THE NEW MINDS (NORWAY)
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We are a group of students who are currently studying at UWC RCN in Norway. We saw that many immigrants and refugees in our local area have a difficult time integrating into the community. This lack of education was due to the fact that they had a hard time learning the Norwegian and sometimes the English language. Therefore, we have created a program for local immigrants and refugees to attend language classes on our campus. We will watch Norwegian movies, read Norwegian books and have cultural events so that everyone will be happy to live in this community.
UNITED WORLD CHANGEMAKERS (NORWAY)
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Decreased ability to move arms and fingers mean that small children suddenly become difficult to pick up, hold, and emotionally connect with. The Affordable Infant was made as an easily affordable and environmentally disposable option to the currently extremely expensive medical dolls that serve the same purpose: be correctly weighted in the right places, like a real baby, in order for people to practice before meeting an actual infant. This way, anyone in the world will have the opportunity to become close with their grandchildren, taking away one of the most terrible negative consequences of physical disability.
THE ISLANDERS (TANZANIA)
Our project is a book drive donation to "Muungano Secondary School," a local school in our location where students can't access proper and quality education due to the inequalities available in their locality.
LEM, THE CREATORS (ITALY)
LEMtool is a Survivalist Multitool, capable of filtering water and starting a fire with its charcoal elements. It contains charcoal, thyme, sand and gravel, which are able to filter the water and kill remaining bacteria. This tool can be utilized by hikers and people under conditions of poverty. With every purchase of a LEMtool, a LEMtool will be donated to a family in Burkina Faso, that will be able to filter water from their rivers through it. In addition, extra funds and proceeds will be used for the construction of water pumps throughout the country.
FACEIT (ITALY)
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We want to help solving hunger in Chad in a sustainable way by sending beans and advising the people there how to plant and grow them. For our first trial, a selected village with 500 inhabitants receives jute sacks with small red beans filled with 0,2kg per village inhabitant. With it comes a detailed description of how to plant them, how to take care of them, how to collect the beans, how to cook a part to eat and how to dry the other part of them to use for the next year’s planting. The village additionally receives one shovel and one rake per 20 people. They can use a part of the harvested beans to plant them the next year.
BLUEORB (USA)
We are making an android and iOS app that can help people figure out how to dispose of garbage. You can take a picture of anything and it will figure out what's in the picture and how to recycle it: which bin it should go in, whether it needs to be cleaned, whether certain parts should be removed, and any other pertinent instructions. We also know that different regions have different facilities, so the instructions can vary based on where the user is located.
TEAM OIA (USA)
Our project “Haircuts for the Homeless” offers an opportunity to connect and groom. It may feel more comfortable to simply drop off supplies, but the intimate activity of a haircut is crucial. We partner with the Berkeley shower program and offer haircuts and other basic necessities. During an event we held, a man whose hair I cut was brought to tears while speaking of his beloved sister. He smiled after his haircut, saying he had finally gotten his “game face” back. We would love to continue providing food, toiletries, and fresh undergarments, and friendship to a community in need.
PLANET OR PLASTIC (USA)
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According to National Geographic, 18 billion pounds of plastic waste enters our oceans each year. This is due to an increase of consumerism as well as an increase in the amount of overall plastic produced. This plastic problem is unsustainable for humans and we need to take action now. In order to combat this problem we will create a website that increases awareness about plastic waste harming the planet and what individuals can do to impact change. We also want to create a badge that can be displayed in the window of restaurants guaranteeing that they use 100% compostable cutlery.
CHILDREN OF THE DIASPORA (USA)
Children of the Diaspora is an organization created to empower young Black kids across the African diaspora. This program will focus on teaching children African history beyond slavery and colonization. This organization was started by three African American high schoolers, whose mission in life is to teach Black kids that their history transcends the bonds of slavery. Children of the Diaspora is a wonderful program for children to become empowered by their roots and who they are. It is a safe place for African-American children to express themselves, and learn more about their history.
PROJECT BRING IT HOME (USA)
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Project Bring it Home is an organization dedicated to giving resources and workshops to homeless community members in efforts to make a positive impact on their lives. In order to execute this project and implement it into our community, we will be working with local homeless shelters, food kitchens, and other prospective locations to hold our events. With the goal of bringing together the diverse members in our community, we will have gatherings that educate and elicit awareness about the homeless issue as well as have monthly meetings with our team to brainstorm new opportunities to involve others.
