The Youth Solutions Program (YSP)

The Youth Solutions Program showcases and offers support to innovative projects tackling global challenges, led by young innovators. These projects include businesses, charities, research initiatives, and educational programs. Each project must contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The YSP has three flagship programs: the Solutions Report, The Solutions Hub, and the Investment Readiness Program:

• The Hub is a digital ecosystem built to help young innovators secure funding, connect with experts, and develop new collaborations that can support the implementation of their solutions.

• The Report showcases 50 youth-led solutions that are operating across different countries to implement the SDGs. It also analyses systemic barriers to youth-led innovation and proposes recommendations to harness these solutions in support of sustainable development.

• Finally, the Investment Readiness Program is a 16-week accelerator that connects select innovators to one-on-one mentoring, investors, and valuable networks to scale up their contributions to the SDGs.

Imagine being a young person growing up in one of the most marginalized parts of the world. Your government is working towards a solution that is not financially sustainable. You have a better solution, but you don’t know how to make it affordable, how to implement it, or how to educate people about it. You need help learning how to manage a startup, and how to access funding. You need mentorship and community, and the correct networking sources to pursue it. Untold numbers of young people around the world find themselves in this situation: They know their problems and have potential solutions, but do not have a pipeline to get them there. 

Not only do majority of young innovators not have the necessary funding and information to launch a startup; they don’t know anyone else who does. They are unaware of the possibilities; they cannot unlock their own potential. 

There is presently no legitimate global forum for young innovators to access information related to the SDGs and innovation, collect their ideas, and access the right networks and funding sources. The YSP aims to help youth overcome these challenges and make the problem solving process more inclusive of global youth.

The Youth Solutions Program (YSP) was created to serve and empower youth globally to create sustainable development solutions. In particular solutions that are aligned to meet the 17 Sustainable development goals (SDGs). Of the roughly 1.8 billion in the world young people under 30 account for half of the world’s population. We choose to serve young people because it has been observed that young people display a level of early-stage entrepreneurial intention and start up activity of up to 1.6 times of adults. At the same time, in 2013 the youth literacy rate at the global level has been measured at 91 percent, compared to an adult literacy rate of 85 percent, and intelligence tests have been rising for decades in many countries. They are also incredibly skilled, and many of them are already contributing to the 2030 Agenda through their actions and undertakings in educational programs, charity initiatives, research, and enterprise. In pursuing their objectives, these young people face common challenges, including reduced visibility, limited access to funding, and lack of sufficient advice or technical support.Young people, despite adverse circumstances, are one of the most well-equipped demographics for advancing the SDGs.

The Youth Solutions Hub is an online platform that showcases and supports youth-led, sustainability-oriented initiatives in business, charity, education and research. The main goal is to address the difficulties that young innovators from around the world face in securing funding, building capacity and obtaining visibility, with a view to helping these innovators scale up their contribution towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In order to do so, the Hub operates on two essential levels. First, it directly supports selected “youth solutions” by centralizing all the relevant funding and event opportunities into a single, user-friendly online space, and by disseminating their stories through the platform. Secondly, it provides a direct channel of communication between the innovators themselves and a cohort of pro bono mentors, running targeted Investment Readiness Programs and mentoring meetings.

The Youth Solutions Report is an annual report which identifies and features 100 youth-led solutions through a worldwide call for submissions and with the help of a high-level Advisory Panel. The Report also includes analysis on barriers to youth-led innovation and recommendations for different stakeholders on how to harness youth-skills in support of Sustainable Development Goals. It is presented annually to governments, international organizations and companies. 

Ever since the publication of the first Report, the initiative has also launched two editions of its Investment Readiness Program, a 16-week acceleration program dedicated to a select group of innovators who have entered SDSN Youth’s cohort in the previous year. The program, which is hosted online through a dedicated platform, features an interdisciplinary group of expert lecturers and allows innovators to refine their investment decks over a series of tasks and assignments. The program culminates with the selection of the best decks and their review by a group of impact investors.

