Emirates Foundation launches a global virtual Ideathon tackling environmental issues
Competition registration is open for volunteer teams both in the region and internationally who are passionate about transformational change
2024-03-13
The winners will receive grant funding for their projects
UAE, Abu Dhabi: In collaboration with International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and in partnership with Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, Emirates Foundation has announced the launch of a virtual Ideathon open to IAVE-affiliated organizations and non-profit and volunteering organisations across the world in a bid to create awareness on the importance of volunteering towards sustainability.
The launch coincides with International Volunteer Day, a global observance that celebrates and recognizes the contributions of volunteers worldwide. The main sponsor for the Ideathon is General Motors, and this initiative marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between Emirates Foundation and General Motors in which they will collaborate across a number of community projects in the UAE.
The Ideathon will be a multi-day idea-generating event highlighting how the ‘people power’ of volunteers can anticipate and challenge issues, take ownership and responsibility, identify novel solutions, and give leadership to transformational change.
This year’s competition themes will be volunteering to serve three environmental challenges: health, recovery and peace; nature, land and oceans; and youth, education and skills. There will be 15 participating international teams – five teams for each challenge – and three actionable ideas will be chosen by a panel of 15 high-profile judges.
The three winning teams will then be able to pitch to the panel of judges in March 2024 and receive grant funding for their projects.
“We are calling out to like-minded volunteer teams across the world to sign up for the ‘Volunteering for Sustainability’ Ideathon and use their creativity and experience to come up with innovative ideas in the name of protecting our precious planet,” commented H.E. Ahmed Al Shamsi, CEO of Emirates Foundation.
He added: “This competition supports the UAE’s sustainability agenda to deliver impact at scale, and we hope the thought of launching it on International Volunteer Day 2023 will inspire the volunteer teams world-wide to introduce some new ground-breaking initiatives.”
Nichole Cirillo, IAVE’s Executive Director, said: “I am excited that IAVE is once again partnering with Emirates Foundation on the 2nd global Ideathon which showcases the role of volunteering in developing solutions to the shared crisis of climate change and the protection of people and planet.”
Jack Uppal, President and Managing Director at General Motors Africa & Middle East, shared: “We are delighted to be working with Emirates Foundation on its far-reaching efforts to uplift the local community and ensure sustainability remains at the forefront of public priority. At General Motors, we have consistently championed strategic public-private collaborations, as we aim to lead by example and bring everybody into our journey towards a world with zero emissions. With this in mind, we are keen to see the fresh perspectives and smart sustainable solutions that the Ideathon will bring to life.”
“Inclusivity is championed across the nation. Its vision aligns with that of our own, as we are keen to take forward our collaborative approach toward building an inclusive talent stream across nationalities, capabilities and age brackets that will help bring to life our vision for the future of mobility within the region.”
Virtual Ideathon participation process:
- Online registration is now open until 29 January 2024 at www.volunteers.ae/ideathon23/. Each organization can register and participate with only one team and compete in only one of the three themes (health, recovery and peace; nature, land and oceans; and youth, education and skills).
- Each team must be made up of a minimum of three and a maximum of five members and all team members must be aged 18 years and above. Each organization/team must also nominate a mentor to support them during the competition.
- Accepted teams must join mentoring and guideline sessions on the first day of the Ideathon on 4 March 2024.
- Each team will have 24 hours to finalize and submit their idea.
- Judges of each theme will select only one team with the best idea to be announced as the theme winner.
- All teams will pitch their ideas to the judging panel for their theme on the third day of the Virtual Ideathon, 6 March 2024.
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