The 2021 #Open17 Challenge on Climate & Gender

🌍 The Challenge 

You see it in the news every day, the impacts of climate change include extreme weather events such as floods or droughts. These often affect local communities in ways that make gender inequality worse. For example, due to floods, villages may be displaced, and women will have to travel further to find drinking water for their families. 

The #Open17 Challenge is about tackling the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year’s challenge focuses on SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The #Open17ClimateGender challenge invites you to pitch a project that tackles climate and gender challenges using crowdsourcing solutions, in line with one of the challenge themes below:

1. Measuring the differentiated impacts of disasters on women and men. For example, in a given community or region, how much worse is the impact of a flood for women than for men on lost lives, assets or other aspects of their lives?
2. Assessing women’s vulnerability to climate change effects on natural resources. For example, what is the impact of damage to crops or pollution of ground water on women’s personal security, livelihoods or the time spent on taking care of parents or children?
3. Improving data on women’s participation in environmental management. For example, how can you track the ways women are contributing to managing wetlands or waste recycling?
4. Measuring the health of ecosystems in a systematic way with women’s contribution. For example, how can women provide unique insights into the ways local plants and wildlife are being affected by climate change? 

In addition, if you have a great idea or a project you’re already working on that addresses the twin issues of climate change resilience and gender equality, you can pitch this, too. The project can be at the scale of your community, your region, your country or the entire world.

For inspiration, check out previous Open17 entries: Crowdsourcing Data Analysis, Crowdsourcing Data Collection, and Crowdsourcing Data Simulation.

For examples of crowdsourcing tools that will be introduced in the coaching program and used for prototyping projects in the workshop, see the Citizen Science Solution Kit (CSSK).

Related Read: 55+ Best Climate Change Quotes to Inspire Action for the Environment

🏆 The Prize

• Starting Tuesday, the 31st of August, Goodwall will reward 20 challenge winners with a cash prize of $100 each. Winners will be announced every Tuesday and Thursday until October 3, 2021. So if you haven’t participated, now’s the time to get involved!
• In addition, the top 50 applicants participate in an exclusive online coaching program organized by experts from top European research labs lasting 5 weeks for 2hrs per week (20 October-17 November). 
• Up to five outstanding teams that complete the coaching program are invited to participate in an online challenge-based innovation workshop, organized by one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, CERN (January 2022). 
• Representatives from the top two teams will be invited to present their projects to United Nations experts and impact investors in Geneva, Switzerland (March 2022).

💡 How It Works 

1. If you’re not already a member of Goodwall, sign up by downloading the app (free on iOS / Android) or visiting Goodwall and registering. Then, continue to build and complete your profile.
2. Search for #Open17ClimateGender.
3. Think of your project idea and capture it in a short video (under 3 minutes).
4. Upload it by clicking on “Get Involved” and then select the “Pitch An Idea” option.
5. In your title make sure to add the hashtag #Open17GenderClimate.
6. If you’re pitching your idea as a team, please tag each team member’s Goodwall page in your post.

Application deadline is 3 October 2021, midnight CEST.

For inspiration of relevant pitches, check out:

• https://www.goodwall.io/ideas/flood-finder-5f34
• https://www.goodwall.io/ideas/to-see-to-care-b07f
• https://www.goodwall.io/ideas/team-ecolution-41e9

Related Read: How to Fight Climate Change: 7 Simple, Cheap & Effective Ways to Help

🌟 Selection Criteria:

The selection criteria for your idea are Novelty, Relevance and Feasibility, as well as whether Crowdsourcing is involved.

• Novelty – your pitch should be about your own idea. Describe a specific challenge you want to solve, rather than general problems.
• Relevance – your idea should deal with climate change and gender equality, according to the challenge themes mentioned above.
• Feasibility – Be ambitious but stay realistic: your idea should be something that, with some help, you could achieve.
• Crowdsourcing – Explain how you will get people involved in helping you achieve your idea, by either gathering data or taking action. 

❓ Who Can Apply? 

The challenge targets youth and is open to anyone 16 and above, anywhere in the world. Applicants can be individuals or teams of up to four persons. Make sure you provide a valid email address on your Goodwall page for follow-up contact. 

Applications must be in English, and participants should have a good command of written and spoken English to benefit fully from the online coaching.

❓ Who’s Organizing This?

This #Open17 challenge is supported by the EU Project Crowd4SDG. The partners of Crowd4SDG include University of Geneva, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Politecnico di Milano, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), University of Paris, and University of Zurich. Check out Crowd4SDG for more information about the project and its partners.

You can view past Open Seventeen challenges here:

• The Open Seventeen Summer Challenge: Empowering Youth to Innovate and Build Skills for a Post-COVID World
• Join the Open 17 Challenge: Get a Chance to Travel to Geneva and Receive Mentoring for Your Idea
• Open 17 Challenge, Then and Now: A Look Back at Past Participants and the Promising Ideas Pitched this Year