Young people around the world have the vision, talent, and motivation to achieve the SDGs, however they lack the necessary tools and support. Without this support, global challenges like poverty, hunger, discrimination, and climate change will need to wait a generation to be fully addressed, and progress will be stagnated. Without empowering young people, these challenges can become a harbor of further frustration, division, and social unrest instead of a powerhouse of further economic growth. The Youth Solutions Program addresses this challenge in  a unique way in that it combines many of the valuable aspects of a hackathon, an incubator, an innovation lab, a social network, and an advocacy campaign. We cover the full journey of the young impact innovator, which begins with having an idea and ends when the solution has reached full scale. In this regard, the Solutions Program strives to bring a full basket of benefits to the table. We do the hard work of field-building in enabling young people to enter the impact space. The Solutions Report raises awareness for young people’s Solutions, which helps their individual solutions gain access to new networks and connections but also spreads the message to young people around the world that their peers are making waves, and they can too. 

The Youth Solutions Program utilizes the internet and educational software such as EdgeX to overcome existing barriers to youth-led innovation. It does so by creating platforms for young people to connect and integrate their ideas into national/regional pathways for implementing the SDGs. Through the Solutions Hub, in particular, we ensure they are connected, free-of-charge, to fellow innovators, mentors, investors and partners with an interest in their areas of work. This also allows the solution to be accessible and scalable as more of the global population connects to the world wide web. When connected, young innovators are able to communicate their stories, crowdsource ideas, collaborate to better seize financial and innovation opportunities , receive advice and invitations to events which would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

Unlike other youth-oriented initiatives, the Youth Solutions Program offers a more solid way to address the gaps that limit the participation of young people in sustainable innovation, since it does not focus on one-off grants and innovation challenges, but rather on a systems' approach to youth solutions. This approach provides support to ideas and projects on an ongoing basis by opening up networks and expertise for them. It enables young innovators to be seen and supported in the wider context of a country's own innovation system and pathway for implementing the SDGs. 

We focus on fostering entrepreneurship, as many other organizations do, but within that we focus on young people. We focus on impact, as many other organizations do, but we focus specifically on the SDGs. To increase SDG-aligned action, we share toolkits and resources focused on SDG-based impact assessment, ensuring that young innovators develop effective ways of monitoring their impacts across the full spectrum of the Goals.

Not only does our Solutions Hub connect Solutions to the expertise and guidance they need, but it also provides professionals with an easy way to give back and to be an important part of an impactful enterprise. In this regard, it can be compared to a specialized volunteer-connection platform.

It will also provide a way for volunteers and potential future teammates to connect with and contribute to Solutions, providing an invaluable resource for Solutions themselves. It is vital to the nature of the Hub that it is online, and not a physical space, since we aspire to make it as truly ‘global’ as possible. 

Ever since the 2017 publication of the first edition of the YSR, the Youth Solutions platform: 1. Featured 100 youth-led solutions in its two Reports, 2. Offered over 20 young innovators the chance to present their solutions and take part in international conferences and events, 3. Helped youth-led solutions become more visible online, and 4. Launched two editions of its Investment Readiness Program.

Three years from now, we believe to be a commonly-known hub for young innovators to find resources, teammates, expertise, mentorship, and community. Specifically, we expect to have at least 5,000 innovators on our Youth Solutions Hub and link the Hub with a permanent funding mechanism for youth-led solutions, continue to produce the Youth Solutions Report with even better and more diverse Solutions showcased, expand the number of applicants we can accept into the Investment Readiness Program, and partner with regional innovation labs and/or hackathons to further crowd-in the number of young entrepreneurs, and set them up with the necessary tools for success. In regards to our Hub, we also plan to focus on expanding the number of mentors actively engaged on the website, from all regions, the number of Solutions engaged, from all regions and issue areas, and the number of funding opportunities we are able to connect Solutions to, across funding sizes and impact structures.

Given that the Youth Solutions Program remains a flagship, permanent activity of SDSN Youth, the reputation, partnerships, and visibility acquired in the first few years of implementation will guarantee us a basis upon which to scale activities and increase impact. In particular, we forecast steady growth in the number of innovators that we train and support with our tools and activities, reaching at least 5,000 innovators in our cohort by the end of 2021 and linking them with a permanent funding mechanism by the end of 2020. The beginning of this process is underway, through a generous partnership with Junior Chamber International, an organization committed to providing micro-grants for the youth-led innovations that will be featured in the 2019 edition of the Youth Solutions Report.  

