June 2018, Colombo: The National Youth Social Innovation Challenge, a joint initiative between the Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment (MTDIFE) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) kicked off in June this year, together with the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) and Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA).

UNDP’s tried and tested social innovation hackathon – HackaDev will be further scaled up, where the programme is aimed at giving effect to the realization of the vision of a Digital Economy in Sri Lanka and will put young people in the spotlight of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals at the National level. Following the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers for the initiative, the initial phase of the programme was implemented in the latter half of 2017, where following a public call for applications for the National Youth Software Competition, a total of 45 innovative teams participated at 3 clustered HackaDev events in Badulla, Matara and Jaffna. Subsequently, 9 teams went through the first phase of incubation in Colombo and have received seed funding to further develop their ideas towards implementation.

The initiative this year which comprises of four stages including an Ideation and Outreach Activation Phase, Idea Pitching Phase, Social Innovation Camps and Incubation for Further Development is aimed at empowering youth to generate innovative solutions to development challenges through improved engagement and participation in an ICT enabled society. It will garner the capacity of youth to actively engage in social innovation and pave the way for continued engagement to contribute towards national priorities identified in ‘Vision 2025’ and Government led initiatives such as ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’. Further, the Challenge will also trigger and inspire partnerships among a diverse group of actors to advocate for social entrepreneurship and build the innovation ecosystem in the island.

While expressing his thoughts on the Challenge, the Secretary of Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment, Mr. Wasantha Deshapriya stated “The National Youth Social Innovation Challenge is an investment on the youth of our country as it equips young minds with the type of thinking required for Sri Lanka to progress towards achieving sustainable development. The Ministry takes great interest in leading the efforts along with UNDP and other partners.”

The first session of the ‘Ideation Phase’ of the National Youth Social Innovation Challenge was conducted in Kegalle. Similar district level programmes titled a "Social Innovation Impact Town Hall and Workshop" targeting university students, NYSC youth club members, young entrepreneurs, vocational trainees and other youth will be carried out in the coming month, with the view of attuning their thinking to be social innovators.  

Highlighting the significance of the partnership with the Government, Mr. Jorn Sorensen, Country Director of UNDP Sri Lanka stated, “This year, the National Youth Social Innovation Challenge leverages the collective expertise of a wide range of stakeholders to reach a wider group of young people and foster their thinking to become innovators and entrepreneurs with significant social impact. UNDP is pleased to join hands with the Ministry to support young people to become agents of change and to explore innovative approaches to address sustainable development challenges.”

The National Youth Social Innovation Challenge with a wide range of experts partnering this year through public and private partnerships, and both local and global social innovation networks, will intend to position the programme as a model of empowering young people, in the new development agenda. The National Youth Social Innovation challenge 2018 is in partnership with Citi, Citra Social Innovation Lab and Youth Co Lab.

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About the Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment:

Telecommunication and digital infrastructure has been identified as two of the key areas that would define the future of the nation. The ministry is in the process of setting up future plans regarding telecommunication and digital infrastructure of the country. The vision, strategies and the roadmap will help the citizens to enhance their living standards and quality of life. For more info: http://www.mtdi.gov.lk/index.php/en/

About the NYSC:
The Youth Services Council was established under the Volunteer National Youth Services Act No. 11 of the year 1967 and was revised by the Act No. 52 of 1968. Over the years, activities of the Youth Council were expanded beyond volunteerism and subsequently the scope was revised again under the Youth Services Council Act No.69 of 1979 giving the status of a fully pledged youth development organization.

About ICTA:

Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka is the apex ICT institution of the Government.  In terms of the Information and Communication Technology Act No. 27 of 2003, (ICT Act) ICTA has been mandated to take all necessary measures to implement the Government’s Policy and Action Plan in relation to ICT.  In terms of Section 6 of the ICT Act, ICTA is required to assist the Cabinet of Ministers in the formulation of the National Policy on ICT and provide all information necessary for its formulation. For more info: https://www.icta.lk/who-we-are/

About Citi:

Citi offers a full set of products and services to corporate clients from its branch in Colombo. Since its establishment in 1979, Citi Sri Lanka has led local market innovation in terms of cash management solutions, trade financing, corporate finance, and most recently risk management and hedging. Citi Sri Lanka is rated "AAA" by Fitch Ratings Lanka, and has maintained this rating since 2003. Citi Sri Lanka also plays a vibrant role in the community. In recent years Citi and its employees have supported rebuilding of homes post Tsunami. Citi also contributes strongly towards training and development in the financial services sector.

About Citra:

Citra Social Innovation Lab is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Science, Technology, Research, Skills Development, Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage, and UNDP Sri Lanka. Bearing the Sanskrit meaning of something ‘strange, wonderful and curious’, Citra is Sri Lanka’s first Social Innovation Lab which uses foresight and innovation tools to prototype and test development solutions to ensure they are agile and holistic before nation-wide implementation.

About Youth Co:Lab:

Youth Co:Lab, the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Asia-Pacific youth entrepreneurship initiative, is positioning young people front and center in order to solve the region’s most pressing challenges. Led by UNDP and Citi Foundation, in partnership with Baoshang Bank as well as network partners such as TechStars and MaGIC, the initiative aims to instigate, catalyze and sustain youth innovation by supporting the region’s youth-led startups and social enterprises.