written materials must be in English.
Length: The body of your proposal (where you make your arguments) must be no longer than three (3) pages. This limit does not include a title page and a References page. Please use standard margins and size 12 font.
Format: We strongly recommend you save your proposal as a Google Drive document with link sharing turned on (here’s how to do that). This way, when you submit your proposal, all you need to do is share the link.
However, if this is not possible, please save your proposal as a PDF file to submit in the form. Do not submit a Word document.
If you’re filming a video proposal
Language: All video and written materials must be in English.
Length: Recorded proposals must not be longer than five (5) minutes. Any proposals that are more than a few seconds over 5 minutes will be automatically disqualified.
Format: You have two options to upload your video proposal.
Upload to YouTube and share the link on the Proposal Submission Form (here is how to do that). Please ensure your video is public or unlisted.
Upload to Google Drive as an MP4 file, enable view by link, and share the link on the Proposal Submission Form (here is how to do that). Please ensure your video is public.
References page: In addition to sharing the link to your video, you will share a link to a separate References page with your cited sources. Click here to create this document.
Do you have a template document I can use?
Yes! If your team is planning to submit a written proposal, we have an optional template you can use to structure your writing.
This template is 100% optional and you will not be penalized for using a different structure, as long as your proposal meets all the requirements on this page. We hope this template is helpful.
All memo and video proposals must include citations for the data sources used (remember, you need at least 3 data points that must come from at least 2 different data sources).
Here is where to put your source citations:
If you’re writing a memo proposal: Please put your citations on a separate References page after your 3-page memo. See our optional proposal template for an example.
If you’re filming a video proposal: Please make a copy of this document and submit the view link along with your video in the Proposal Submission Form.
Here’s how to cite your sources:
Everyone must create proper citations, preferably in the Chicago Manual of Style, because this makes it much easier for our judges to understand your sources, which raises your score.
We recommend you use this convenient citation generator — all you need is the links to your sources.
Please don't only put links into your document. Our judges cannot click on these links for safety reasons, so if you do this your proposal will be disqualified.
Step #5: Cite your sources
Step #6: Submit your proposal
Congratulations — you should now have all the key information your team needs to develop an incredible proposal.
Click the button below to submit your team’s proposal. Each team can only submit 1 proposal. (If you accidentally submit more than 1, we will only look at the most recent.)
Want to improve your team’s proposal? Come join fellow young leaders around the world and elevate the ideas in your team’s proposal by signing up to attend our event series of expert sessions and other workshops where you can get valuable feedback (and career advice) from experts at Oxford University, UNDP, the World Bank, and beyond!
Have more questions? Contact us!
As fellow young leaders passionate about human development, Solving for Humanity organizers aim to provide all participants the support they need to craft powerful, inspiring submissions.
If you have any questions about the requirements or how to do things like upload a video, please contact us and we’d be happy to help you.
We believe that creativity is more important than rigid grammar rules. Writing as clearly as you can is important for our judges to be able to understand your proposal, so make sure to read over it for any obvious grammar mistakes or unfinished sentences.
However, we encourage your team to focus on presenting ideas in your authentic voice.
Below, we have put together some optional resources on things like how to use Google Drive or WhatsApp, to help your team translate your idea into a persuasive memo or video. We’ve also included useful data sources for each Challenge Theme to get you started. Your team is not required to look at or use these optional resources in your proposal. Click the button below to access our resources.