Miscellaneous
Over 300 Nepali students competing for Hult Prize
More than 300 students from Nepal’s two universities—Tribhuvan University (TU) and Kathmandu University (KU)—are competing in the Hult Prize,More than 300 students from Nepal’s two universities—Tribhuvan University (TU) and Kathmandu University (KU)—are competing in the Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition, in a quest to win $1 million to tackle the global refugee crisis by launching sustainable social ventures.
The theme for the 2017 Hult Prize challenge is “Refugees: Reawakening Human Potential”. The challenge was selected by former US President Bill Clinton.
According to the UNHCR, the event expects to bring the brightest students together to focus their passion, energy and talent to come up with social innovation aimed at improving economic growth and social justice for refugees.
“Since its inception in 2009, the Hult Prize has seen some remarkable talent emerge across the world, competing with fantastic ideas to solve the world’s toughest challenges,” a UNHCR statement quoted Ahmad Ashkar, Founder and CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation, as saying.
In Nepal, during the on-campus round, 40 teams from TU and 42 teams from KU registered for the challenge. These teams are coming from the PhD, graduate and undergraduate programmes to test their grit in building a viable solution to this global social issue.
The Hult Prize at both universities is being supported by UNHCR Nepal and Nepal Innovation Lab (World Vision International). This is the first on-campus Hult Prize event in the country.
“Addressing the challenges of forced displacement globally requires international solidarity and innovation,” the statement quoted Kevin J Allen, UNHCR Representative in Nepal. “We are pleased to support creative young minds in Nepal as they generate new ideas to promote refugee protection and empowerment.”
The main event of the Hult Prize is taking place on Thursday.
The top two teams representing KU and TU will get a spot in one of the five regional finals events taking place in March 2017 in London, Boston, San Francisco, Shanghai and Dubai.
The winning teams will be provided with international mentorship and housed in Boston who will then compete in the global level completion hosted in New York.
Winner of the Hult Prize 2017 will receive $1 million to implement their social entrepreneurship idea, said the statement.
Fast facts
- Hult Prize Foundation is estimating the total number of global refugees to be at 1 billion, not the UN and generally accepted number of 60 million
- The refugee cycle has been re-defined into four stages: pre-movement, in-motion, temporary relocation, permanent status
- The 2017 challenge outlines clear areas for disruptive innovation in each stage of the cycle
- Refugees present one of the world’s largest untapped economic opportunities
n Reawakening human potential in refugees in motion unlocks the need for social innovation across a range of social service categories