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On Tuesday 12^th February, LIDC and the Institute for Global Prosperity, UCL (IGP) welcomed over 30 attendees to ‘SDGeneration: Hackathon for the UN SDGs’.

By way of background, LIDC and the IGP had identified four interrelated and mission-critical SDGs as pivotal to realising sustainable prosperity:

• SDG 2 Zero Hunger
• SDG 4 Quality Education
• SDG 8 Decent Work
• SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

We used these four SDGs as the basis for our global city hackathon.

First of all, Annelise Andersen of the IGP and Sarah Hambly of LIDC welcomed attendees to the event. From there, Professor Jacqueline McGlade of the IGP gave an inspiring presentation on the challenge of monitoring the SDGs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this, Darshita and Morgan set the challenge for the teams. Each team had to collect and present information on London as a baseline as an initial exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, each team hacked solutions for progress towards goals 2, 4, 8 & 11 in a global city of their choosing. This exercise required attendees to design strategies to inspire SDG attainment by engaging partners and funders. In particular, they had to focus on youth movements.

We've kicked off Part 2 of our #SDGeneration #hackathon for creative solutions for engaging youth in achieving the SDGs! Beautiful day with beautiful partners @LIDC_UK and @glo_pro https://t.co/8f3ZGgt6kV

— Maanch (@maanch_platform) February 12, 2019

Following this, they had to present their strategies to the group. The three groups respectively presented innovative and deeply researched solutions to empowering youth in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, enhancing access to clean water in Bangladesh, and improving water, sanitation and hygiene in Monrovia, Liberia.

Our first hackathon team present their thoughts, idea, solutions on SDG attainment in Port au Prince #haiti. We're joined by @moorehl @JacquieMcGlade Prof. Claire Hefferan from @LIDC_UK and others for judging #SDGeneration pic.twitter.com/xyEymRHjnv

— Institute for Global Prosperity (@glo_pro) February 12, 2019

Making water accessible in Bangladesh! Team 2 at our #SDGeneration hackathon kicks it off with some fascinating insights on power mapping, impact assessment, community involvement and microfinancing @LIDC_UK @glo_pro pic.twitter.com/h8QsQDHO2e

— Dr Iris Hofmann (@IrisHofmann83) February 12, 2019

Team 3 tackling the challenges of access to clean water and sanitation in Monrovia, Liberia as part of the #SDGeneration hackathon @LIDC_UK @glo_pro pic.twitter.com/f6qFNOoRlS

— Naomi Bull (@NaomiBullVet) February 12, 2019

Professor Heffernan and Professor Moore were delighted to announce Team 2 as the hackathon’s winners!

Our thanks go to the Institute of Global Prosperity and Maanch for their partnership! We’re especially grateful to our student attendees who made this event a reality.

All photos taken by Ellie Pinney.