Inventure Academy’s Change Maker Challenge Season 6 – Top 3 & Special Commendations Teams

We are pleased to announce the  top three teams identified by our judges for “Scale and Sustain” funding:

It is wonderful to note that Team DIY Aquaponics – even though they did not get picked by judges for Round 3 – continued their changemaking work with passion, enthusiasm and their own funding. We were very happy to see them come back with a progress update on their changemaking journey before Round 3 and excited to include them in the Round 3 presentations. We also love the spirit of Team BrightLeaf and Team Beej who have informed us that they are continuing their journey on their own and will join us again in a later CMC after making more progress.

CMC 2022-2023 Commendations

In addition, the following two teams from Round 3 are being awarded an Inventure Commendation based on recommendations from the judges and supermentors, for the quantum of progress they made, for being hands-on and getting things done, while addressing a critical problem:

Teams – Aquaponics, CEFA and Radha – granted the “Scale and Sustain” award are eligible for additional funding as they complete and update us on further milestones in their changemaking project journey. Total funding of INR 1 lakh is available for these Top 3 teams based on the needs of their project and the progress they make.

Congratulations to the top 10 + 3 wild card teams to have made it to the Round 3 of Inventure’s Changemaker Challenge 2022-23!

Here are the Round 3 presentations.

TOP 10 teams for CMC 2022-23 are as listed below: 

Wild Card teams who also make it into Round 3 of CMC 2022-23 are as follows:

Congratulations on being selected to the top 25 teams ( top 20 + 5 wild card entries) with project ideas for changemaker challenge (CMC) 2022-23 on sustainable solutions for an area of global concern including ‘Healthcare and Personal Well-Being’, ‘Education’, ‘Infrastructure’ or ‘Environment’. The project ideas have been selected keeping in mind clarity on problem definition, benefit, beneficiary, anticipated challenges, scope of impact and credibility.

Here are the Round 2 presentations.

Going forward, your team will be mentored with the help of online workshops to further improve your project. Schedule of workshops is as follows:

Our world in the year 2022 continues to confront challenges that deeply impact our lives. As we figure out our new normal post COVID-19 pandemic, some new and some old global issues have been simmering on the back burner, awaiting our attention and action. We live in a global community, demonstrated unmistakably during the pandemic, with our lives intertwined. Creative and effective solutions to challenges will not only benefit the local community but have a ripple effect across the globe.

Passive acceptance of critical global issues like well-being, access to learning, civic amenities and sustainability will cause devastating, irreversible damages with long term impacts. In addition to addressing the aftermath of the pandemic, critical concerns that have been put on hold, now manifest in higher magnitude. These areas of concern pose a threat to the fabric of human civilization and need to be addressed on priority.

We invite teams of 3 or more students from Grades 8 to 12, together with their parents and teachers (at least one  adult mentor), to explore sustainable solutions for any one area of concern including ‘Healthcare and Personal Well-Being’, ‘Education’, ‘Infrastructure’ or ‘Environment’.

Healthcare & Personal Well Being:  A healthy society is a productive society. If nothing else, the pandemic has taught us the significance of health and its impact on all other aspects of life. Health and access to healthcare remains a paramount challenge in all parts of the world. As a nation, India has high income disparity, equitable healthcare facilities and information is an additional void and hurdle to progress. Some challenges that we face today include use of technology/ AI to fuel an integrated healthcare system; level of health awareness and ways to enhance the same across socio economic strata; mental health challenges post pandemic, especially our children, and sustainable solutions; Covid victims’ families coping with grief and loss and improved access to healthcare awareness and facilities, to name a few. 

Education: United Nations (UN) identifies education as the ‘basic building block of every society’ and declares ‘right to education’ as a universal human right. Learning and skill building transforms individuals and society by impacting health, livelihood, long term attitudes and behaviours. Some challenges that we face today include creating effective solutions for inclusion across location, gender and socioeconomic strata including remote learning; including children with disabilities into the fold for education; learning the necessary skills to survive and thrive in the new world post pandemic and many more.

Infrastructure- Civic Amenities: the backbone of a city or town, infrastructure is an enabler for various socio, cultural and economic activities. Quality of life in an urban environment is defined by the strength of the infrastructure- civic amenities like air, water, transport, electricity and health services. According to the UN, the urban population in 2050 in Asia and Africa is expected to rise by 61% of population living in cities compared to 2018. Some challenges that we face today are gaps in civic amenities in the cities; eco-friendly, sustainable solutions to the challenges in city infrastructure; stress on housing and civic facilities available for lower income immigrants; clean water access and availability; waste disposal design to minimise negative long term impacts that can then be replicated across communities and cities; drainage system be equipped to handle unpredictability in weather due to global warming; load on the transport system and ease congestion; environmentally friendly solutions to increased demand for power and the list can go on.

Sustainability & Environment: Planet Earth is on the precipice where lack of remedial action will result in destruction with no return. Effects of climate change and non sustainable processes can be felt globally in the form of extinction of species; changes in topography; crisis of natural resources like clean water and air; and toxic wastes.  Some challenges that we face today are carbon footprint contributing to the global endeavour to reduce rising global temperature; conservation and protection of  existing freshwater reserves; replacement of non biodegradable materials in commodities in everyday use with natural, biodegradable materials;  treatment and disposal of waste in an environmentally safe manner given that 33% of 2.01 billion tonnes of waste generated annually is not safely disposed of and reduction of food waste that will in turn reduce greenhouse gases. (UN estimates that 30% of food is wasted every year)

Your solutions for the challenges listed above (or other relevant challenges) could be the catalyst that shifts the existing paradigm to result in a better world. Please solicit perspectives and advice from experts and other stakeholders on what will constitute a long term, replicable and sustainable solution. 

The inaugural Inventure Academy RS Youth Parliament – Our World, Our Voice was held from 15 to 19 August 2018.

The conference was conceptualised by Inventure Academy to equip children with the Right to Participate (guaranteed by Article 12 of the UNCRC) in the world that they are inheriting and to enable them to be positive change makers. This was achieved by exposing our youth to different perspectives, dialogues between nations and the process of decision-making through a blended platform of the Model United Nations (MUN) and Model Parliament (MP). The conference exposed students to the process of how laws are created and implemented through the interplay between various stakeholders, including international organisations such as the United Nations, National Parliament, Media and Civil Society. This helped to demonstrate how citizens (including children) can have an impact and be a part of the solution.

Inventure initiated the Model Parliament (India), a first time simulation of the interaction between the Central and State governments, the Economic Council and the Media. The objective of this was to enable students to understand the importance of dialogue in society and in our political system, and enabling legislation that empowers and takes advantage of our demographic dividend. Through debate, discussion and perspective building, student delegates from various schools deliberated in different Committees on pressing issues like Child Safety, Water Crisis, Economic Development and Youth Involvement in Politics. Post this exercise, Committees drafted Bills, keeping as close as possible to Parliamentary procedures.