Di Dai, Communications Officer, World Economic Forum: Tel.: +41 (0)22 869 1405; E-mail: di.dai@weforum.org
· Five Global Shaper projects will receive a total of $50,000 acceleration funding from Coca-Cola
· Over 100 projects participated in the Coca-Cola Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge
· Winners will be honoured at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on 19 January 2017
· For more information, please visit www.globalshapers.org
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 16 January 2017 – The World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community is a network of city-based Hubs led by young people aged between 20 and 30 years. Established in 2011, the community has brought together more than 6,100 young people in over 171 countries and territories worldwide. The Hubs are mandated to work on joint projects for local impact.
Through the Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge, Coca-Cola provides acceleration funding to increase the impact of Global Shapers Hub projects. Now in its fourth year, the challenge received over 100 applications. After two rounds of voting and jury review, five winning projects have been selected to receive $10,000 to scale up their positive social change initiatives.
The winners will be honoured at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on 19 January 2017. They are:
Ahmedabad Hub, India: Shaping Education
Shaping Education creates alternative educational resources to teach youth subjects not covered by conventional curricula. Addressing issues such as gender sensitivity, menstrual taboo and citizen rights, the initiative aims to create sustainable community libraries. With Coca-Cola’s help, the project will create community libraries in 20 slums in Ahmedabad to reach at least 20,000 young people with new learning materials.
Bogota Hub, Colombia: Bakongo Paz
Colombia has faced internal conflict for over 60 years and many young people have been recruited into the violence. To promote peace, the project unites demobilized youth through the ultimate immersive experience – summer camp. So far, 1,300 young people have participated in the reconciliation programme, with 92% saying that the experience is “life-changing”. With Coca-Cola’s support, Bakongo Paz will serve an additional 2,500 young people.
Florianopolis Hub, Brazil: Politize!
Already the largest political education platform in the country – Politize! is a web-based collaboration of 10 Brazilian Hubs that provides political and civic education to youth through online games. The app has over 1.7 million users and, with Coca-Cola’s support, they will expand to five additional countries in the region.
Ho Hub, Ghana: Water Purification Project
In developing countries, 80% of illnesses are linked to poor-quality water and sanitation. Using locally designed technology and civic education, the Water Purification Project has improved access to safe water sources for over 600 people. With Coca-Cola’s support, they will be able to reach over 3,000 people locally.
Uyo Hub, Nigeria: Education for Sustainable Development
Dilapidated classrooms, poor teacher training and a lack of quality learning materials plague some public schools in Akwa Ibom. With $10,000, the Uyo Hub will build libraries in three communities, stocked with textbooks and training materials to serve over 100,000 students and teachers in the region.
The 47th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is taking place on 17-20 January in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership. More than 3,000 participants from nearly 100 countries will participate in over 400 sessions.
The Co-Chairs taking a principal role in shaping the discussion at the meeting are:
Frans van Houten, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Philips, Netherlands
Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation, USA
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Documentary Filmmaker, SOC Films, Pakistan
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children International, United Kingdom
Meg Whitman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, USA
Notes to editors
· For more information about the Global Shapers Community, visit www.globalshapers.org and watch videos about who we are at http://youtu.be/VvcUDDxr7Ic; what we do at http://youtu.be/m8r9bqpSTuI; and our vision http://youtu.be/shaAiy2S3fk.Follow the Global Shapers on Twitter at @globalshapers
· Follow Global Shaper Campaign #WorldWeShape
· Read our blogs: http://wef.ch/shapersblogs
· Watch World Economic Forum sessions: http://wef.ch/youtube
· Become a fan of the Global Shapers on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GlobalShapers
· Become a Global Shaper at http://www.globalshapers.org/apply