PROJECT X (GERMANY)
Food waste is an issue with a high global significance. Everyday people starve to death because of severe famines while on other parts of the world tons of food are wasted. Community fridge Freiburg is a project that tries to tackle global issues, starting on a small scale. By implementing a community fridge in the neighbourhood of Freiburg, we want to reduce food waste. Every member of the community is allowed to give and take food. Therefore, Community fridge Freiburg has great potential to be beneficial to families and university students as well as to homeless people.
PARADIGM ACADEMY (SOUTH KOREA)
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Paradigm is working on an international service project to build a recycling training center in Philippolis, South Africa, a place known as a “waste village." Our ultimate goal is to stop the litter in this region, to generate sustainable jobs, to protect the environment and to educate people in the region about recycling to make sure that this tragedy is not repeated. In order to achieve this goal, we came up with a solution to building a recycling training center and educating the younger generation about the importance of recycling through designing an iPad game.
QUEST (ENGLAND)
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Our project will be a website which shares media which destigmatizes and eradicates unhelpful stereotypes present in society today, for example, mental health, gender inequality, beauty standards etc. We want to create a safe space for people of all ages, colour and backgrounds to access media which promotes a realistic society, which celebrates our differences and promotes equality for all. We hope to empower and educate people and encourage them to rethink societal "norms" and remove stigma around important subjects. As the website will be free and online, we hope to reach a wide audience, thus making a significant difference to our world.
SYMBIOSIS (INDIA)
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Over the past years, Sweden has accepted thousands of immigrants and alongside with it, different cultures and social stances. The issue that we are dealing with is the rise in social segregation and a lack of integration between different communities in Sweden. To combat this, we are aiming to tackle the problem at its roots, in the minds of children and teens from various communities. Through an interactive week-long camp, with the additional aim of promoting sustainable living, Swedes of all socioeconomic backgrounds will come together to collaborate and break down barriers by simply getting to know each other and enjoying activities together.
ANVI (INDIA)
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Our plan is to work with a nearby school and use the computers they have to help women from the surrounding villages to learn how to use a computer as well as develop basic skills that are beneficial to them. Our original intention was to focus on financial literacy and so provide information on finances to begin with and then possibly develop a curriculum for younger girls in the village to continue teaching basic technological skills.
After an epiphany in 1997 changed the way Ari related to food, his heart opened up to the impact every person’s life has on countless beings and the world at large. Soon after this insight, Ari had a vision of himself attaining his worldly goals & dreams, yet left feeling empty inside. This led him to ground his life into practices such as mindfulness, compassionate eating, philanthropy, service and transformational entrepreneurship. Recent projects include hosting meditation retreats for activists, founding The Pollination Project, developing a 3MW+ solar energy install, and building a gift-based retreat center. The issues Ari feels most called to support are transforming our food system away from animal agriculture to plant based eating, transformational philanthropy, and antidotes to apathy.
judges
Ariel Nessel
Kate Campbell King has spent the last 25 years as a financial advisor, combining her analytic skills with a passion for helping clients feel safe and confident in their financial decisions. In 2005, she co-founded North Berkeley Investment Partners. The firm has grown and now has six advisors and a support staff that provide client-centered financial planning and investment management, including sustainable investments, for individuals, families and nonprofit organizations. Kate works with several local nonprofit organizations, and chairs the board of the Berkeley Food Network. She particularly cares about food justice and economic justice, and the role of biodiversity in protecting the planet.
Kate Campbell
Diego is a recent transplant to the Bay Area. Originally from Mexico City, Diego now lives in Sunnyvale where he works as a site reliability engineer for LinkedIn. There he works alongside other engineers to build and maintain LinkedIn's monitoring and alerting infrastructure. Outside of LinkedIn, Diego also serves on the board of YES Nature to Neighborhoods a Richmond based organization that works to break down the barriers that keep underrepresented youth and their families from accessing and enjoying the outdoors, and to deepen people’s relationships with nature, themselves, their families, and their community. Diego is very interested in issues of economic justice and environmental sustainability.
Diego Cepeda
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