In the meantime, we continue to produce an annual version of the Youth Solutions Report, and increase the number of events in which the Report is presented, the consultations with governments in which the Report's recommendations are shared, and the audience reached online. 

Finally, we plan to expand the number of applicants accepted in each edition of our Investment Readiness Program, as well as to partner with more regional innovation labs and/or hackatons to further increase the number young innovators who are aware of our tools and activities.

The biggest challenges we face in providing support to young innovators include access to finance, expanded access to visibility and networking opportunities for the innovators, technology exchange and innovation, fragmentation of resources, and difficulties in engaging in meaningful policy consultations with governments.

These barriers have proved to be fairly consistent over the duration of the past 2 years, but we are certain that with the right resources, they can be overcome. The main goal is to bring together these scattered resources into one ‘Hub’ that can prove to be a single resource for young innovators trying to get started on the journey of turning their innovative ideas into reality. With the correct networks and funding, we can overcome the lack of visibility and recognition for young innovators across the globe, and through the collection of resources, we can allow for an easy exchange and flow of ideas, advise and support from innovators to other innovators, as well as from experts in the field to innovators.

The Youth Solutions Program is managed by the Solutions Initiatives team of SDSN Youth. Its activities and operations are covered by a virtual team of 14 passionate early career professionals volunteering their time from around the world, consisting of one project leader, nine project officers, two senior advisors, and two interns.

The team is coordinated by a researcher and sustainable development professional who has been working to support youth-led innovation for the SDGs with SDSN Youth since 2015. The rest of the team is structured as follows: 

-    two advisors with extensive experience in sustainable finance are helping connect youth-led solutions with investors and funding opportunities;

-     two experts in impact investment, social entrepreneurship and incubation programs are managing the Youth Solutions Hub and the Investment Readiness Program, respectively. 

-  two officers with a background in data and impact-driven entrepreneurship  are conducting research and preparing toolkits for innovators to measure their impacts according to the SDGs;

-     two early-career researchers are tasked with developing content for the Youth Solutions Hub and engaging with experts and mentors that can support our cohort of young innovators;

-     an early-career sustainability professional is responsible for overseeing the team’s partnership strategy and all partnership discussions; 

-     a communication professional is overseeing the team’s media strategy and online presence.

We partner with a range of institutions and networks, listed below. We work with them in numerous ways, including getting access to additional networks, finding funding, identifying potential experts, contributing to global projects, and SDG-related advocacy.

We partner with a range of institutions and networks, listed below. We work with them in numerous ways, including getting access to additional networks, finding funding, identifying potential experts, contributing to global projects, and SDG-related advocacy.

United Nations:

• UN Human Settlement Program (UN-Habitat) 

• UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth (UNEY)

• UN Academic Impact (UNAI)

• UN Foundation (UNF)

• World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA)

• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Government:

• German Development Agency (GIZ)

• City Governments of Buenos Aires

• City Governments of Milan

Civil Society:

• Project Everyone

• AIESEC International

• Mandela Foundation

• Ashoka International

• World’s Largest Lesson

• UNLEASH 

• International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO)

• Entrepreneurship 4 Impact (E4IMPACT)

• Restless Development

• The Earth Charter Initiative  

• Oxfam International

• Sustainia

• Business

• Unilever

• Bayer AG

• Lavazza

• Babele

Business:

• Unilever

• Bayer AG

• Lavazza

• Babele

Customer Segments 

• Youth under the age of 30 

• Creative 

• Problem solvers 

• Solution-oriented 

• Feel the desire to make a difference in the world 

• Lack support and a cohesive social network to fulfill their goals 

Value Proposition 

The lack of support felt by young innovators in making their ideas a reality is the primary challenge.

To fulfill this need we: 

• Share toolkits and resources with young innovators to help develop their skills 

• Cover and support there full journey as social entrepreneurs 

• Enable young innovators to gain access to networks and connections 

• Find funding opportunities for them 

• Provide them with a platform to present their ideas to the world

  
  

Channels of Distribution 

 The Youth Solutions Hub 

• Digital platform that filters and collects resources for funding that our young innovators are eligible to apply for.

• Provides young innovators with a social network to gain knowledge from experts and mentors.

