Washington DC, November 22, 2020 – Four teams made up of young adults from Lesotho and Madagascar have earned top spots for their solutions in the first ever 'Global Citizens Innovative Solutions SDGs Challenge,' an annual 100-day rolling global competition.

The teams from Sub-Sahara Africa drew inspiration from Model United Nations (MUN) debates in their schools, which focused on ideas and solutions to fix global problems, like those identified by the UN member states in 2015 and encapsulated in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs Challenge gave the young solvers the training and platform to help move their ideas from conception to action to help solve issues afflicting their homeland. 

Speaking about the teams from the South of Africa, Grace Makwaza, SDGs Solutions Ambassador to Lesotho, said, "The teams high profile efforts became part of the reason that the United Nations in Lesotho has accelerated youth involvement toward implementing the SDGs in our country."

The teams from Lesotho and Madagascar focused their attention on the most pressing issues their countries face: SDG1 -- zero poverty, SDG 4 -- quality education and SDG 5 -- gender equality.

Eric Robson, former Ambassador of Madagascar to the USA, stated, "The 2020 SDGs Challenge's results show that youth from Sub-Saharan Africa can be creative and achieve something very meaningful despite the modest means they have on hand. It proves that they are actually the backbone of Africa's actual and future development."

For more information on this and the 2021 installment, visit www.SDGsChallenge.org