Get to know us
Global Citizenship is both
attitude and action.
We promote and enable global citizenship as a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges.
Our Mission and what we do
The Melton Foundation is an international non-profit organization registered as 501(c)(3) in the US, with legal subsidiaries in Chile, Ghana, and Germany.
Established in 1991, the Melton Foundation is one of the very early proponents of Global Citizenship. We offer experiential learning opportunities based on our Global Citizenship Development Framework. We firmly believe that today’s challenges expressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals can only be achieved when working together across boundaries, acting on our shared humanity.
The Melton Foundations runs two Fellowship Programs. The Global Citizenship Learning Program targets young university students, and the Global Solvers Accelerator & Co-Lab targets young Changemakers working in SDG-related Projects. Upon successfully completing the programs, the participants become part of our lifelong Senior Fellow Network. Our fellows take tangible actions, creating local impact with a global mindset.
In our Program Area, Global Citizenship Development, we bundle all activities that are not connected to the Fellowship. We are the main organizers of the African SDG Innovation Marathon and the Global Citizenship Challenge, and we offer Global Citizenship Workshops to educational institutions and companies.
In our 6 Hubs in New Orleans, USA; Temuco, Chile; Jena, Germany; Accra, Ghana; Bengaluru, India; and Hangzhou, China, we work with universities and local organizations to promote Global Citizenship and create tangible impact projects in local communities.
Our three-fold approach to furthering Agenda 2030
Based on our paradigm of Global Citizenship Practice, the SDG Innovation Challenge aims to spark sustained change agency by embracing the intertwined nature of the following domains:
Awareness
AWARENESS, i.e. applied knowledge about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the many different forms global challenges take in diverse contexts and communities around the world, coupled with a solid understanding of core concepts and methods to analyze, connect and leverage them.
Responsibility
RESPONSIBILITY, i.e. developing attitudes and ethical leadership traits in individuals and communities to foster individual ownership of those issues along with collaborative, non-hierarchical approaches toward tackling them
Action
ACTION, i.e. practical tools, experiences, and skills to drive and intersect sustainable development to effect collective impact at the local level while pushing the needle globally.
The Genesis
The SDG Innovation Challenge was born as a response to the virtual era precipitated by the COVID-19 crisis. With a massive, sudden disruption to normal routines and methodologies coupled with a fresh set of obstacles, we were forced to take a detour on the road to Agenda 2030.
However, every crisis presents an opportunity to adopt a new paradigm and leverage the changes to our advantage. The pandemic spurred us to pursue the 17 UN SDGs with renewed vigor and underlined the dire need for deep, interdisciplinary and cross-domain collaboration, in consonance with Global Citizenship. By giving primacy to the values enshrined in SDG 17 (Partnerships for the goals), the Melton Foundation, in partnership with African Youth SDGs Summit and other co-organizers, hosted the maiden edition of the SDG Innovation Challenge in 2020. Envisaged as a long-term commitment, we aim to coalesce the best of minds across Africa each year, to spawn unique innovations and advance the SDGs.
Our Audience
The SDG Innovation Challenge is held across the continent of Africa, in intersection with the African Youth SDGs Summit
The Challenge seeks young, passionate SDG practitioners, advocates and leaders pan-Africa who actively desire to work towards fulfilling the goals and missions inscribed in the SDGs. Our objective is to provide a platform to young ideators who believe in working grassroots-up and are motivated to effect change in their communities and beyond. The ability to work with peers across geographies and domains and incorporate diversity in teams to produce holistic solutions are prerequisites for contestants to realise their potential as change agents and social leaders.
The African Youth SDGs Summit
The SDG Innovation Challenge and The African Youth SDGs Summit strategically intersect – in their goals, themes and motivation.
The African Youth SDGs Summit is Africa’s largest youth forum on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Summit challenges young participants to adopt the mindset of SDG activists and leading decision-makers so as to evolve as a change-agent reflectively. Through an open debate on the youth’s role in implementing and monitoring the SDGs, envisaging innovations that unlock the road towards achieving the SDGs and networking with leaders, organizations and other key stakeholders in the Summit, the youth undergo a metamorphosis as young, motivated and passionate SDG leaders.
Aligned with the theme and focus areas of the African Youth SDGs Summit, the SDG Innovation Challenge aspires to engage 100+ participants from across Africa to yield 25+ solution ideas. A jury of renowned experts and practitioners in the respective areas as well as youth advocates, will evaluate these ideas to identify the most viable proposals / Start-Up Solutions in pre-specified categories, based on the focus areas of the event, for continued support. The top 3 solution ideas and the respective awards will be announced during the summit, where the winning teams will have the opportunity to present their solution idea on a pan-African forum.
The African Youth SDGs Summit
SDG Innovation Challenge 2020
Almost 250 young, passionate SDG practitioners, advocates and leaders pan-Africa participated in last year’s SDG Innovation Challenge, and formed part of an interdisciplinary team to produce innovative solutions to advance the Sustainable Development Goals beyond the COVID-19 pandemic! Participants developed solution ideas, competed for an opportunity to present at the prestigious AYSDG Summit 2020, and more!
SDG Innovation Challenge 2021
For young people, and especially for vulnerable youth, the COVID-19 crisis poses considerable risks in the fields of education, employment, mental health, and more. To involve young people in building societal resilience and reduce intergenerational inequalities, the 2021 iteration converged young talent from multiple disciplines under the theme Youth resilience in the Covid-19 era: Pathways to accelerate actions towards achieving SDGs.
SDG Innovation Challenge 2022
Thousands of young Africans accepted the invitation to encompass collaborative ways of advancing sustainable development under the theme Transformative Solutions against Global Challenges – Accountability in Leveraging Youth Action to Create and Empower.. The Organizers embrace the unprecedented turn-out to further the program’s capacity to connect, empower and transform youth-led SDG Innovations at scale.
A unique pan-African innovation space that scripts SDG success stories!
Registrations for the next SDG Innovation Challenge will not open until mid-2023, but here’s how you can join us in building and leveraging youth capacity towards SDG action.
Organizers & Partners
Melton Foundation
Organizer
GrassRoots Hub
Co-Organizer
African Youth SDGs
Summit Partner
Youth Advocates Ghana
Co-Organizer
TECHFARM Hub
Co-Organizer