• Offer courses that build entrepreneurial skills and SDG related knowledge. 

The Youth Solutions Report 

• Showcases 50 youth-led solutions from around the world. 

• Facilitates a sense of community and inspiration. 

• Source of promotion for successful solutions.

Investment Readiness Program 

• Connects innovators to one-on-one mentoring. 

• Provides access to valuable networks. 

• Attracts impact investors to help solutions becomes self-sustained. 

• All three of these channels work together to enhance the user journey and provide a pipeline for youth-led innovations.

The Youth Solutions Program started operating in 2016 and is an ongoing initiative of SDSN Youth. Our vision is to expand the program, as it is one of few truly global, integrated efforts at building capacity for youth-led innovation for the SDGs. We will ensure the sustainability of this initiative through our close collaboration with the SDSN, its partners, and its member institutions. 

While our model aims to remain that of an international non-profit initiative, the financial sustainability of the Youth Solutions Program will remain viable through the direct support provided by the SDSN as well as its help in connecting the Program with partners and donor institutions including development agencies, foundations, and companies. In terms of the capacity-building initiatives themselves, the sustainability of their design fundamentally depends on the embeddedness of the Program in SDSN's global network of UN agencies, educational institutions, research centres, and think tanks. 


Our connection with SDSN, a US-based 501c3 organization, greatly facilitates our outreach and collaboration with experts and advisors from member and partner institutions. Moreover, in the four years since the launch of SDSN Youth we have been steadily building up trust and a strong reputation as one of the leading initiatives worldwide supporting youth-led innovation for the SDGs. The long-term sustainability of the Program will rely on this credibility, as well as on a strong institutional memory. Our management model relies on former project managers and officers retaining an advisory role the organisation, and thus collaborating on project implementation into the future.

We are applying to Solve because we believe that Solve’s mission to utilize innovative tech solutions to solve pressing aligns with the work done in the Youth Solutions Program. By focusing on youth our solution harbours optimism, open innovation and inclusive technology. Our partnerships span the globe which enables our solutions to be human-centered as they directly involve the people for whom they are designed. We also understand the importance of global networks in a field such as Sustainable Development; the SDGs can only be achieved if the correct information is accessible to as many people worldwide as possible. We believe that participating in Solve would allow for the type of recognition and access to global networks that could really help our solution’s reach; in terms of new partners, new members, potential funding and more visibility/exposure. 

As demonstrated by the wide number of partnerships already created by SDSN Youth, our focus lies in mobilising stakeholders who can build more inclusive innovation systems with young innovators at their centre. This means that our interest is primarily that of connecting the Program with partners and donor institutions including: (i) development agencies, foundations, and companies who are willing to jointly fund/support grants and donations to young innovators working on the SDGs; (ii) impact investors who are willing to support young innovators working on the SDGs with different forms of capital; (iii) experts of social entrepreneurship and experts in all issue areas relating to the SDGs to provide support and advice to young innovators; (iv) governments and international organisations willing to promote policy discussions around the need to create youth-oriented innovation systems and enact those policies.

The GM Prize for Community-Driven Innovation would help us to (i) increase the participation of young innovators at conferences and events; (ii) organise events and policy discussions on youth-led innovation; (iii) fund our activities under the Youth Solutions Report, Youth Solutions Hub, and Investment Readiness Program. Scalability of these items is key for our Program, as we forecast steady growth in the number of innovators that we train and support with our tools and activities, reaching at least 5,000 innovators in our cohort by the end of 2021 and linking them with a permanent funding mechanism by the end of 2020. The beginning of this process is underway, through a generous partnership with Junior Chamber International, an organization committed to providing micro-grants for the youth-led innovations that will be featured in the 2019 edition of the Youth Solutions Report.  

In the meantime, we continue to produce an annual version of the Youth Solutions Report, and increase the number of events in which the Report is presented, the consultations with governments in which the Report's recommendations are shared, and the audience reached online. 

Finally, we plan to expand the number of applicants accepted in each edition of our Investment Readiness Program, as well as to partner with more regional innovation labs and/or hackatons to further increase the number young innovators who are aware of our tools and activities. 

In sum, USD 50,000 provided by the prize will be enough to cover one third of our total budget for the period 2019-2021.