UN SDG Action Campaign joins The Global Hack team to beat COVID-19 with creative solutions

The UN SDG Action Campaign is inviting solutions creators from every corner of the world to
participate in the upcoming biggest hackathon that has ever been held.

Together with the organizers – the Hack the Crisis movement community, EU Commission, IDEO and many
more – the Campaign is calling for 1 million problem solvers to join #TheGlobalHack from 7 –
10 April 2020 and harness the positive power of solidarity and coordinated action to tackle
this global challenge together.
COVID-19 is the greatest challenge that the world has faced since the formation of the
United Nations. It is also a very unique situation as the whole world is tackling the same
problem at once, together. Creative and transformative solutions are needed to respond to
the speed, scale and severity of the pandemic, as well as its societal and economic
disruptions.
The series of national hackathons, which are currently being organized around the world,
provide the collaborative environment to create, test and validate solutions through rapid
prototyping. The Global Hack will amplify this potential by featuring different tracks that will
focus on finding solutions to a variety of the most pressing global issues, aligned to key SDG SDG areas of focus.

Among them is the Solidarity in Action track, launched by the UN SDG Action Campaign to provide a platform for the co-creation of solutions that harness this collective strength of humanity to first beat the virus and then change the world for the better. “Now is the time to mobilize the global community and invite people from every corner of the world to work together and find solutions that can have a massive impact to tackle this global crisis, and build a better future for people and for the planet“, says Marina Ponti, Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign.

Participants will come from all sectors including representatives from business, academia, government, civil society, the creatives, media and tech industries. In just 48 hours, they will work on solutions for predefined challenges in teams of 6-12 people with diverse skill-sets, insights and expertise. “We hack for the people we don’t know and will never meet. We hack for the first responders, the grandmothers, the newborns, boomers, and the millennials. We hack because we are all living in one small village in this new world. We are not European, American, African, or Asian. We are human. And we will hack, because we, humans, love”, says Marko Russiver Founder of Guaana and initiator.

The deadline to register, propose a challenge or join a team for The Global Hack is 7 April. Participation is voluntary and driven by the mission to build solutions that can be developed and scaled to meet the challenge at stake.

About The Global Hack

The Global Hack is a global initiative which unites the Hack the Crisis movement and the 40+ hackathons put up in the frames of this movement. The core initiative comes from the team who organised the very first hackathon just in 6 hours on 13-15 of March in Estonia and are passionate about solving the huge ongoing crisis that concerns everyone at the moment (the people are from Garage48, Accelerate Estonia, Guaana). BUT this is truly a global effort and movement involving communities and organizers from all over the world. More: www.theglobalhack.com and Soliarity in Action Track

About the UN SDG Action Campaign

The UN Secretary-General established the UN SDG Action Campaign to convene people from every part of the world to push for the SDGs—and hold decision-makers to account for progress. It mobilizes individuals and organizations to join the global movement for the SDGs. It inspires them to dream up new ideas and take bold actions. And it connects people to the corridors of decision-making where they can influence the plans, policies, investments and political commitments that will keep the promises made. More: www.sdgactioncampaign.org